Stacy Basil, Head Animal Trainer and Coordinator, was the person in charge of the animals’ training and welfare. She searched all over North America for the Siberian Huskies that would play the mushing team in the film. "The animals are like your kids," Basil says. "If they’re healthy, you’re a good trainer."
During production, when they were not working, the animals had the run of the P&E – Park and Exhibition – in Victoria, British Columbia. The building on the fairgrounds, originally a roller rink, was transformed into the "Regency Hotel of dog kennels," according to Kerner. "Every dog had a lot of room to run around, and it’s where they spent most of their time," he says. This enormous area served as the main headquarters for the dogs.
When production moved to location shooting, the production built 44 portable "canine condos" to follow them. "I can tell you that these dogs had better accommodations than any cast member except for Cuba and James," Kerner laughs. "These looked great."
The dogs’ "condos" were heated to a temperature of 55-60 degrees to give the dogs a break from the below-zero chill. However, the dogs never complained about the outside chill: according to Basil, that’s what they like best. "Huskies live to run," she says. "It’s what they live for. And when the temperature drops to about minus-ten degrees, that’s just perfect for them."
Each of the dogs had his own personal trainer, and many had their own hair and make-up artist. "We had dog hair colorists and fluffers," Kerner says. "The dogs always looked great."
Basil and Kerner attest that spoiling the dogs was necessary. "The dogs were all mushers, but Cuba’s team had never run together as a group," Kerner says. "Not only that, but these were people’s pets – they were not movie dogs. In most cases, we had to teach the dogs to act, and be able to send them home as if they had been on a vacation!"
"When you do that, the dog needs a lot of love," Basil says. By having each trainer give personal attention to one dog, the filmmakers found the best way to train their stars. The hardest thing, Basil says, "was training them to stay. They just wanted to run with the sled. That was definitely the highlight of their day."
Even with all the pampering, Basil insists that "the most important thing we did was plan. I worked closely with the stunt coordinator and the first assistant director to ensure the safety of every shot. We never just ‘did a shot’ – every shot was thought out, storyboarded, and choreographed until it was safe. If it wasn’t safe, we didn’t do it."
The Canadian Humane Society was on-set to keep track of the animals’ treatment. "They documented everything, during every day of our shoot, to make sure the animals weren’t mistreated in any way. Any time an animal appears to be in peril in the film, it’s a movie trick."
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