《一条狗的回家路》的狗狗明星从垃圾堆到好莱坞的精彩旅程

杨舟

Shelby， who plays Bella in the recent Sony Pictures release A Dogs Way Home， has all the traits of a celebrity pooch1： bright， golden eyes， expressive eyebrows， and a big， brown nose. However， the pit bull mix did not always seem destined2 to be a movie star. About two years ago， Shelby was a stray3 puppy who lived on the streets and spent her days digging through trash for food scraps4.

谢尔比在最近索尼影业发行的电影《一条狗的回家路》中饰演贝拉，她拥有明星犬的所有特征：明亮的金色眼睛，表情丰富的眉毛，还有一个棕色的大鼻子。然而，混血比特犬似乎并不总能成为电影明星。大约在两年前，谢尔比还是一只流浪狗，她住在街上，整天在垃圾堆里寻找食物残渣。

Shelbys trash-to-riches saga began in April 2017， when Megan Buhler， an animal control officer， noticed the then-puppy inside a trash dump in Cheatham County， Tennessee. Buhler gently coaxed5 the scared pooch out from the landfill and took her to the Cheatham County Animal Shelter.

谢尔比“咸鱼翻身”的故事始于2017年4月，当时动物管理官员梅根·布勒注意到了田纳西州奇塔姆县的一个垃圾场里的这只小狗。布勒温柔地哄着这只吓坏了的小狗离开垃圾填埋场，并把她带到了奇塔姆县动物收容所。

To find the adorable6 puppy a permanent home， the shelter staff， who nicknamed her Baby Girl， posted her picture on their website. As luck would have it， just 2000 miles away in Hollywood， the makers of A Dogs Way Home， were in search of a dog just like Baby Girl. The movie， adapted from the book by W. Bruce Cameron， aims to raise awareness of the plight7 of shelter dogs， specifically pit bulls. Hence， both Cameron and his wife Cathryn Michon， who co-wrote the movie script， were adamant8 about casting a rescue dog in the starring role.

為了给这只可爱的小狗找到一个永久的家，给她起名为“小女孩”的收容所工作人员把她的照片贴到了他们的网站上。幸运的是，就在2000英里外的好莱坞，电影《一条狗的回家路》的制片商，正在寻找一只像“小女孩”这样的狗。这部电影改编自W·布鲁斯·卡梅伦的书，目的在于增强人们对收容所的狗，尤其是比特犬的困境的意识。因此，卡梅伦和他的妻子凯瑟琳·米琼，共同撰写了这部电影剧本，坚持要求以一只救援犬作为主角。

To find the perfect Bella， Debbie Pearl， whose company prepares shelter dogs for films， asked freelance9 dog trainer Teresa Ann Miller to conduct a nationwide search. When Miller saw Baby Girls photo on the shelters website， she was instantly interested. “It was a really good picture， and she was flat-out smiling，” Miller told The Washington Post. “I mean， it was beautiful.” To see if Baby Girls personality matched her good looks， Miller， Cameron， and Michon made their way to the Cheatham County Animal Shelter. To the dog trainers sheer delight， Baby Girl passed the personality， temperament， and command response tests with flying colors.

黛比·珀尔的公司为该电影提供狗，为了找到完美的“贝拉”，黛比·珀尔要求自由职业训狗师特雷莎·安·米勒进行全国范围的搜索。当米勒在收容所的网站上看到“小女孩”的照片时，她立刻产生了兴趣。 “这真是一幅很好的照片，她笑容满面。”米勒对《华盛顿邮报》说：“我的意思是，照片很漂亮。”为了看看“小女孩”的性格是否与她的美貌相匹配，米勒、卡梅伦和米琼去了奇塔姆县的动物收容所。让驯狗师欣喜若狂的是，“小女孩”成功地通过了个性、气质和指令响应测试。

It took Miller just three short months to train Baby Girl， who she renamed Shelby， and transform her into a Hollywood actor. After the film production ended， Shelby found a permanent home with Pearl in Huntington Beach， California. The two-and-a-half-year-old pooch is now gainfully “employed” as a therapy10 dog and spends her days visiting hospitals， schools， and so on. According to Pearl， Shelby is just as gifted a therapy dog as she is an actress. The proud owner gushes， “She just has this insight of what she needs to do when she needs to do it. Not all dogs have that.”

米勒只花了短短三个月的时间训练“小女孩”，给她改名为“谢尔比”，并把她变成了一个好莱坞演员。电影制作结束后，谢尔比在加利福尼亚州亨廷顿海滩找到了与珀尔在一起的长期住所。这只两岁半的小狗现在被“雇佣”为治疗犬，每天走访医院、学校等地。根据珀尔的说法，谢尔有做演员的天赋，也有治疗犬的天赋。这位自豪的主人滔滔不绝地说：“她对自己需要做的事情有独特的洞察力。不是所有的狗都有这种洞察力。”

Hopefully， Shelbys story will inspire more people to adopt dogs and other pets from rescue shelters. As Bella says in the film， “We all face things that are hard. The only thing that gets us through it is the special people in our lives.”

希望谢尔比的故事能激励更多的人从动物救助所收养狗和其他宠物。正如贝拉在电影中所说的，“我们都会面对困难的事情。唯一能让我们度过难关的是我们生活中的特殊的人。”

Notes

1. celebrity pooch明星狗

2. destined  adj. 注定的;命定的

3. stray  adj. 迷路的;離群的 n. 流浪者

4. scrap  n. 碎片;残余物

5. coax  vt. 哄;哄诱

6. adorable   adj. 可爱的

7. plight  n. 困境;境况

8. adamant  adj. 固执的;坚定不移的

9. freelance  n. 自由作家;自由记者

10. therapy  n. 治疗，疗法

▲Discussion议一议：

1. What do you think of the stray dogs and cats who lived on the streets？ 你对街道上的流浪猫和流浪狗有什么样的看法？

2. Please list three pros and three cons of obtaining a pet from an animal shelter. 请列出从动物收容所收留宠物的三个好处和三个缺点。

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