How to Get Your Animal Into Showbiz

    Being an animal trainer in the entertainment industry can be very rewarding, but it is also very difficult. A typical job starts out great-- you get asked to supply a dog for a commercial in which the dog just has to lie on the sofa.  No problem!  They need the dog ready by the end of the week, but that should be ok because the shot is simple.  So you get ready.  You groom the dog and prep the shot-- making sure the dog is able to hold a stay on the sofa for long periods while people hustle around.  Usually the day before the shot you will get a call that another animal or two are needed, and the shot has changed a little.  So you scurry around to get whatever strange things they have requested--ostrich, kinkajou, bear, dove, etc.   

Then the actual day arrives.  You get up around 4:00am and start grooming.  You check that your kit has everything you could possibly need from costumes to fake blood.  Motivators, noisemakers, laser pointers, treats, towels, grooming supplies, props, etc.  Then you head off to start shooting.  The shot will undoubtedly have changed completely, and they will want your animal to do things you have never practiced, and will want your well-groomed animal to be dyed brown or covered with mud.  You will have a few minutes in between shots to teach the behaviors, and then you will have to do them for the camera.  This is the hardest part-- you will have to be somewhere far away out of the shot, your dog may have to work facing away from you and still take commands.  Your dog will have to do the same thing OVER AND OVER, and you cannot go in and praise or feed because the camera is rolling.  You also cannot go in and correct, so your dog may be doing something wrong and you cannot help. You will also have to be incredibly precise.  If your dog has to run to a mark and stop, and it is a tight shot, your dog will need to run to the mark and then stop within an inch or two of the mark.  And of course there will be a camera in his face and lights and confusion!  And all the time you must be keeping your animal safe and happy.  And you must be agreeable and flexible but know your limits!  And you must be very creative.  You can often save the shot by knowing a different way to get the action they are looking for-- it is your job to know the animal well enough to be able to offer viable alternatives.

 For most people it is just not possible to make this their career.  The time demands are huge, you have to have a huge number of animals ready and trained at all times, and you have to do a masterful marketing job to compete with the established legends.  And you truly have to be talented as well.  You need to be able to get everything out of your animals and keep them happy.  You have to be very creative to find ways to get the shot when nothing is working, and you have to be able to work well with directors and art directors who will often treat you like a peon who exists only to do whatever and whenever they ask!  And you will rarely be given enough information to prepare properly.

             There are two primary methods for getting your animal started in the movies if that is what you want:

1. Sign up your individual dog with an agent. An agent is usually a trainer who is trying to use you to help them cover more jobs.  They will take a few pictures and meet with you and your animal to see its training level, and then will put you into their book, and will call you if someone is looking for an animal like yours.  You will then handle the animal on set, but the agent may come watch.  They will generally take a sizeable percentage of whatever is paid.

2. Get in touch with a trainer and let them know that your animal is available.  This is usually a little less formal, but is similar to the agent except that the trainer will usually handle the dog on set.  They will still take picture and put them in their book, but if the call comes in they will come pick up your animal for a few days and bring it back when finished shooting.  The financial part of this relationship can vary from nothing (you do it for the opportunity to get your animal on screen) to splitting the animals take. Depending on your skill level and the individual animal, the trainer may ask you to come along and handle the animal, but under definite supervision although that is generally not the case.  If you decide to go this route, make sure to spend some time with the trainer and their animals and watch the interactions.  Like any other arena, movie-trainers are sometimes wonderful and sometimes not.  Make sure that any trainer to whom you are sending your animal has a deep love of the animals and is absolutely dedicated not only to keeping them physically safe, but also happy and having fun! 

            For any animal to be successfully used in the industry, certain attributes are essential-- great emotional stability and no aggressiveness.  They generally need to have lots of energy, and need to enjoy new experiences.

 If you genuinely would like to get involved working animals in the entertainment industry, or would like to submit your animal to us for consideration, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  Please understand that we are very busy, and we are contacted hundreds or thousands of times per year by people who want their animals to work.  Because of this volume, we cannot spend much time with each person.  The best way to reach us is via email.  We will send you an intake form and will then evaluate your animal and keep you on file for any jobs that come along that require an animal like yours.    

Before contacting us, consider these questions:

1. Animal Temperament: your animal needs to be very sociable. It cannot be scared of noises, sights, people, etc.  On the contrary, it needs to really enjoy being in new places so that it will have a fun time on set.

2. Owner temperament: probably 90 percent of the animals submitted never get used because we do not have confidence in their owners.  We need to be certain that we can work with you, that you are not going to change your mind halfway through, that you are not going to be unreasonably demanding or unprofessional, etc.  This is a very competitive business, and we cannot afford to look unprofessional because we are using a crazy or unprofessional owner.

3. Willingness to send animal with trainer: it is very rare that we can take an owner on set with us.  On most jobs we take the animal, train it, and handle it on set.  If we do take owners on set, it is generally not on the first few jobs until we know them better. It is absolutely understandable if you do not send your animal to stay with anyone, but you should probably not pursue this work. (Note: of course, you should make very certain you trust any person or company you are considering sending your animal to stay with--there are some disreputable people out there who will not care for your animal adequately.  If you want to know about the care we provide to visiting animals you may read about it here.

4. Location: if you are in a remote area where movies are not generally made, we are far less likely to ever use your animal.

5. Animal distinctiveness: no matter how wonderful your animal is, if it looks like many other animals we are less likely to ever need your animal. There are exceptions to this, but the basic notion of supply and demand applies here.

6. Training--lots of excellent training on your animal is very nice, but in all honesty is secondary.  We generally assume that we will need to train the animal, and are able and willing to do so.  To a large degree, we discount owner claims of training anyway, because almost every "trained" animal that we meet is not able to do the behaviors reliably, at a distance, amidst serious distractions, so we have to retrain them anyway.  By all means tell us what they know, and their understanding language and how to learn saves us lots of time, but understand that we are skeptical of all prior training...