Barbara Woodhouse

Barbara Woodhouse on the cover of her book No Bad Dogs The Woodhouse Way. The book title reflects her no bad dogs motto

Barbara Kathleen Vera Woodhouse (née Blackburn, 9 May 1910 Rathfarnham, Ireland - 9 July 1988, Buckinghamshire, England), was a well known British dog trainer, author and television personality. Her 1980 television series Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way made her into a household name in the UK. Among her catch-phrases were "walkies" and "sit!", the latter parodied in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy. She was also known for her "no bad dogs philosophy".

Life

Barbara Woodhouse was born May 9, 1910 in Rathfarnham, Ireland and grew up in Dublin. When her father died in 1919, her mother moved the family to Headington in Oxford, Woodhouse attended Headington School there. She was the only woman student at the Harper Adams Agricultural College in Shropshire. After returning to Oxford to start Headington Riding School and Boarding Kennels, she spent more than three years in Argentina training horses.

In the 1930s, Woodhouse became a dog breeder and ran kennels until about 1960. She first appeared on TV as a contestant on What's My Line where the panelists failed to identify her occupation. She also appeared on CBS 60 minutes.

She wrote many books including her autobiography Talking to Animals and the A-Z of Dogs and Puppies. No Bad Dogs was her most popular and well-known book.

She married Dr. Michael Woodhouse in 1940 and moved to Wiltshire. They had three children, Pamela, Patrick and Judith. She died on July 9, 1988 following a stroke.

Television series

• Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way

Publications

• No Bad Dogs (1982)
• Dog Training My Way
• Difficult Dogs (1957)
• Horses and Ponies

External links

• Barbara Woodhouse and Headington
• Barbara Woodhouse at the Internet Movie Database