Back in New York in the early 80's I was enjoying my life as a full time mother of two small girls and as a professional dog trainer!
I started to board and train the dogs and puppies I trained and I took in four at a time so I can do my dream job and still have my dream life of being home with my kids!
Every couple of weeks four more dogs came got trained and went home. It was mostly the same type of training, obedience, potty training and behavior modification to stop whatever bad habits the dogs or pups had.
By this time more and more people knew of me and I was blessed with a fairly steady flow of dogs.
Here and there a really different case came in and I felt good as I helped another dog heal from whatever issues or traumas it had.
Till one day I got a call from a casting agent saying " Hello are you Joie the dog trainer?" I said "Yes, how can I help you?" He told me they needed a dog for a movie and asked if I was interested. I said yes.
He told me he had trouble with the trainer he had originally hired and he had to fire the Poodle!
I was a bit amused. I never expected something like this. I was also a bit excited!
Then he let the whole cat out of the bag right after I said I would do it... "okay be here tomorrow with a dog that can speak on command because he has to let his movie owners know there is a ghost in the house! And one more thing "the dog has to keep silent when we need him to be!"
I was surprised but not deterred. I really did not have a dog who was trained to do what he wanted but I had the confidence or craziness to believe I could get it done.
Less than 24 hours. Hmmm? What dog to use??
I had a instinct I could use a dog named Abraham, a very large Great Pyrenees, German Shepherd mix. A dog that was shaped like a Great Pyrenees and just as large but with the colors of a German Shepherd.
I called his owner who happened to be my sister and asked if I could work with her dog so he could be in a movie that was filming the next day. She said yes but reminded me he was never trained for anything. I said that would be fine.
My thinking was it would take more time if I used a dog I had trained as there was paperwork involved that I would have to run around getting signed saying I had permission to use their dog in the film. Since my sister Michele lived only 4 blocks away, Abraham it was.
I actually only spent a couple of hours training him that night and about one in the morning and off we went!
He barked on cue and he kept quiet when I told him to. I had a lot of fun and the dog seemed very pleased with himself.
They used his footage and a star was born!
All and all it was a amazing 24 hours, from the time I found out they fired the poodle all the way till that night when I gave myself a reward, a special Italian pastry and I gave Abraham a delicious hamburger he seemed to really enjoy.
The next day we were both back to our simple but happy lives.
He in his favorite backyard and me at my favorite pass time, playing with my kids and training the other dogs and pups that needed to be trained.
Back to normal life, the best life of all. With a little flair of course!
