The Friend (2025)

In the scene where the actress goes to a animal shelter and they bring out Apollo on a leash, prior to filming, we worked with the trainer to make sure everything was sanitized. Throughout the day I assured all areas where production dogs would work were sanitized prior. We also made sure produ8ction dogs were kept separate from shelter dogs. On action, an actor lead Apollo through the hallway of animal shelter and handed it to actress.

For all the scenes where we see the actress in a cab with the dog, trainers brought dog to taxi and sat him in stationary car. They filmed him in stationary cab. Whenever they drive with the dog inside, the trainer was also in the car leaning down.

When she tries to pull the dog out of cab but he won’t come out, and she finally pulls him out, the streets were cut off to the public by production.

In the scenes where she enters lobby with Apollo and walks him upstairs, the trainer was always off-camera, letting the dog know he was safe.

In all the scenes filmed in the actress’ apartment, the set was located in the apartment that was built on the stage. The action took place in the living room and bedroom portions of the apartment. Production filmed different pieces of the dog’s action across multiple set-ups so that the dog only had to do one specific part of the action at a time. For all the action like the dog jumping on the bed, grabbing the shirt out of the actress’s laundry basket, the trainer was off-camera cuing the dog.

Whenever we see dog eating from bowl we made sure the food was healthy and matched his diet. In the scene where the dog is on the ferry, trainers made sure dog wasn’t intimidated by being on the boat or feeling the waves. For any shots of dog walking along the pier with the actress, props set up a tent at their start and end mark and put down rubber matting along their path from tent to tent. This was because it was raining and the matting was to keep dog’s paws safe from any possible splinters or sharp nail edges on the pier.

In the scene where the dog is at the vet’s office, production wanted dog to stand on an exam table as an actor playing a vet examines him and an actress stands nearby as well. At one point in the scene, the vet would cue dog to sit on the table. We talked with trainer about actions the vet can take and where he can/can’t touch dog prior. The dog is a show dog and very comfortable being touched anywhere, but I confirmed that when the vet uses an otoscope to look into dog’s ears he not actually insert anything into his ears.

In the scene where the actress walks dog in Central Park, prior to each scene we discussed the animal actions with handlers. We checked all park paths and had them swept prior. We assured PAs locked up paths to prevent outside dogs from entering scenes. We also communicated to production that for the dog park scene there would be no dogs working off leash as I had various safety concerns.

Whenever we see actress walk through city crowds with dog on leash, we made it clear that due to the large amount of pedestrians and cars the street crossing could only happen when they had the right of way with no exceptions. The light was 40 seconds long, so production tried to time the scene out so it would be one fluid motion. We also made sure that people in shot were aware that this was film shoot.

In the scenes where the actress gives dog a bath, we made sure they used non-toxic bubble bath.

In the scene where actress is on the train with the dog, trainers made sure dog was acclimated to the trains the depots. Dog didn’t react negatively at all.