Got a cute German Shepherd puppy? It could be the next big TV star

Pope Productions has a very im-paw-tant casting call out for its new show Hudson & Rex.

The St. John's-based production company is looking for German Shepherd puppies to be in one of the show's promotional videos.

The canine hopefuls should be eight to 10 weeks old, have all their vaccinations and be full-breed German Shepherd, Paul Pope, the company's founder, told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

Oh, and they need to be cute.

"But of course, they're all cute and adorable, so I think we have that."

There's a dog department

Hudson & Rex is a cop show about a crime-fighting dog-human duo set in St. John's. Pope said the show's real star is Rex, the ace German Shepherd doggo detective, who is played by three different dogs: Izzy, who stands in for photo shoots; Ike, who does the stunts; and Diesel, who does the rest of the Rex work.

"There's a fairly big dog department," Pope said.

The show is based on the Austrian drama Inspector Rex and premiers on City TV in late March.

Pope's puppy pursuit is for a behind-the-scenes-style promotional video in which Rex's three trainers will be trying to get a pile of puppies to perform.

"Obviously they're too young, so they'll just prance around and have fun and Rex will watch from the sidelines and get a good laugh out of it."

So far, seven puppies have applied, he said.

But of course there's no such thing as too many puppies.

"We could easily do 10."

The video will likely air between episodes and will be shot at a secret location "deep in the depths of Donovan's Industrial Park."

In addition to a starring role in a promotional puppy pile video, chosen pups — well, their owners — will be paid about $200, he said.

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