12 Things You Didn't Know About John Wick's Dogs

Summary

Andy, the first John Wick dog, was motivated by bacon grease to hit his marks on set with Keanu Reeves.
Practical stunt work in John Wick movies extends to the dogs, with real animal actors used in action sequences.
CGI was only used in John Wick 3 for a scene where the dogs needed to play-attack villains’ crotches.

John Wick ‘s dogs have become a huge part of the franchise and one of the fan-favorite elements of the movies. Dogs have been so centric to the John Wick films that they’ve acted as motivation for Wick’s revenge, helped him in his recovery, and aided John in fights. The first John Wick movie was all about his dog, as the bad guys killed the pup (Daisy) that was sent to him by his deceased wife. This kicked off John’s violent path, but there were more dogs to come in the future movies.

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John got another dog, a pit bull, in the John Wick ending, and he has been his good boy and companion ever since. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum introduces combat dogs, and John Wick: Chapter 4’s dog brings the franchise full circle. The dogs have played almost as big a role as any human and are more trustworthy than most. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that there are many dog-related facts pertaining to the action series, and there’s more to the John Wick dogs than the movies reveal.

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12 The Beagle’s Acting Debut

Andy Was Purchased From A Breeder Purely For The Film

Andy took some time off, spending it on the Animal Actors International farm in New Jersey.

Daisy, the John Wick dog whose death inspired the line “Yeah, I’m thinking I’m back,” was played by an animal actor named Andy. It was actually his first role, at eight months old, purchased from a breeder specifically for the film. According to Animal Actors International trainer Kim Krafsky, a beagle was picked because “There’s this thing about them, they’re just cute” (via New York Post). Andy took to the press circuit with the rest of the cast.

Though a relatively brief role in the first John Wick movie, Andy is the most important of the dogs in the franchise as the puppy’s death kicks off the whole story. Krafsky described Andy’s “rock star” quality for winning the dog the part over the other candidates. He also noted that Keanu Reeves and Andy hit it off quickly which helped to establish the necessary bond. Luckily, Andy got a better ending than Daisy as Krasky revealed (via Business Insider):

“A friend of mine took him to live in their home, and his name was changed to Wick by their kids,”

11 John Wick’s Dog Almost Survived

Daisy Living Would’ve Changed The Whole Story

The death of the dog Daisy in the first John Wick movie is a painful moment. Not only is it always hard to see a defenseless animal killed in a film, but the personal story behind John receiving Daisy, a final gift from his late wife to convince him to live a happy life, makes it all the more heartbreaking. However, John Wick director Chad Stahelski revealed that they almost didn’t go through with the dog’s death. The director explained:

”
We were risking credit cards, a house mortgage, everything. [Producer] Basil Iwanyk put his company up. And then you have that day where you realize we’re doing all this and we’re killing a puppy? I thought we would never come back from it.
”

Given the level of success the John Wick movies have reached, it is interesting to look back at how much of the risk everyone was taking with the first movie. While it is hard to kill a dog in a movie and not turn off the entire audience, Stahelski made the right choice in sticking with the dog’s death. Anything else would have felt like a cop-out and robbed John Wick’s violent journey of so much of its impact.

10 The Pit Bulls Were Played By Two Dogs

Burton And Cha Cha

Unfortunately, Daisy dies in the first 10 minutes of John Wick, but in the film’s final scenes, John adopts a pit bull to save it from being put down. Despite the filmmakers being willing to kill off the puppy in the first movie, they don’t push their luck with Bubba and ensure that he is safe for the remainder of the franchise, even if John’s own life only gets more and more violent.

This John Wick dog has been played by two different animals in both John Wick:Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Chapter 2 saw the part played by Burton (who Keanu took to calling Bubba), and then Cha Cha in Parabellum (via Pup Help). John’s second sidekick has yet to be given a name, likely because the assassin doesn’t want to get too attached. Not even John Wick: Chapter 4 revealed the John Wick dog’s name.

9 Dogs Fought Horses During John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’s Production

Cha Cha Came Out Unharmed

A common saying in Hollywood goes” “Never work with children or animals,” inferring that they will steal every scene they’re in, and often make shooting said scenes more difficult. This was definitely the case while filming the third John Wick movie in New York. The animal actor Cha Cha, the second dog who played Wick’s pit bull, picked a fight with a horse. Luckily Cha Cha came out of the altercation unharmed. Visual effects supervisor Rob Nederhorst shared the account of the showdown on his Instagram page.

