Uggie, the famous mutt in the Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated The Artist , will retire after the Oscars. The ten-year-old Jack Russell terrier, who has been cruelly overlooked by the Academy when it comes to Oscar nom-nom-inations, will soon be able to retreat to a more sedate life. A dog’s life, even.
Omar Von Muller, Uggie’s trainer, told Life & Style magazine:
“I’m retiring him. He may do a couple of little things here and there because he enjoys them, but I don’t want to put him through long hours anymore. He’s getting tired.”
One of those little jobs may be Uggie’s new role as a greeting cards cover dog, as we reported earlier this week .
Uggie, who has been nominated for two Golden Collar Awards, has enjoyed a towering year in cinema. As well as starring in The Artist , he comfortably out-acted Robert Pattinson and Reese Wetherspoon in Water for Elephants . Almost 10,000 people backed a Facebook campaign to have Uggie nominated for an Oscar.
Despite his retirement, fans of Uggie could be seeing more of his successor soon: Omar Von Muller is currently training up Dash, Uggie’s little brother who has already acted as stand-in for his more famous brother. Von Muller says:
“I think he will be fine with Dash stepping in. Uggie is 10 years old and has done a lot of work; he wants to relax at home. If somebody wants to do a movie with Uggie, they’ll just have to deal with Dash!”
Finally, Von Muller thinks Uggie should at least be invited to the Oscars ceremony:
“I hope he gets to go. They should give him an envelope to bring to Billy Crystal.”
Yes. YES. That needs to happen.
