Shaggy St Albans Dog Finds Fame

A SHAGGY dog has found stardom as an acting pet in a new TV advertising campaign. Amanda Jefferies two-year-old Irish Terrier Jack, from St Albans, is starring in the new advert for Butcher s dog food alongside an equally talented pointer-cross called Sc

A SHAGGY dog has found stardom as an acting pet in a new TV advertising campaign.

Amanda Jefferies' two-year-old Irish Terrier Jack, from St Albans, is starring in the new advert for Butcher's dog food alongside an equally talented pointer-cross called Scallywag.

The advert, which aired for the first time this week, begins in a boardroom with a boss talking to his employees about selling the new dog food and a photo of Jack and Scallywag is in the background.

When the room empties, the boss reveals himself to be the two dogs in disguise and they go on to talk to each other with Jack ironically speaking in a Welsh accent.

Amanda, of Camlet Way, and her daughter Amy signed Jack up to agency PetLondon Models in September and in November Jack was invited along to his first screen test and secured the role in the Butchers advert.

He spent the whole of the following day filming in London and the part that made the final cut required Amanda to feed him biscuits so that it looked as though he was talking.

Amanda said: "The reason Jack was chosen was that they didn't want the dogs to look like pedigrees. Although he is a pedigree I have let his fur grow and they said he looked like a lovely family dog which is what they wanted."

Irish Terriers are normally groomed by what's known as hand-stripping - a process whereby their fur is pulled out over a number of hours.

But Amanda decided that she didn't want to do this and let his fur grow. She said: "I like the shaggy look and I don't mind grooming him every day."

Jack is very popular with other dog walkers and school children in St Michael's Village and always gets lots of attention when he goes out.

She continued: "He is just a lovely, friendly, waggy-tailed dog. He is very loving and still wants to sit on your lap even though he is too big.

"Through having Jack in the last two years I've met so many wonderful people, it's opened up a whole new world for me."

Amanda said she was very proud of Jack, whom she described as the "love of her life", and she hoped that the advert would be the start of a lustrous acting career for him.

She added: "He does actually love Butcher's dog food, his favourite is fresh tripe and chicken."

To see Jack in action visit www.butcherspetcare.com/butchers/tv/new.html