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“normally I wouldn’t post #johnwick3 #casting images but dammit I’m making an exception. This is cha cha. She’s Johns #dog. She’s awfully friendly. I got a big hug from her just after this. :).”

It was likely caused by the onset of chaos due to the stress of shooting in such a loud and high-pressure environment, especially as even the horses were involved in the action sequences. While moments like this can highlight the struggles and potential issues with having animals on movie sets, it is also a reminder that these performers are still animals who sometimes embrace their animal instincts.

8 Five Dogs Played The Malinois Shepherds

Santana, Tai, Sam 7, Boyca, And Ikar

In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,John Wick calls in a favor from the manager of the Casablanca branch of the Continental Hotel, Sofia Al-Awar (Halle Berry). it is clear from their first meeting that John and Sofia have a complex history and one that she is not too happy about. Despite the differences that exist between them, they are more alike than she may be willing to admit, including their love of dogs.

The character constantly has two Belgian Malinois Shepherds by her side, but these dogs weren’t played by only two dogs. They were in fact played by five separate stunt dogs so that different animal actors could be used for different stunts, and so that no individual dog became too stressed or fatigued. The John Wick dogs were named; Santana, Tai, Sam 7, Boyca, and Ikar, and each had a special relationship with their on and off-screen handler, Halle Berry (via The Ringer).

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7 Halle Berry Didn’t Need A Dog Trainer In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Halle Berry Bonded With Her On-Screen Pups

Despite the fact that dogs are such a big part of the John Wick franchise, it is not until the third movie in the series that any dogs really get in on the action. They might not be John Wick’s dogs, but Sofia’s Belgian Shepherds steal the show in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. They pull off impressive stunts during the Casablanca shootout, but there wasn’t an animal handler just off-camera or hiding in the scene. The Belgian Shepherds were basically Halle Berry’s dogs.

Following her casting as Sofia, Berry had a sit-down chat with the directors, in which they discussed how hands-on the role would be. Not only did she take on combat and weapons training regimes as vigorous as Reeves, but she also spent time training and bonding with the dogs. Berry explained the intense connection she formed with the impressive animals (via Slashfilm):

“I would spend four days a week out there with the dogs — two, three hours a day — and I would just go through the drills with them, just like the trainers. As the trainers were learning who they were, I was learning who they were.”

6 There Were Cats On Set Of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Stray Cats Made It Difficult For The Dogs To Behave

The John Wick filming locations offer another way of elevating the action franchise with some stunning locales including in the movies. Of course, each filming location comes with its own challenges and that includes when it comes to the dogs used in the movies. During the filming of their big action set piece in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Halle Berry and the filmmakers only really had one problem keeping the dogs well-behaved.

The scene was filmed in the North African country Morroco, an area in which stray cats roam in large numbers and care little for Hollywood film sets. Berry spoke highly of the training and obedience of these animals, but just as with the run-in with the horse, these are animals at the end of the day. According to John Wick 3’s Halle Berry:

”
There’s cats everywhere and when my dogs saw cats they went ballistic. We’d be in the middle of a scene and all of the sudden, a cat would come strolling by and off goes the dog. Because at the end of the day they’re animals and nature says, you know, go get that cat.”

5 No CGI Dogs Are In John Wick

The Dogs Did Their Own Stunts

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Practical stunt work is a big part of the John Wick franchise with the vast majority of what’s seen achieved by actors and stuntmen. There are many action sequences in the John Wick movies that seem like they would be impossible to pull off practically, yet the movies commit to making these moments as real as possible. This extends to the John Wick dogs as well.

In a podcast, director Chad Stahelski weighed in on the dogs, insisting that they were all real in the movie, including in the action sequences. The dog attack scene in John Wick 3 is a particularly stunning sequence when considering that all of the dogs are real in that moment. However, Stahelski also admits that there are a lot of challenges that come with including animals in such sequences and he admits that he doesn’t see the distinction between a dog acting and a dog acting like an animal (via ReelBlend):

”
There’s no such thing as a movie dog. It’s just a dog doing his thing on set
.
When a dog attacks, it’s actually trying to injure a person
.”

