USA TODAY International Edition
Amanda Seyfried is a ‘ stage mother’ – to her dog
“I can’t imagine my life without him. He’s in my contract. ... ( He) has always been good on set.”
Amanda Seyfried didn’t grow up with dogs. With her busy work schedule, she didn’t think she could take care of a canine. In fact, she wasn’t looking for a furry friend at all.
But then she met Finn. Today, the 30- year- old actress — who’s known for films Mamma Mia and
Ted 2, and stars as Russell Crowe’s daughter in new drama
Fathers and Daughters, out July 8 — is a dog owner and an ambassador at the welfare organization Best Friends Animal Society.
“I can’t imagine my life without him,” Seyfried says of 61⁄ 2- year- old Australian shepherd Finn. “He’s in my contract for every ( acting) job” to be allowed on U. S. sets.
Finn, whom Seyfried met through a production coordinator on HBO’s Big Love, “has always been good on set,” she says. If for some reason he can’t join Seyfried on location — like on a recent trip when she traveled from France to China — the two Facetime regularly, and Seyfried requests twice- daily videos from her dog sitter.
Yep, she’s a helicopter dog mother now. And with a new video for Best Friends Animal Society, she also calls herself Finn’s “stage mother.”
Seyfried and Finn shot an ’ 80sthemed video for the initiative Strut Your Mutt and the # 9000StepsChallenge, which asks animal owners to walk 9,000 steps with their pets on the ninth day of the month to raise awareness to the fact that more than 9,000 dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters each day because there’s not enough room.
That toll “is an important thing to know when you’re looking for your best friend,” Seyfried says.
As for the video shoot, in which Seyfried and Finn wore matching headbands and walked the 9,000 steps — it was more exhausting than a long walk. Seyfried, who was Finn’s trainer on the shoot, “had to make sure he looked a certain way, ( fed) him treats.”
She believes that instead of being Finn’s co- star, she’ll go back to being BFFs.