Sled Dog Drawing Call of the Wild Cover Art

While watching the canine-centered action-adventure "The Call of the Wild" (in theaters Fri), we couldn't help only wonder: Why is the star dog Buck a lumbering St. Bernard mix and instead of a husky?

Contempo screen adaptations of Jack London'south famed 1903 novel about the Klondike Gilded Rush have featured Cadet as a croaking (in the 2009 "Call of the Wild" 3D film) or a Malamute/wolf hybrid (in the 2000 TV series).

We asked Harrison Ford, the new John Thornton, what gives?

"Buck is not a husky," says Ford, in the way merely Harrison Ford tin can. He points out that the estimator-generated Buck (played past motion-capture player Terry Notary) actually matches the breed in London'southward novel. "Dogs were of such value to those who were pursuing Klondike aureate because there wasn't another way of getting effectually. They needed strong, trainable dogs."

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Managing director Chris Sanders says it'due south clear how widespread the croaking misconception is every time he posts a pic of his new Buck on Instagram.

"People either say, 'Skillful, that'south how the domestic dog was described in the volume' or (they're) completely confused and upset. They're like, 'It's supposed to be a husky!' " says Sanders. "My wife is quick to point out, 'If yous look at the volume, information technology's really not a husky.' "

Before he's stolen from his comfy, Santa Clara Valley home and sold into the dangerous life of a sled dog, Buck is described by London as a powerful mix – the son of Elmo, a huge St. Bernard, and mom Shep, a Scotch shepherd. Later on, London explains that Cadet, who breaks gratuitous, succeeds in the wild considering of his size (140 pounds) and his keen intelligence.

London was inspired by a St. Bernard-shepherd mix owned past his friends Marshall Latham Bond and his blood brother Louis Whitford Bond, later writing, "Yes, Buck is based on your canis familiaris."

"When you await at the films, they are not always bodily representations of the Jack London story," says Tjiska Van Wyk, executive director for the management group running the Jack London Historic State Park in Glen Ellen, California.

In existent life, the Klondike work dog breeds were varied, with Julian, a mighty yellow mastiff, being one of the most heroic and famous, says Jonathan Hubbell, a park ranger at Seattle'southward Gilt Rush National Historical Park.

"But this movie Cadet is more true to the volume than others," says Hubbell.

The outset moving picture, a 1935 version starring Clark Gable as Thornton, featured Buck as a vicious St. Bernard mix. Sanders wanted to make a faithful version of the novel, with Cadet at the middle. He began with a CG version of a similar breed, a Bernese mount dog.

But during filming last year, the director'southward married woman, Jessica Steele-Sanders, scoured Petfinder for a household pet and found a St. Bernard and shepherd mix in Kansas – named, accordingly, Buckley.

"She collection to Kansas, paid $25 and then drove back to set up," says Sanders. "Everybody took one wait at him and said, 'Let's make that the dog.' It was almost exact. The way his face up looked, the mode his optics looked. Everything."

The filmmakers had a star that could make appearances on the set and at premieres. The Sanders family unit even formally shortened their new pet's name to lucifer the volume'due south hero.

Telling the story with a calculator-generated dog allowed "Call of the Wild" to be told from Buck'due south indicate of view.

"We wanted to tell 'Call of the Wild' as it was written, with Buck equally the protagonist," says screenwriter Michael Green. "Other films have told a version of John Thorton's story with a dog at his side. We were able to make Buck's journey something we could all experience."

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