What makes a great animal actor?
What training is required?
What if your pet is not trained?
Who handles animal actors while on set?
How much does an animal actor earn?
What are your dog's chances of being chosen for a job?
What are some examples of DAG members' work?

What do I need to do to get my pet listed with Dog Actors Guild?
What should the picture of Fido look like?
Why am I having trouble uploading photos?
What restrictions are there for Fido's listing?
I've just uploaded Fido's listing. Why isn't he online yet?
How does the "Contact This Dog Actor" form work?
I have to make changes to Fido's listing. How do I do this?




What makes a great animal actor?
Many of the animals you see in print and film work are pets who possess the right training and personality to qualify them as an animal actor. Successful animal actors are well trained, outgoing and comfortable with many different types of people, places and things. This includes being calm around distracting noises and movements.

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What training is required?
Being well trained is the most important requirement of an animal actor. There are thousands of cute animals, but only a small percentage of pets are well trained enough to be good on a busy film set.

While each job requires different skills, as a general rule, still photo shoots require that your pet be able to sit, lie down and stay on command, even when you are a good distance away. Each additional skill, such as being able to sit up on their hind legs, wave, lie on their back, etc. makes your pet that much more marketable.

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What if your pet is not trained?
A minimum of basic training is essential to the success of an animal actor. So, if your pet isn't trained, you should consider contacting a reputable trainer who is experienced with animal actors.

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Who handles animal actors while on set?
This depends on the individual job, on your skills and on your pet's skills. Sometimes it is better to have a professional trainer/handler on set and other times it is better for you to handle your own pet.

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How much does an animal actor earn?
Fees vary depending on:
a) the animal's skills
b) how many days the job requires
c) how many other animals are working the same job
d) other details of each individual job
Animal actors generally earn $50 to $400 per day.

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What are your dog's chances of being chosen for a job?
DAG places dogs on a regular basis in many forms of media including still photos, commercials and event work. However, we encourage our members to be realistic about their dog's chances of working consistently. As with everything, there are trends in animal casting. Sometimes certain breeds or types are consistently requested and other times not. A dog has the best chance of working if he is well trained and comfortable on a busy set. Therefore, we strongly encourage our members to work on behaviors that are necessary for this sort of work. This includes (but is not limited to): sit, down, stay, look, head down, wave.

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What are some examples of DAG members' work?
Pedigree
J Crew
The Sundance Channel
Polo Ralph Lauren
Land's End
The Today Show
Live with Regis and Kelli
Macy's
Lord & Taylor
PearlVision
Old Navy
Pedigree
Heartgard
Petmate Products
Lupine Leashes and Collars
Farnam Pet Products
Simple Solutions Pet Products
Nylabone Pet Products
Hollywood Dog Magazine
New York Dog Magazine
Barrons
ABC News (multiple cities)
NBC News (multiple cities)
CBS News (multiple cities)
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
Trade Show Appearances

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What do I need to do to get my pet listed with Dog Actors Guild?
Fill out the registration form, complete the Dog Actor's listing and upload up to three (landscape-oriented) photographs of your pet (with at least one clear head shot and one clear full body shot) with a $25.00 administration fee. Your listing with the Dog Actors Guild is renewable annually.

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What should the picture of Fido look like?
All your photos should be landscape orientation (that means that they're wider than they are tall). When you upload them they will get adjusted - if necessary - to 200x150 pixels. This is proportionally the same dimension as 800x600, which is almost certainly the proportions that your digital camera gives you... so if you've taken a picture with a digital camera and it's the right way up, you're golden.

One photo should show Fido head on, as clearly as possible. You may include up to three others if you want... at least one should be a full body shot. Please be aware that we have a four photo maximum!

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Why am I having trouble uploading photos? (It says "Invalid File Type")
All your photos must be JPEGs to show up on the site. This is the format that most digital cameras give you (unless you have a fancy one and you've been shooting in RAW mode). Make sure that the photos you're trying to upload are, in fact, JPEGs. Also, you should be sure that the files have ".jpg" extensions so that we can recognize them.

If your photos aren't JPEGs, you'll need to resave them as such (and don't forget to include the ".jpg" extension at the end of the name).

NAMING TIPS: Please be sure your photo filenames don't contain spaces or other non alphanumeric characters! If they do, they won't upload properly!

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What restrictions are there for Fido's listing?
Your listing must be legitimate. If your photo is indecent, inappropriate, or if your listing contains any form of advertising we will NOT publish it and we will not charge your credit card. That means that the photos MUST be of your dog, who in this case is Fido. It also means that the "Training" or "Phobia" boxes contain text which only refers to Fido's training or phobias... no ads or links to other websites, please!

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I've just uploaded Fido's listing. Why isn't he online yet?
As soon as you have completed the payment page, our administrative staff review the listing to confirm that it meets our guidelines (see "restrictions", above). For this, we need to use actual people. They try to review your listing as soon as possible, but we have to give them a little time off too! So if you've uploaded your listing in the middle of the night or over a holiday weekend, please be patient. As soon as your listing is approved, you'll get an email telling you that Fido's online. By the way, we won't charge your credit card until this step is completed.

Please allow 24 hours for this process! Like it says, we use actual people for this!

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How does the "Contact This Dog Actor" form work?
As soon as a photographer, casting agent or other talent scout submits the form, it goes directly to our communication expert (the dachshund). We review it briefly to be sure it isn't inappropriate in any way, and if it's okay, we allow it to continue to the dog actor (or his or her human servant). We will deny any communication attempt if it is indecent or otherwise improper.

After this first contact, it's up to the dog actor (or servant) to reply directly to the agent and we are no longer involved in any way.

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I have to make changes to Fido's listing. How do I do this?
If you require changes to your dog's listing, just go to the member page, log in, and click on "Unpublish and Edit Listing" for the published listing that you want to edit. Please note that we'll have to take your listing offline while an administrator reviews the changes; you should allow 24 hours for your listing to be up again.

Please also note that we only allow three edits per year, so please be judicious!

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