Movie Star Great Dane’s Owner Helps Educate the Public

Host Laura Reeves is joined by Bev Klingensmith, breeder, owner and trainer of the canine star of the new movie, The Friend.

[caption id="attachment_14029" align="alignleft" width="671"] Bev Klingensmith and Bing on set filming The Friend.[/caption]

Klingensmith’s dog, Bing, CH Flighty Foto White Christmas CD RA CA DCAT TKI CGC TT, plays the part of the Harlequin Great Dane in the movie which stars Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, about a solitary writer who adopts and bonds with a Great Dane that belonged to a late friend, helping her to come to terms with her past and her own creative inner life.

Bing is Klingensmith’s fourth generation of homebred Great Danes, starting in the late ‘90s.

“The production company actually sent an e-mail to me back in January of 2020. When I first got the e-mail I deleted it. People, I've told that story and people ask if I thought it was a scam or fake. And I'm like, no, I just didn't think it was realistic for me. They're talking filming in New York. I live in Iowa. And then I was like, you know, I do have lots of friends on the East Coast with Danes. Maybe I can help point them in the right direction, give them some contacts at least. That was really my only initial reason to reach back out.”

Klingensmith is very aware of concerns about the risks posed by purebred dogs appearing in movies and has used the movie as a platform for education about her beloved breed.

“I worked with the production team and we put a piece in the credits encouraging folks to visit the Great Dane Club of America's website for breeder referrals and rescue contacts. I have worked with a few rescues for fundraising. We've done so many Q&A events and things like that. And that is one of the things I always hit on is Great Danes are not for everyone.

“They are not couch potatoes. They're giant, their expenses are giant. If you choose to get a Great Dane, where you get the Great Dane is so important. It's not just selecting the right breed for your home. It's also selecting where to get that dog. And that's almost more important than selecting the right breed. And that's been a huge statement that I've been trying to make over and over to the public and fingers crossed the message gets out there.

“One of the things I like to point out, he is a champion. He's purposely bred, carefully bred, thoughtfully bred with generations of all the same behind him. That none of that has happened by chance. His temperament and his behavior, none of it has happened by chance.

“I try to stress that to people as much as I can because we're talking about where you get your dog is so important. I told people a lot, ignorance and apathy, they're both really bad traits to have in a breeder. I might love my dog, but if I don't know what I'm doing, I'm still gonna be a bad breeder unintentionally. And that's just as damaging as the breeders that don't care.”