Detailed Animal Action Report

Throughout the film, the main character has a pet dog seen performing such mild action as sitting/standing/lying, being held or petted, and walking/running on or off leash. For all of these scenes, trainers used hand signals and verbal commands to cue the mild action, which the trained dog was accustomed to performing. The barking/growling was also a trained behavior.

In the scene where we see the dog run downstairs at the actor’s house, trainers waited in the wings and hidden areas of the house. Prior to filming one of the trainers brought the dog to the top of the stairs and held him there. On action, the actor walked downstairs, and the trainer let the dog go, who ran downstairs past him. When the actor approached the dog, the trainer used hand signals for the dog to bark and resist the actor.

In the scene where the actress walks in the apartment, the dog stands up and barks at her, prior to filming the trainer placed the dog on her mark, then backed up. On action, the actress walked in the door, and the trainer cued the dog to bark at her.