16th June 2002
Huskies! Huskies! Huskies! A Crowd of onlookers gathered on Sunday morning when a dozen Siberian Huskies
and their owners invaded the sidewalk of one of Sydney's busiest streets, for the charity launch of Disney's
Snow Dogs at the George Street Cinema Complex. We learned that twelve dogs and twelve owners plus twice as
many onlookers can pretty much bring four lanes of traffic to a stop.
The event was organised as part of Disney's publicity for the movie opening and involved several of members
of the Siberian Husky Club of New South Wales,
the aim being to promote breed info and hopefully prevent the flood of abandoned dogs in
rescue shelters (Australia / USA)
sometimes seen after movies of this sort are released.
Tickets for the movie were sold nationwide at a reduced price of $5 with all proceeds being donated to the
Patrick Rafter Cherish the Children Foundation.
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Dogs aren't seen in cinemas. Usually. Particularly ones that have just undertaken the refurbishment of seventeen
theatres. Even less likely to see is a Siberian Husky off leash roaming the upstairs foyer, except for today
of course. As the queues for the cinema grew, hundreds of members of the public had the chance to talk with both
breeders and owners about what Huskies were like to have as pets, while the dogs simply lapped up the attention
from scores of adoring kids (and their nervous-looking parents)
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The energy produced when two or more Huskies meet is well understood and watching the owners keep twelve
at bay was possibly more entertaining than the movie itself. All the dog play was good-natured enough though
and there were few real disagreements among the canine stars. Most made new friends and besides, wounds heal.
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Before the movie began the Huskies were allowed a quick tour of the inside of the cinema and were given brief spotlight
attention at the front of the stage. The film itself? Well none of the dogs stayed of course,
Huskies have no time in their busy schedule for frivolities like watching films, so their bipeds will simply have to
see it at another time.
Last on the agenda was a group photo (thank you PhotoShop for rescuing some very poor lighting)
before heading back outside to the natural light of the real world.
The group plans to return for a chaotic encore performance, same time, same place, the following Saturday.
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