April Mackin
April Mackin has trained animals over 30 years getting her start at Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management Program. For many years April specialized in live animals shows for both education and entertainment. April was hired by Gary Gero to work for Birds and Animals Unlimited where she continued training animals for shows as well as, movie and television. April has provided animals for such movies as That Darn Cat, Keanu, Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Jungle Book, Enchanted, spooky Buddies, Treasure Buddies, Marley and Me and Max just to name a few. When not working on films April spends her off time flying airplanes and hang gliders. April has a fondness to help others and would like to donate more time to “pilots for paws” and to work with the local Orlando search and rescue.
Pepe
Hi, I’m Pepe, a loveable shaggy dog and the inspiration for the Dry Buddies Pet Bag! Here’s my story…..Time had literally run out for me when Cathy, a professional animal trainer adopted me at a local dog pound where I had been abandoned. After several weeks of love, patience and lots of delicious treats, I was entertaining audiences at the Animal Actors stage at Universal Studios in California. Soon we were off to Florida and to Universal Studios Orlando. I appeared in many television shows being filmed there and played the part of “Harold” the dog in the soap opera All My Children in New York. But most of the time I was like any other healthy, active dog –I chased squirrels, dug in the yard and spent time outdoors with my human companions. Being both active and fuzzy, I would track water, dirt and leaves into the house or car creating quite a mess. I also required frequent baths to look my best for the camera. It was because of these two things that my humans developed the Dry Buddies Pet Bag! Now after baths or romps outside, I could just run into the bag and get dry without tracking up floors or getting anybody wet! The best thing for me was that it felt so good to roll around and get rubbed down while getting dry. I enjoyed many years of adventure working in commercials, movies and television. It is my hope for all my fellow canines that they too will have years of fun and shared companionship with their human families! Pepe