Paul Walker Took The Time Getting To Know All The Dogs Of Eight Below

The charm of “Eight Below” no doubt comes from Paul Walker’s on-screen enthusiasm for his eight winter-loving dogs. He endearingly includes them in poker games and introduces them to people as if they are his best friends from his college days. It’s clear from the very start of the film that Walker’s character Jerry is a capital D Dog Person, but so was Walker himself. In a 2006 interview with The Morning Call, Walker talked about his time filming “Eight Below,” getting into the details of his relationships with the dogs used in the film. He told the paper, “I actually relate to and understand animals better than I do people.”

His love for animals ended up being incredibly useful since the movie employed a whopping 64 dogs during filming. “I was dealing with 64 dogs because each dog had eight doubles,” Walker explained, going on to describe just how close he got to his canine co-stars. “I knew them all by name. I knew each and every one of their personalities.” Walker’s dedication to getting to know and understand the many puppers that helped make the film possible is an extremely enchanting detail about the film that definitely translated to the on-screen rapport his character has with his sled dog team. But that still didn’t mean Walker was without a favorite pooch. “I wanted to go home with Jasper,” he mused. “He was solid white and had beautiful blue, squinty eyes. He was the worst dog to work with — he never hit his mark — but the sweetest guy.”