Meet the Massey-connected dog who stars alongside Brad Pitt

Seeka is a German Shepherd owned by an academic within Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University’'s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He is also one of four dogs who play Odin, alongside Brad Pitt, in the new film Heart of the Beast. The film was shot in Aotearoa New Zealand, with Seeka spending about six months training for and filming the movie.

The story began when animal trainer Andrew Simpson from Instinct Animals for Film was scouting the country for German Shepherds. His search eventually took him to Heisenberg Kennels in Bulls, where Seeka's father Uber lives. A post in a private Facebook group asked for dogs that looked like Uber, and Seeka's owner was contacted unexpectedly by Mr Simpson, who wanted to meet their dog.

At first, the idea that Seeka might be involved in a Hollywood film seemed far-fetched. But Mr Simpson's references checked out and he came to meet Seeka, taking photographs and getting to know him. The production team was impressed and eventually chose four dogs to play Odin: Uber, Seeka and Seeka's brothers Ryker and Hondo.

That meant Seeka had to go to dog school.

Each dog had an individual trainer who worked with them around the clock, teaching them everything from running to a mark and speaking on command, to positioning their bodies and heads, walking alongside Mr Pitt, sitting, standing, lying down and crawling. They were also taught not to look at the camera.

Seeka's owner visited Queenstown partway through the six-month production and saw first-hand how much work went into preparing the dogs. They watched the training and saw how Mr Pitt was working with the dogs to build a relationship with them. They even crawled into the pretend aeroplane used to acclimatise the dogs to the set.

There was also a fake fish. Seeka had to learn to pull it from a river during filming. Seeka loved it.

His time on set included some of the film's major sequences, including the opening road sequence, scenes walking alongside Mr Pitt, a bear encounter, setting up camp on a beach, fishing, walking along a ridge and several scenes involving water. One of Seeka’s more memorable moments came during a sequence where he had to swim across a river while Mr Pitt waded alongside him.

There was no need to teach Seeka to love the water.

"He's always loved water," his owner says.

Not everything went to plan, however. One of the more challenging scenes involved a dog running across a log and down a hill to help Mr Pitt after he falls into rushing water. Seeka was wearing a safety harness, but instead of running across the log he repeatedly launched himself into the air.

His brother Ryker eventually took over the scene.

It was a reminder that working with animals on a film set can be unpredictable. Away from the cameras though, the dogs were treated exceptionally well. Wherever the production travelled, the dogs had their own bedrooms. In Auckland, Seeka and his trainer stayed in a two-bedroom hotel suite, although Seeka chose to sleep in the hallway so he could keep an eye on the exits.

For his owner, watching Seeka on screen has been surreal.

"I’m very proud!"

Seeka has since returned to a rather more familiar setting: Massey.

While Heart of the Beast may give audiences their first look at his big-screen career, his owner knows him as something a little simpler: a much-loved dog who happens to have shared the screen with Brad Pitt.