Stray dog turns movie star

Zeus the dog from Randpark Ridge stars in a movie to be launched at selected Ster-Kinekor cinemas on 8 January.

Zeus was rescued in a frail condition by the Randburg SPCA at a nearby informal settlement in 2013 and they helped to get him back into shape. He stayed at the SPCA for three weeks until his saviour, Sandy Cammell came with her entire family and adopted him. “My family fell in love with him when they saw him despite his condition,” said Cammell.

Cammell adopted him when he was was very thin at three months old and brought him back to life. “It took about a month to get him into a good condition and to pick up his weight,” Cammell said. When he had fully recovered, Zeus became a hyperactive dog and that is when Cammell took him to the Dog Training Academy and started training him herself. Cammell said that she found her passion for training dogs through Zeus.

After some training Zeus then became an advanced trained dog in agility and sniffer training. Soon after he joined the Animal Acting Academy in 2014 and then was picked to star as the leading dog role in the movie Paw Paw vir my Darling in 2015 where he played Tsjaka. Zeus attended the red carpet movie premiere in November 2015 and enjoyed the glitz and glamour in a bow tie.

Zeus has had great accomplishments throughout the years such as obtaining his Expert International Trick certificate and will soon be getting his Champion Trick title, and he has also been in a Lays and Smart Car TV ad.

He received lovely gifts from Cammell with his salary from the movie and the rest of it will be put away for his medical expenses in the future.

Cammell, who is also a dog trainer by profession for the Dog Training Academy, urges community members to go to the SPCA and adopt rescue dogs, “Adopting a helpless dog can turn into something amazing with time and effort put into it,” she concluded.

Details: Sandy Cammell sandy@earthpets.co.za

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Assorted animals up for adoption at SPCA Randburg