Dog used to film ‘Call of the Wild’ movie once was a starving stray in Kansas shelter

The dog used to film the upcoming “The Call of the Wild” movie starring Harrison Ford had a tough life before his Hollywood debut.

He was a starving stray that lived in an animal shelter before a lucky adoption.

Buckley was “wandering the streets” in Emporia, Kansas, emaciated and 30 pounds underweight, according to Facebook video produced by the movie with The Pet Collective.

The Emporia Animal Shelter took him, and he lived there for about three weeks.

That’s about the time Jessica Steele-Sanders found Buckley online while her husband, Chris Sanders, was filming “The Call of the Wild.” She was searching for a pet because her dog Brody was aging, and she wanted to find a similar breed.

Steele-Sanders came across Buckley, a cross between a farm collie and St. Bernard, which is the same description Jack London used to describe the dog Buck in his 1903 book that the movie is based upon.

So, Steele-Sanders rented an SUV and drove to Kansas with her dog Brody to adopt Buckley.

At the same time, Sanders was on the film set directing the movie — and having a difficult time finding a stand-in for the dog in the movie, he said.

A stand-in usually is used for “light and camera” rehearsals. The film is a hybrid of live-action and animation that uses “cutting edge visual effects and animation technology in order to render the animals in the film as fully photorealistic,” according to the movie’s website.

It’s unclear how much screen time Buckley received.

Nonetheless, Buckley was a serendipitous discovery for the filmmakers.

“Once of the craziest things is we’re on set, we’re getting pretty deep into things and here comes Jess with this dog she found in Kansas, and he’s the exact right dog that we needed,” Sanders said in the video.

There was an actor standing in for Buck at the time, but the actual dog had yet to be created, Sanders said.

Buckley stepped into the role — and quickly began enjoying a lavish lifestyle. One of his first tasks was to eat a stack of pancakes for a scene in the film, Steele-Sanders said.

“So he goes from, you know, being on the streets — hungry and sad and cold — and now he’s on the set of a major motion picture being asked to eat pancakes, please,” Steele-Sanders said.

Here’s the entire video.

“The Call of the Wild” will be in theaters on Feb. 21.

This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Dog used to film ‘Call of the Wild’ movie once was a starving stray in Kansas shelter."