The catalyst for much of the film's dramatic developments is Simon's beloved pet, a dog named Verdell. "I toyed with calling the movie 'A Dog's Story,'" says Director James L. Brooks. "It sort of solves everything, to see it from the perspective of the dog.
Verdell is really the fourth lead in the picture." The script specifies Verdell's breed as a Brussels Griffon, a rare European breed that can perhaps best be described as resembling a 'Gizmo' from the film "Gremlins." Animal coordinator Gary Gero and trainers Roger Schumacher and Ray Beal searched throughout the States and in Europe to cast the role of Verdell - eventually finding six dogs they hoped could be trained to fulfill the demands of the script. Schumacher explains, "We needed to find adult dogs, and that was hard to do. We had a couple come from England, and as we were getting the dogs, we had to feel out which ones might be capable of playing the lead." "No one had ever worked with the breed before," Brooks explains. "But because it was called for, our trainers began to work with the breed for the first time. They really took to it - it's an extraordinary breed of dog, very intelligent and very trainable."
