(E.B.W.) Critter Corner: Sept. 11/2019

Feature:
Every Dog Has It’s Day

“…The star of A Dog’s Way Home, now in theatres, has a hard-luck tale that could top them

all. Before her big break, she was living in a landfill, rooting through garbage for her next meal.

Meet Shelby, the tan-&-black mutt who portrays Bella, occupying the screen, often solo, for much of the film’s 97 minutes-& whose trash- to-riches saga could itself be a gripping cinematic yarn.

Shelby’s big break came in April 2017, when animal-control officer Meghan Buhler was driving in Cheatham Country, Tenn…Buhler spotted & approached what she recalled was a noticeably skittish dog emerging from the dump.

‘So I knelt down & just said, ‘Oh, come here, baby,’ said Buhler, 29…She was so scared, & she finally came right up to me, & I was able to put her in my truck.’

The pair headed to the county animal shelter, where the staff took to calling the new resident Baby Girl.

Buhler & T.J. Jordi, then the animal- control director, had no inkling that Hollywood was looking for a dog to play Bella in a film written by Cathryn Michon & W. Bruce Cameron & based on Cameron’s book…

Cameron & Michon, who are married, are unabashed dog lovers & say part of their passion is expressed by advocating for homeless dogs whenever possible.

‘We started off in the very beginning saying that the dog that is the star of the movie will have to be a rescue, because we were trying to prove something,’ Cameron said. ‘We think we’re making a difference in the animals’ lives when they are adopted, & we’re trying to reveal to the world that rescue dogs are wonderful animals.’

The filmmakers hired trainer Debbie Pearl, whose company Paws For Effect functions as an animal talent agency of sorts, one known for finding adoptable dogs & training them for onscreen roles.

Pearl then assigned the find-a-Bella job to Teresa Ann Miller, a freelance trainer…

‘We initially started looking for a kind of Rottweiler/shepherd/pit bull mix,’ Miller said. ‘That’s kind of what (Cameron’s) book cover looked like to me.’

Meanwhile, back in Tennessee, Baby Girl was already getting diva treatment. The shelter’s staff believes that shooting stellar photographs of its animals immensely boosts their adoption prospects. Jordi, the former animal-control director, recalled being so encouraged by the results of the earliest photos that he ‘eventually built things up to the point we actually had a full studio set up.’

One day, Miller spotted Baby Girl’s adoption photo, which Jordi had taken.

… the Miller-Baby Girl summit proceeded without a hitch,

Spanning 2 hours, with the trainer assessing her new friend on personality, temperament, & the ability to respond to simple commands. Miller was sold.

Within 2 weeks, Cameron & Michon travelled to Tennessee, met Baby Girl & developed the same crush. In an email, Michon said that she was struck by ‘the extraordinary sweetness of her soul.’ Baby Girl, she added, ‘was loving, smart, oh-so-eager to please, & we knew instantly we had found our Bella.’

In short order, Miller adopted Baby Girl from the shelter on behalf of Pearl & Paws for Effect, renamed her Shelby (‘a really cute Southern name’) & took her to California for training…

Miller & Shelby trained for just over 3 months before filming began. Then they were together each day on the set…

Has its heroine gone Hollywood?...Not Shelby. After additional training, she’s now working as a therapy dog on location at places that include veterans’ facilities, hospitals, & schools attended by students with special needs.

Shelby now lives with Pearl in Huntington Beach, Calif. And at age 2-&-a-half, Shelby has turned out to be as gifted a therapy dog as a thespian, Pearl said…

Shelby has come a long way from the dump. But Buhler, the animal-control officer, said she saw Shelby recently & needed only a split-second to compare the movie dog with the dog she coaxed away from piles of trash.

‘She’s exactly the same,’ Buhler said.”