4 The Wall Climb Really Happened

Halle Berry’s Dogs Had The Film’s Best Stunts

Keanu Reeves is rightfully praised for the stunt work that he pulls off in the John Wick movies, but there are some incredible stunts in the movies that don’t involve the star at all. In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, there is a stunt where one of Sofia’s dogs leaps from her back and climbs up a second-story balcony. There was no CGI involved. The film’s visual effects supervisor, Rob Nederhorst, pointed out on Twitter that all dog-related stunts were real, including the wall climb (via The Slate):

”
The dog climbed up that wall. Our action team was incredible and I am honored to have worked with them
.”

It’s actually well within the realms of reality for a dog to clear a 5-foot jump with a running start or to scramble up a 15-foot wall, and that’s without the added benefit of a Halle Berry leg-up. While these movies embrace outrageous action, the John Wick 3 dog action scenes have been praised by experts for how accurately they depict dogs in combat scenarios, including the scaling of the wall:

“Scaling the wall to bite the subject is very realistic. In the military it wouldn’t be so realistic only because if we had a threat up high we would just neutralize that threat. But if we wanted to get a dog up high that is a possibility.”

3 The Beagle Needed Bacon To Hit His Mark

Andy Was Motivated By Breakfast Meat

Andy, the animal actor who played the first John Wick dog, Daisy, was only eight months old when he took on the pivotal role in the 2014 movie. In that respect, it’s not surprising that he wasn’t the most well-trained of animal actors. Though the dog formed a bond with Keanu Reeves before filming began, even some of the cozy scenes between Daisy and John required a little extra motivation for the newcomer canine actor.

In the opening scenes of the film, Andy is shown palling around the house with Keanu Reeves, but he often misses his mark. In fact, the only way to entice Andy into jumping onto John’s bed and licking his face was to spread bacon grease on the actor’s cheeks (via Pup Help). Despite it not being authentic affection, Andy’s appetite sold the moment well within the movie.

2 CGI Was Only Used So The John Wick 3 Dogs Could Bite Villains In The Crotch

The One Instance Of CGI For A Dog Scene

While the filmmakers loved to praise the stuntwork – humans and dogs alike – and practical effects, there was at least one area with CGI. Trainers point dogs in a direction, and the dogs do what their training calls for, but dogs are not actors. For many reasons, a dog cannot bite an actor in the crotch and do so practically and safely. In the third John Wick movie, the dogs were taught to play-attack the bad guys, but it needed to look real.

CGI cones were placed over the stunt performer’s crotches, so CGI could make the damage caused by the John Wick dogs look real in the end. It is likely that Jermone Flynn, the Game of Thrones actor who plays the villainous Berrada who is targeted by the dog, was happy this was one moment the filmmakers were happy to hand over to the visual effects team. However, the moment is sold believably well in the movie itself.

1 Different Dogs Played The John Wick: Chapter 4 Dog

Five Different Dogs Worked With Mr. Nobody

“
Not only did I get acquainted with them, I worked to understand their energy and build a believable relationship
.”

It seems like each entry in the John Wick franchise has its own dog ready to steal the show. When it comes to the final installment in the franchise, the introduction of a new human character leads to the introduction of a new memorable canine as well. While Mr. Nobody’s dog in John Wick: Chapter 4 doesn’t have a name and is only referred to in production notes as the “faithful accomplice,” Stahelski became extremely close with the dog, or the five dogs, that played the combat-loving canine and spoke to their different qualities (via AS):

“
Not only did I get acquainted with them, I worked to understand their energy and build a believable relationship
.
Each one had a different personality, energy, and skill set. One dog did the tugging, another fetched
.”

With the John Wick story kicking off with a puppy, it is endearing how the filmmakers have continued to incorporate dogs into the saga in worthwhile ways. This is elevated by the fact that everyone involved seems to have great respect and admiration for the animal performers.

John Wick Created by Derek Kolstad First Film John Wick Cast Keanu Reeves , Ian McShane , Lance Reddick , Willem Dafoe , Michael Nyqvist , Alfie Allen , Laurence Fishburne , Anjelica Huston , Bill Skarsgard , Mel Gibson , Donnie Yen

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Category: Entertainment