To adapt to cold Pennsylvania winters, a Siberian husky's coat grows extra full and thick.
That may be what helped four of her dogs to land roles in the new Disney movie, "Eight Below," says Lorraine "Lorri" Barron, who owns Lauradale Kennel in Jefferson Township, Somerset County, with her husband, Dale.
Mojo and Sir Prize from their kennel, and Chase and Dakota, two other huskies from nearby Ravenwood Kennel who were bred from their Siberians, were among 36 dogs used to portray an eight-dog team in the major motion picture opening today. They were selected when trainers from Los Angeles-based Birds & Animals Limited saw the Barrons' Website and called the couple more than a year ago.
"They said they were looking for northern kennels where Siberians didn't shed their coats as much," says Lorri Barron. The movie is set in Antarctica, although the filming took place on location in Alaska, Greenland and Smithers, British Columbia.
The trainers visited the couple's kennel in Somerset and took several of their dogs to a nearby restaurant parking lot to see how they acted in strange surroundings.
"They didn't tell us right away, but they took pictures of the dogs with them," Barron says. "Two weeks later, they called us and said they wanted them."
Sally Jo Sousa, one of the animal trainers who worked with the huskies for the film, says they spent about six months with them in training and filming. She says Mojo will be hard to miss on the screen.
"Mojo has a huge scene in the movie where the dogs are hunting for seagulls to eat," Sousa says. When a husky named Truman, portrayed by Mojo, is defending his prey from younger dogs, the camera closes in on Mojo and he snarls. She taught him to snarl using a game-based training technique.
Sousa also has trained animals for the film "Shaggy Dog" and the "Harry Potter" movies, and she currently is working on a sequel to "Bruce Almighty," titled "Evan Almighty," based on the story of Noah's Ark, that will feature a variety of animals.
Some of the dogs used for "Eight Below" came from Siberian rescue organizations.
Sousa says one of her biggest challenges was teaching those dogs to run together in packs.
"Because they are rescues, they have a lot of emotional issues you have to get through to build their confidence," Sousa says. "There were a lot of socializing issues in getting the dogs used to each other."
Barron says she and her family, which includes 14-year-old daughter Laura, will be among the opening weekend audiences for the new film and they'll be looking hard to pick out her pups.
As for Mojo's future as a canine star, Lorraine says he could have been a Hollywood dog if she had agreed to sell him to the trainers.
"They offered to buy Mojo," she says, "but I told them he'll be here if they ever want to do a sequel to the movie."
