Barks factor Louis fronts TV show just for dogs
XFactor judge Louis Walsh is all set to take a bow-wow – after fronting a film created especially to help put dogs in a better mood. Pop guru Louis is convinced the movie is no “one-sit wonder” – he even hopes to win over fellow judges Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne’s pets.
Louis, 65, narrates the film Merry Woofmas for TV channel Christmas 24, which is dedicated to showing festive films.
He said: “I’ve absolutely loved working on this – it’s been really interesting to learn how pets are stimulated by different sounds.
“I hope they enjoy my voice. I’ll be encouraging Sharon and Simon’s dogs to watch with me.”
X Factor boss Simon has three terriers, including brother and sister Squiddly and Diddly, while Sharon has six dogs – two of them regularly fly with her from the US when she is filming.
Merry Woofmas tells the story of Holly, a Pyre- nean sheepdog, who wants a juicy bone under the tree as her one and only gift.
The short film includes cameos from Instagram dogs Ramsey the Staffy, Marcel Le Corgi and Mika the Husky, who have over 300,000 followers between them.
Throughout the film, Louis narrates in a range of tones – changing both the pitch and the rise and fall of his voice in order to appeal to dogs.
The script even uses specific words the pets would be familiar with to trigger positive reactions. The movie was also filmed in a dog’s colour spectrum of blue and yellow.
Pet behaviourist Dr Candy d’Sa, who worked on the movie, said: “Dogs see the world very differently to us and respond differently to audio and visuals.
“It’s great there’s now a Christmas film specifically developed for dogs, so the whole family can enjoy a film together.” NBC-owned Christmas 24 can be found on satellite and on cable.