Cosmo, a Siberian Husky from Leighthouse Obedience, lands role in movie

Summer release expected for ‘A Wonderful Way With Dragons’

Press Release, Leighthouse Obedience

Photo courtesy of Leighthouse Obedience: Cosmo makes his debut in film in the upcoming ‘A Wonderful Way With Dragons.’ He is shown on the set of an abandoned farmhouse used in the film.

ALBION – Cosmo, a Siberian Husky trained by Ron and Pat Leight of Albion, will have a starring role in an upcoming movie, “A Wonderful Way With Dragons.”

The film is written and produced by Delfine Paolini, and stars Violet McGraw, most recently known for her work on “M3gan”.

This drama/fantasy takes us to a pandemic world where six children and their wild dog remain abandoned on an enigmatic island. Their struggle to survive becomes paled by individual desires for each other and for power. Click here to view trailer. A summer 2024 release date is expected.

Ron and Pat, owners of Leighthouse Obedience training, have been training, showing and competing with their Siberian Huskies for over 30 years. They were a little leery about committing Cosmo to the film.

“We have always had Siberians and they are a breed known for not excelling in the obedience arena,” Ron said.

Siberians are very much about wanting to have fun. They are mischievous, highly predatorial and not a breed that can be allowed off lead as they will run.

So when the Leights received a phone call from a movie producer who wanted a well-behaved, highly trained Siberian who could do off lead work, along with specific tricks, the Leights were hesitant.

“We had only done photo shoots in the past,” Pat said.

On one particular photo shoot they were hired by a pet catalog company for a cover photo shoot of one of their Siberians off lead in the Tug Hill wilderness. According to Pat, “I told Ron ‘never again’. Even though the event went off without a hitch and our dog did her down stay, it was very stressful and we were uncomfortable with off lead work because of the peculiarities of the breed.”

Once the Leights found out they had a year to train for the movie, they decided they were up to the challenge and yet again they found themselves doing off-lead work in the wilderness, this time specifically in a small town called Jeffersonville, in the foothills of the Catskills.

They took time off from training classes and dog shows to spend all of 2023 working on specific tricks for the movie. They feel so blessed that their dog, Cosmo, is sweet, gentle and highly trainable.

“He was a big hit during the 4 weeks we were on set and the cast consisted of mainly children, who all fell in love with him,” Pat said. “To Cosmo filming the movie consisted of daily treats and belly rubs from fellow cast members and back to the Airbnb each night to a big comfy bed.”

Cosmo has multiple AKC titles, including a championship, and was up for the daily set challenges, the heat and the “stop and start” schedule.