tales from the set

Rumors on a movie set or surrounding a movie set will abound - some by folks who only see part of what is happening and don't have any real comprehension of what is actually going on and some from folks who tend to be alarmist or make things up out of jealousy or spite.

This past spring I had the great pleasure of supplying all the adult sled dogs (40), all the mushing doubles and was the dog sledding coordinator on our latest film project - the Keystone pictures/Disney movie "Snow Buddies" - an "Air Bud" babies meets the snow dogs kids film.

The project was in it's second week of production when the American Humane rep came to me and asked me if ANY of the pups had been on set with the adults on the Friday shoot.

I looked at him rather oddly - and could not figure out WHY he would ask me such a thing - and so I most emphatically said "No! - why?" He told me he didn't think that the head trainer or myself would allow it to happen - but he'd had to check - since his wife had been at a dog show that previous weekend and had been told that an extra on the set had seen the sled dogs run over and kill a retriever puppy. I was confused, horrified that anyone would think that and then started to laugh.. and here's why....

Nakitsilik handlers/guides Allie & Matt in costume as mushing doubles.

One of the things that kept popping up on set was the question - what would the big dogs do if we brought pups (retrievers and one sibe) on set? To which I repeatedly answered - "probably eat them." I wasn't being a smart ass - my gang has a very high prey drive - and I wouldn't trust any of them with babies of any kind.... The head animal trainer and I said it - all the animal trainers and I said it and then all of my crew said it as well. Then the American Humane rep added his two cents and agreed - that it was not a good idea... so eventually the question stopped being asked.

Our point was made very distinctly on our first Friday on set. Now at no point had (nor have) any of our gang been on set with the pups.. anyway we got the call mid afternoon to take two teams up to the second unit filming to do some 'pick up shots' The main unit was just finishing it's scenes and puppies were being moved back to their heated trailer - so we waited until all the pups were gone from set before moving our teams.

Now on set a lot of times they will use stuffed animals of roughly the same size as whatever animal they are filming - to set the scene and lighting up etc. Of course - with the 'stars' being puppies - they really needed to have stuffies there - so the pups are only brought in for the duration of the scene - not usually longer than 10 minutes.

Anyway the pups had been taken back to their trailer and we got the all clear to move through. Now we had a couple of hundred feet of roadway and ice to maneuver before we actually hit snow, and I had two film handlers per team, plus the handlers - who work for us - driving the sleds. We had to pull the dogs around a wide corner to avoid taking out some camera and lighting equipment.

That is when IT happened.. someone had dropped the 'stuffies' in a corner with the camera gear and as our big Alberta boys rounded the turn - you guessed it - Nisku saw and reached over and snapped up one of the stuffies. (Even at home stuffed toys last less than 15 seconds.. the dogs all love to shred them!) Well we all just about had heart attacks - as for a split second Mona, Matt, Allie & I thought the dogs had actually snapped up a puppy. We were on Nisku in seconds and Matt had to wrestle the toy out of his mouth - and got it out - but not before the stuffy got shredded. All the people (extras &crew) standing around thought it was pretty funny - not realizing of course - just how serious it could have been.

Laurie & Devon training.

I was still shaking an hour later... but the point was firmly taken and we were never asked again about having the pups on the set at the same time as the sled dogs.

It was the dog snapping up the stuffed toy that the extra saw - not a live puppy. And that is how easy it is to get things screwed up on a set. After I told the AHA rep - he laughed too - it is a pretty funny story - especially since it was just a toy and not a real animal.

Due to the magic that is Hollywood - there will be a lot of scenes that were filmed where it looks like the sled dogs are running next to or into the puppy team. It is called a split screen scene - where they filmed us first - and then set the puppies shots up to almost overlap where we ran and then they film the puppies and put it together with the computers.. Looks pretty darned cool to me and I got to watch a lot of from behind the directors chair.

If I hadn't been there to watch and participate - I would swear that the dogs were actually on set together. I won't give away details of the scenes - so you'll just have to watch for the DVD!