A Penticton-area pup is finding glory on the small screen alongside Jason Momoa in a new series filmed in B.C.
Griffin is a five-year-old Leonberger, a rare large breed related to the St. Bernard. He and his owner and trainer Marlene Parrot live at Apex Mountain, and had a lot of fun with the Hollywood experience for "See," the new dystopian science fiction series released on Apple TV+ Friday.
"It was absolutely thrilling, wonderful. I got to work with some of the best trainers in the world and learned so much. I worked with some amazing actors and actresses," Parrot said.
It all started when the animal trainer for the show called her, looking for a majestic-looking and well-trained dog to play a role in the upcoming show.
Griffin has been a show dog for many years, appearing at Crufts in 2018, and his brother Ben had been similarly well trained, so they were a natural fit to work under Parrot's guidance.
"They look very much alike and are litter mates and best friends, so it was easy to work with two of them together," Parrot explained.
The shoots took place all over the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Parrot, Griffin and Ben got the chance to interact with all the stars of the show, including Jason Momoa.
She said the experience was a whole new ballgame compared to her time on the dog show circuit.
"It's entirely different! You don't know what's coming, they will come up and say 'Can we do this, can we do this?'" Parrot said, explaining that as the trainer, she had to speak to the writers and directors about what was possible for her dogs to do.
She said it was a wonderful experience, even though she jokes that she spent most of her time hidden behind set pieces when her dogs were being used, tucked behind a tall set piece or hiding under a bed just to be nearby in case Griffin and Ben needed her.
"As an animal trainer, you are kind of like a tree, a bush," she said with a laugh. "As long as your animal does what it's supposed to do they don't really notice you."
That's not to say that Griffin and Ben didn't get attention on set.
"Nobody is allowed to touch the dogs when they were working but they of course wanted to," Parrot said. "And when we were leaving, one of the assistant directors said 'The Leonbergers are wrapped,' and we had a gauntlet of people flock through and all wanted to see them and talk to them."
The pups got a special extra gift on wrap day, just for them.
"A 25 pound roast beef, perfectly medium rare," Parrot said with a chuckle. "They were pretty happy!"
- Chelsea Powrie, Castanet
