So yes, it was the 80s, and we were presumably less enlightened about dogs than we are now. Still, it rankles us that the 1985 sequel to the movie, Police Academy, had a role for a Newfoundland playing “Lou,” Officer Vinnie Schtulman’s partner, and portrayed the breed to be messy, slow, dim, and clumsy. It helped a little that Officer Vinnie Schtulman was also messy, slow, dim, and clumsy. The irony isn’t just that Newfs are quite bright, but that “Officer Lou” was played by the most titled Newfloundland dog to date, “Kodiak,” also known as VN Ch. Riptide’s Brown Kodiak Bear, CD, WRD, DD. By most accounts, Kodiak was a complete “mackó” (Hungarian for teddy bear) on the set, and perhaps a bit stubborn which often determined how many “takes” it took for a particular scene to be shot in which he appeared. This, however, was the same dog who alerted his owner of a dangerous fire in their home and saved her life. For obvious reasons, Kodiak earned the Newfoundland Club of America’s prestigious “Versatility” award. For the movie, Kodiak was trained by Rob Bloch and Kim Lindemeon.
Kodiak was so beautiful. But movies always seem to portray big characters, especially dogs, as lovable but dumb. Kind of angers me.
We hear you, Kirstin. Stereotypes abound not just for human movie stars, but for dog breeds. We’ve lost count of the breeds that have been described as stubborn, dumb, and so on. More often than not, what is seen as stubborn is actually a smart and independent thinking dog. And “dumb” comes down to what expectations are of a dog. Blind obedience may be a biddable dog, but perhaps the trainer isn’t using the right method of a particular dog, and rather than blame themselves, it must be the dog that is stupid. Kind of angers us, too!
Who owns Kodiak the Newfoundland Dog as I think he is gorgeous
Sadly, we don’t know…