Sold a pup... TV ad rescue dog who’s a star, not a stray
BAXTER the dog has moved scores of viewers to tears as the shaggy star of an animal charity’s poignant new advert.
So moved have some been by the lurcher’s performance in the Blue Cross campaign as an abused pet wandering the streets singing a version of Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic I Will Survive, they have even offered to take him in themselves.
But ‘Baxter’ doesn’t actually need a new home… because the five-year-old is not really a rescue dog at all, but a successful canine actor with caring owners – and an impressive CV including roles on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company. And, oh yes, ‘he’ is actually a she – and the ‘luvvie’ lurcher’s real name is Mossup.
The 60-second ad made by M&C Saatchi premiered during The X-Factor last Saturday. It prompted outpourings of sympathy on social media. One Twitter user posted: ‘Baxter literally breaks my heart. I want him!!’
But a Blue Cross spokesman said: ‘He is an acting dog who has always had a very happy home. We thought about using one of our rescue dogs but were worried that being on set would be too much for them. ’
Mossup’s credits include playing Crab in the RSC’s production of The Two Gentleman of Verona last year, Dr Dylan Keogh’s dog Dervla in Casualty and Mossy in the BBC’s children’s show Topsy and Tim. She also appeared in an advert for Aldi’s Easter chocolate bunnies wearing pink rabbit ears.
The advert was commissioned to help the Blue Cross achieve its target of helping 70,000 pets each year by 2020 - more than double the number it does now.