Posted: January 21, 2009, 5 a.m. EST
David Hartwig, the owner of the late Skidboot, an Australian Blue Heeler who became famous for his crowd-pleasing tricks at the State Fair of Texas and went on to star in his own children’s book and video, says he would like to make a movie about the special dog’s life.
“What better way to spend a midlife crisis than to do a movie about your famous dog,” he joked to The Associated Press.
Skidboot, who showed an uncanny knack for tricks soon after arriving at Hartwig’s Texas ranch, won Animal Planet’s Pet Star title in 2003, netting $25,000 in prize money. The dog died at age 14 in 2007, after going blind and suffering several health setbacks.
After Skidboot’s death, Hartwig began appearing with a new batch of Australian Blue Heelers (“just average dogs of average intelligence,” he says of Heelers Tiedown, Bois D’arc, and Little Skidboot), and briefly considered giving up show business altogether.
“I had to let the public convince me it was still worthy,” he says.