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Lauradale's Siberians

Mojo

Registered name: Mo Jo IV

Coat color: Red & white

Eye color: Blue eyes

Birthdate: 06-18-01

MOJO STARRED IN THE WALT DISNEY MOVIE, EIGHT BELOW AS TRUMAN!!!

Click here to see his pedigree.

Mojo is the father of Junior and the grandsire of Rain and Josie. He is the son of White Fang and Star. Some of his puppies have been sold to show homes. He produces wonderful puppies that have been shipped all over the United States. Just like their daddy, they have "attitude". (Read below for more info!)

When Walt Disney called us in the fall of 2004, we were ecstatic. Within 2 weeks, we had a trainer from Birds & Animals Unlimited (The animal trainers for Walt Disney) come out to look at our dogs. They picked 8 of them and took them to a local restaurant called the Oakhurst Tearoom and worked with each dog for about 20 minutes on long leads to see how they reacted with other people and unfamiliar surroundings. After we were done, they said "We'll be in touch." I said to my husband, Dale, "We'll never hear back from them. Out of all the kennels in the United States, why would they pick one that's so far back in the country like us?".

Two weeks later, we received a phone call. They said "We want Mojo and Sir Prize." Mojo ended up being one of their favorites as they said he had "attitude". He is a very loving dog and enjoys being around people, but when he wants to do something, he dares you to try and stop him.

They also called another local kennel, Ravenwood. Out of her all her Siberians, they picked two as well. Both were born at my kennel. Their names are Chase and Dakota. Dakota now belongs to Hero's Huskies.

Our dogs boarded a plane at the Pittsburg International Airport and flew out to California, where they stayed until they could be cleared for flight up to Van Couver, in British Columbia. They also flew to Greenland to do some of the scenes.

Mojo and Chase played backup for each other as Truman. Each dog in the sled team had a backup, as the Animal Rights people would only let each dog work a certain amount of time.

Since Eight Below came out, Mojo & Sir Prize have been driving all over Pennsylvania & some of Maryland to "Meet & greet their fans". They have been to movie theaters, pet shops, grooming shops, schools, and a preschool once. Mojo just loves to lay on his back and let the kids and adults rub his stomach.

Here are a few links to different articles that were written about our dogs in Eight Below:

Somerset canines featured in upcoming Disney movie.

Somerset Siberians soak up spotlight.

Local huskies with Disney roles to appear at matinee

Want to know about Mojo before he became a star? When Mojo was born, my youngest son Bryan just fell in love with him. So we decided to keep Mojo, but let him stay at Bryan's house, which was only a few miles away. From the time he was 6 months old, Mojo was hard to keep tied. Bryan had a big dog box for him, food, water, shade, and yet Mojo kept getting loose and running all over the neighborhood. He would go and visit the neighbors, and sometimes run down to the local gas station/convenience store, CoGo's, where they would throw their old meat out for him. No matter what we did, Mojo would find a way out of it. We bought him a leather collar... he broke his chain. We bought him a thicker chain... he broke the snap. We bought him a heavier snap... he broke his swivel. I guess Birds & Animals didn't have much trouble training him for the scene where he had to slip out of his collar!

Now that Mojo is older, we have decided to retire him. Bryan asked to have him, and so Mojo now resides in North Carolina with Bryan and his wife and children in a house along the coast. He left on June 25th, 2008.