Caymus is now famous.
The two-year-old mixed breed pup, adopted by Robin H-C and her fiancee Warren Morrison of Creemore as a puppy from the Georgian Triangle Humane Society, was recently selected to participate in Royale’s Home for Every Pet Project national ad campaign that has seen the dog’s mug on the brand’s paper towel packaging as well as in a nationally-run commercial.
Two years ago, H-C and Morrison had been thinking about adopting a dog for about two years. When their friend brought some puppies she had been fostering through the Georgian Triangle Humane Society to their home one afternoon, H-C says she didn’t know what to expect.
“We had talked about getting a lab, but if we got one we didn’t want to get one from a breeder. We knew we wanted a rescue,” said H-C. “He was five weeks old. In a matter of 10 seconds, the moment I picked him up I thought, ‘OK. This is it.’”
“He had found us, essentially,” she said.
Caymus spends his days helping out on the farm. H-C says he’s grown proficient at helping to pick apples out of their orchard, and eggs from their chicken coops.
“When I go for runs through the orchard, he’ll stop at every tree, pick an apple and drop it. Those ones are for the horses,” she said, with a laugh. “He’s a perfect little farmhand.”
H-C herself was once a professional model, so she has an agent who will still send her casting calls from time to time.
“He sent me an ad looking for dogs with adoption stories, and they had to be a rescue,” she said. “I thought Caymus would be perfect, and it turns out, I was right.”
The Royale Home for Every Pet Project partners the brand with animal shelters across Canada to generate awareness about shelter needs, provide free Royale product to shelters, and raise funds for shelter improvements. So far this year, the project has raised more than $125,000 for partner animal shelters.
Caymus was one of about 10 pets selected out of the nationwide open casting call for the project for a Zoom interview to which hundreds of families of adopted animals responded. After the interview with producers, H-C was informed that Caymus was chosen to be featured.
The family travelled from Creemore to Toronto for Caymus’ first trip to the big city for a photoshoot, and a 15-person production crew from New Brunswick later arrived at their 100-acre Creemore farm to shoot the commercial.
“It was like a movie set. It was a full-out production with makeup and hair, catering and really extraordinary people,” she said. “Caymus was eager to participate.”
Looking forward, H-C says she would consider putting Caymus up for more film and TV work if it were the right crew, and for shorter projects, as long as he seemed to enjoy it.
“He has so many talents and he enjoys it, so we would love to get him involved provided it’s fun for him,” she said. “He’s very intuitive and he reads our moods. He brings joy. When little stresses in life come up, he’s tuned in and he’s aware of it.”
“We just have the best dog ever,” she said.
H-C has advice for families who may be considering getting a pet to join their family.
“Just walk through a humane society and see if someone catches your heart. Caymus caught my heart,” she said.
For more information on the Royale Home for Every Pet Project, click here.
