Julie Tottman, 51, has worked as an animal handler and trainer on feature films including the Harry Potter franchise, 102 Dalmatians, the 2005 version of Lassie, Nanny McPhee, Mamma Mia!, Peter Rabbit 2, Paddington and Casino Royale, TV series Game of Thrones and commercials. She lives with her family in Hertfordshire.
How did your childhood influence your attitude towards money?
I lived in a council house in Harrow, north London, with a sister and brother. My mum was an accountant’s secretary and my dad worked for the ambulance service. We got pocket money but had to work for it, doing the dishes. I trained to be a dog groomer, earning £28 a week, which went up to £35 in the second year.
We learnt about saving and not to get loans because you never know what’s round the corner. We knew we didn’t have what other children had, yet we were happy because we knew that what we did get our parents had worked hard to give us.
When did animals become your career?
After I worked for a grooming salon, a friend’s father did a low-budget film and asked me to take a dog along. At 20 I started working on films for very little money on my days off. It became my passion. Then I worked for the company Stunt Dogs for seven years.
In 1995 the US company Birds & Animals came to the UK to film 101 Dalmatians, hiring local animal trainers. They hired me part-time, then came back in 1999 for 102 Dalmatians and hired me full-time to be its head puppy trainer.
That led to 10 years on Harry Potter and it went from strength to strength.
Have you invested in property?
I bought my first house, an ex-council house in Uxbridge, in 2002. It wasn’t very nice, but I was so proud of having it. I made £150,000 profit when I sold it.
In 2008 I bought a cottage in Long Marston, near Tring, for £200,000. I sold it in 2013 for £495,000 because it’s close to London and property prices had zoomed up. Then I moved in with my partner and paid off what was left of his mortgage to be mortgage-free.
Then, stupidly, in 2017 we bought Long Marston’s village pub, the Queen’s Head. There’s always some famous dog in there, like Bobbie (Buddy from the film Cruella) and quite often a pug called Harley, who starred in Patrick.
Have you had trouble paying your bills?
When I had my first house I piled up bills. It was so depressing. As soon as I got a little money I’d open one envelope and pay that bill. I was three months in arrears with my mortgage and lived on jacket potatoes, baked beans and tuna every night. I got really excited because on film sets I got good food.
Do you own the animals?
I’ve owned a lot. Some dogs live with me and I’ve got an 18-acre farm. We find animals in rescue centres as much as we can, invest a lot of time in training and find them family homes.
My village is full of dogs that have been in a film or commercial. We’ve got all sorts that go out regularly: birds, foxes, sheep, chickens, cats, crows, ravens, seagulls, pigeons, owls, deer, squirrels and rats – rats work a lot.
