Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/50583
ABOVE: Strongheart, the pooch that started it all, was born in 1917 in Poland, and was trained as a police dog in Germany. RIGHT: Patti Negri clutches her diminutive Dachshund dog star, Dora. Film and commercial credits fill an IMDB page. BELOW: Lassie in action, rescuing Timmy from being late to school. track's rollicking "Wiener Nationals", a sort of Kentucky Derby for Dachshunds. "She's a ham," says Negri. "She takes after her mother!" Not just any dog is destined to shine on the big screen, however, and don't think there's no such thing as a doggie screen test! Cris Rankin of A-1 Animal Talent puts it this way: "e dogs we represent have to be able to do all of the basic obedience commands - off leash and away from home. We put dogs through a process and they sometimes fall apart. eir owners get bent out of shape saying, 'Well, you dropped something next to my dog!' We say 'Yeah, on a set things fall and there are thirty people around and there are noises and things clanking and clinking and a lot of times dogs will freak out." As with any business, there are some heavy hitters in the canine acting world. Cheryl Shawver heads up An- imal Actors of Hollywood. The agency has supplied the film industry with professionally trained dogs for over 40 years. Their Mushu and Chin Chin, now, sadly, in doggie heaven, played the hilarious "Frank", the alien pug in "Men In Black" (1997). More recently, their beefy Pitbull, Scooby, starred as the menacing beast chasing Josh Brolin over what seemed like miles of West Texas prairie in the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men" (2007). It's not always fun and games on the set and 36 DISCOVER HOLLYWOOD / WINTER 2011