As if the change from sun, sand, and bikinis to ice, snow, and mukluks weren’t enough, Ted’s also forced to change his opinions on his canine companions. "Ted’s entire experience with dogs is how he hates the little yip-yip dog next door to him, and he suddenly gets stuck with the care and feeding and racing of a seven-husky team," notes director Brian Levant. "It’s great comic fodder, in his relationship with the animals both physically and emotionally."
Working with animals was a challenge, but an area in which the filmmakers are well-experienced. "Everyone always says, ‘don’t make movies with children or animals,’ but I’ve made a career out of it," says Levant, who had previously directed such films as "Beethoven" and "The Flintstones." "But I have six dogs of my own, so I wasn’t as intimidated as I should’ve been about doing a film where every other scene you’ve got at least seven and as many as 80 dogs on the set at the same time."
"The writers layered the characterizations of each of these dogs, gave each of them a very definite persona," says producer Jordan Kerner. "You get to know each of them as the story unfolds."
DEMON is the leader of the team. As the brains of the outfit, he’s responsible for guiding the rest of the team in every respect. And Demon lives up to his name, with a heavy black brow doing nothing to hide his evil intentions. But despite his wicked visage, D.J., the dog that plays Demon, couldn’t be a sweeter puppy. "He’s a very sweet, very loving animal, we found out once we were on the set, but it took only one glance and we knew we had our man," says director Brian Levant.
"I knew immediately we’d found the perfect dog," producer Jordan Kerner concurs. "We saw this mask and these blue eyes… I knew we’d found our Demon."
But D.J. almost didn’t get the chance to play the role. "At first, we were going to cast Alaskan Huskies," Kerner says. "We had even cast a number of the dogs. But then, we found out about the availability of Siberian Huskies, who have these piercing blue or brown eyes, and come in an array of colors – black and white, gray and white, or red. And that’s when we set out to find our new team."
Point Dogs are the muscle of the group. Located directly behind the lead dog, they follow his lead and area the tough guys of the team. MACK and DIESEL are Ted’s two point dogs, a pair of fun-loving, redheaded twins. For these two husky Huskies, the filmmakers wanted a pair that would stand out from the rest of the pack. They found two brother Red Huskies – the only red dogs in the group – named FLOYD and SHADOW. "Their characters are pretty close to brainless," says Head Animal Trainer Coordinator Stacy Basil. "Not in reality, but they have that look."
Behind them are Duchess and Scooper. DUCHESS is the girl of every dog’s dreams. Cool and aloof, she’s the only female on the team, and as a result, the object of the other six Huskies’ affections. Of course, she doesn’t share the feelings of any of her teammates. TIKA plays the part with regal authority. SCOOPER doesn’t let a little thing like the frozen tundra bother him. He’s happy to work the earth, finding what’s buried, what’s beneath the solid ground. As the class clown, his antics are often causing mischief, but he’s a good dog at heart. SPEEDY plays the plowing pooch.
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