Must be his animal magnetism... Uggie, the canine star of The Artist, adds to the film's growing awards haul

By MARCUS BARNES

It's a dog's life: Uggie with Missi Pyle, James Cromwell and an unidentified woman at the first annual Golden Collar Awards held at The Century Plaza Hyatt Regency Hotel in Century City, California

So far it's been the year's big awards winner, so much so in fact that even the animal star of The Artist has picked up a gong.
Uggie the dog, who appears as Jean Dujardin's pet in the movie, picked up the animal equivalent of an Oscar at the prestigious Golden Collars.
The 10-year-old pooch was accompanied by co-star James Cromwell (who plays Clifton in the film) as he picked up the award for Best Dog in a Theatrical Film.

Man's best friend: The pooch plays Jean Dujardin's pet in award-winning film The Artist

Uggie was smartly dressed in a cute doggy outfit that mimicked a shirt and bow tie.
The little dog looked excited to be at the awards ceremony, where he was also accompanied by his owner and trainer Omar Von Muller.
Accepting the award on behalf of Uggie, Mr Von Muller said the Jack Russell terrier, who stole hearts in the silent film that’s up for 10 Academy Awards, is a 'great performer, but he’s also a great family member.'
'He sleeps with us,' Von Muller added.

Award-winning paw-formance: A campaign has been started to get Uggie an Oscar for his role in The Artist

The Golden Collar Awards, dreamed up by Alan Siskind of the website dognewsdaily.com, drew other stars of The Artist, including Cromwell and Missi Pyle.
'I’m delighted to be here because I owe my career to a pig,' said Cromwell, who played the farmer in Babe.
Elizabeth Snead, an entertainment journalist who served as a Golden Collar judge, said the dog-awards show is more exciting than the Oscars.
'She said: Everybody identifies with the dogs. And it makes it more accessible for humans who don’t really care about awards season'

Paws for thought: Uggie and Dash perform for the audience at the Golden Collar awards show

The campaign was launched in December last year, and has been supported by James Cromwell and, apparently, members of The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
However, BAFTA responded to the campaign by issuing the following statement: 'Regretfully, we must advise that as he is not a human being and as his unique motivation as an actor was sausages, Uggie is not qualified to compete for the Bafta in this category.'

The collar of money: Uggie performs one of his tricks after picking up the Best Dog in a Theatrical Film award

He did, however, with the Palm Dog Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Sadly Uggie will retire to his bed after the Oscars, due to a mystery neurological illness that has baffled experts and cost Mr Von Muller thousands of dollars in vets' bills.
He revealed: 'It comes and goes and, ironically, it is worse when he's relaxed.
'When we were filming you could hardly notice it. It is a shame this has happened when he is getting the biggest success of his career, but we feel the best thing to do is to retire him after the Oscars.'





source: dailymail