BY KATHY HALL
Correspondent
Above, Simon, a Chinese crested owned and handled by Lisa Christman, struts his stuff down the runway with a model in tow. Lisa Christman lives a dog lover’s ideal life. As the lead trainer and handler for the New York-based All Creatures Great and Small animal advertising agency, she not only takes her dogs to work with her, they often get paid for the day.
The 50-year-old agency provides animals for television, print and special events with clients ranging from Rosie O’Donnell and Toys “R” Us to P. Diddy and Neiman Marcus. It supplied animals for the “Captain Kangaroo” TV show for 30 years and one of its principals is a two-time Emmy Award winner.
The agency’s stable of models ranges from dogs, cats and farm animals to lions, elephants, tigers, domestic and exotic bugs and many others. According to the Web site, it is the only animal agency that employs a staff zoologist.
Christman, her husband and two daughters live in Shrewsbury and currently have six dogs. Three are champion Chinese cresteds – Tie, Simon and Scout – and three are rescue dogs – Murphy, a Dalmatian; Zoe, a border collie; and Phoebe, a miniature dachshund. Everyone but Phoebe has been in commercials.
Right, Christman works with Murphy during a dog obedience class. You can find Christman’s dogs in the 2005 Nordstrom holiday catalog as well as at high fashion shoots for Vogue, Glamour and Women’s Wear Daily. Scout’s photo has been used to promote Jennifer Lopez’s line of couture, and Murphy appeared in the Macy’s and Home Goods holiday commercials. Currently Murphy, Zoe and Scout can be seen in a McDonald’s commercial.
Christman began training dogs when she was 12 and entered her first formal class at 15.
She began competing in the dog sport of obedience in 1985 (the year she had her first child) and earned titles in events sponsored by the American Kennel Club (AKC), the United Kennel Club and the Canadian Kennel Club.
Obedience competitions require the dog and owner to complete an increasingly difficult series of highly structured exercises. According to the AKC’s Web site, obedience trials “showcase dogs that have been trained and conditioned to behave well in the home, in public places and in the presence of other dogs.”
Inset, Simon shows great form during agility exercises. It was the former exercise instructor’s skill in working her dogs in obedience that led to her career in advertising.
“About eight years ago I was approached by a different agency at an obedience trial where I was competing with Murphy and Zoe,” Christman explained. “They liked my dogs, their looks and their trainability. I worked for them for three years. They would call me when they needed a Dalmatian or a border collie. About four years ago, my name was given to All Creatures Great and Small. It started off [that] I would get calls like any model. Now I handle and train other people’s dogs as well as work my own.”
Christman also works with cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and ferrets.
“Guinea pigs are the hardest,” she explained. “They don’t know anything. You are just trying to capture the behavior.”
Christman’s own dogs can perform a variety of complex actions. For one commercial, she taught Murphy to push a toy fire engine across the set while children ran past him. In another, he had to allow children to put slippers around his neck, walk across the set and give the slippers to the “grandfather.”
Complex stunts often require breaking down the behavior into its component parts as well as a bit of sleight of hand. For an MTV shoot, Christman had to teach a dog to defecate on command. “I taught the dog to squat rather than sit,” she explained. “Then they slid in the fake dog poop.”
Occasionally Christman must teach a behavior that could contradict normal dog training. For an episode of “Chappelle’s Show,” Zoe needed to run out of a yard and chase the hamburger-eating comic, who was dressed in a fat suit, into the street where a Mini Cooper bounced off him.
“I spent a lot of years teaching her not to run into the street,” Christman said. “So we did two takes, he [Dave Chappelle] would drop the hamburger before he would run into the street and she would eat it. Then in the next scene she would jump on him.”
According to Christman, dogs who succeed at modeling need an extremely reliable “stay.”
“Train your dog that ‘stay’ means don’t move no matter where you are or what you are doing, no matter what position you are in,” she explained.
The high-stress world is no place for a doggie prima donna.
“You need a well-socialized dog that can thrive in all different scenarios, isn’t sound sensitive or overreactive to movement. If they get along with other dogs, that’s a plus,” she added. “The bottom line is a well-behaved, well-socialized dog – and isn’t that what we all want anyway?”
If your pet has the temperament and the basic skills, take some digital photos of the animal sitting, standing and in profile. Don’t worry if your dog doesn’t look like any recognizable breed. Unlike their human counterparts, animal models come in all shapes and sizes.
“It all starts with a picture,” Christman explained. “The people who are putting on the production have a certain look in mind. This week they are looking for short, fat dogs; next week they are looking for tall, thin dogs.”
According to Christman, sitting on command is the easiest thing to teach a dog, and the most important command is to come when called. While almost everyone can succeed in teaching “sit,” because dogs offer it all the time, a reliable recall is much more complex.
“It takes a long time. It’s a moving command, which makes it more complicated for the dog, which makes it harder for the trainer,” she explained.
When Christman isn’t working with her own dogs, she teaches other people’s canine companions in one of a dozen classes she offers each week. She also offers private training through her own business titled The Courteous Canine.
Like an increasing number of modern dog trainers, Christman advocates positive methods.
“My training philosophy is ‘Say it with cookies.’ I do all positive reinforcement, train with lots of praise and lots of treats,” she said.
Christman has been active in rescue since 1988 and currently works with the Animal Rescue Team in Lyndhurst.
“People should not choose a dog based on what it looks like.” Christman said. “They should be more diligent in researching the breed characteristics. They would find better matches if they base their decision on the dog’s DNA.”