Anne's Animal Capers

THEY say every dog has its day – and if Anne Lunt has anything to do with it, they certainly do! As the brains behind Animal Capers, Anne and husband Clive, have been supplying dogs and cats to the industry for decades – and in recognition of their dedication, the Manchester-based business has been named August Facility of the Month by Northwest Vision and Media, which works on behalf of the region’s film, TV and digital content industries.

“So often our animals are the stars of the show, so it’s nice to be recognised for the work that Clive and I do, too,” says Anne. Without doubt, the couple’s most famous pooch placement is Great Dane, Schmeichel, currently enjoying the limelight on the country’s leading soap.

“Schmeichel is definitely our most famous dog – he’s been in Coronation Street for four years, although it’s not the original Schmeichel you see on screen at the moment,” confides Anne, who also supplies Ozzy, the black Labrador seen on The Street.

Just over three years ago the original Schmeichel had to undergo a serious spine operation. “He wasn’t really up to working anymore after that, so now we keep him as our pet. It’s his understudy, Schmeichel 2, who is currently on screen. We’ve also got Schmeichel Junior at home, a puppy of seven months, who will one day take over the role.”

The Lunts’ pedigree as prime animal providers dates back fourty years. “That’s when we first started showing dogs and teaching ring-craft,” explains Anne. “Over the years people got to know us, then one day we were asked by Eric Broadhurst at Granada if we could supply certain animals for their programmes.”

The couple were happy to continue this ad hoc relationship for many years, until their Granada contact moved to Scotland two years ago and they decided to go it alone.

“We set up the Animal Capers business because we already had so much experience, so it made sense to broaden the services we offer,” explains Anne, who can provide any animal for film work, although usually requests are for cats and dogs.

“We travel across the country with our animals, wherever the work is, we go. We’ve done lots of commercial work, our white Persian cat was in the CSL advert recently, and we’ve provided animals for programmes like Common As Much and Hound of the Baskeville,” adds Anne, who says producers rely on her to pick exactly the right pet for the part.

“You need to look for a well behaved animal, which is why we mostly use our show contacts to source animals as they’re used to being handled and have exactly the right temperament for film and TV work. And because we’ve been in the business for so long I usually know someone who has exactly what a production is looking for.”

There is one breed, however, which despite Anne’s best efforts she’s so far been unable to place on TV – the Bull Dog. “We breed Bull Dogs and it’s our mission to try and get them a good press,” confides Ann. “All too often everyone thinks of Pit Bulls, but Bull Dogs are actually nothing like Pit Bulls, they’re really cute – it’s such a shame I’ve never been asked to supply one for TV as they are one of the most loving of all the dog breeds to work with.”