In my younger days, I was heavily involved with training and showing dogs. I worked with a highly regarded dog show trainer who had clients in the New England area. One of those clients raised Shar Peis.

When the Witches of Eastwick was filming in Boston (at the Wang Center), the producers contacted our client looking for a black Shar Pei - the color being a bit rarer than the typical fawn one. They had located our client through the breeders' network and he luckily had several blacks to choose from.

They came and selected a young male to be included in the Wang Center shots and explained the scenes the dog would have to be in. The client contacted us and we started the easy training of having the dog cross the Wang floor at Jack Nicholson's side, and following Jack up the grand staircase. It was a simple matter of having pieces of hot dogs on hand.

The training was done wthout Jack of course; we had to work on our own before showing up at the set, but we practiced over and over having the dog respond to our cues out of sight and felt we were ready to go.

When we came on set, it was fascinating to say the least. There were SO many people it was almost standing room only - even in the huge lobby of the Wang.

I never heard so much noise in one area in my life. People were constantly running, shouting, moving things, reviewing paperwork - it LOOKED unorganized, but it was so structured and efficient. As soon as the director yelled "Quiet on the set!" - there was absolute silence.

We weren't needed for the entire first day. They never know how quickly a scene will be shot or when your take will come up, so you have to be on standby for a period of days until you are called. The other trainer and I spent our time making sure the dog was quiet, relaxed, and out of the way.

We got to watch as they filmed the scene where the women are on a wheeled cart being pushed around while hundreds of balloons were let loose. Being that close to Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon was something I'll never forget.

Between scenes, Cher played with the children that were in the movie. She sat on the floor with them and kept them engaged. She is SO tiny in person! And gorgeous. I can see how some people are just meant to be filmed while others are simply beautiful. Michelle was pleasant to those around her, but kept her distance. Susan Sarandon was having a hard time with something as she was sharp to those around her.

Jack on the other hand was gregarious to a fault. In spite of that, he was polite, but offputting to the dozens of extras who threw themselves at him. At the time, he was still with Anjelica Huston and I can say from what I saw - he was faithful to her.

On the second day, we were given a head's up that we would be called. The scene we were to be involved with was the one where Jack Nicholson has just entered his "home" after being in an accident that landed him in mud. His makeup was amazing! He had a blue tongue, was wearing a long white duster that had been covered in muddy water, his hair was standing on end in ridiculous angles, and he had a foot prosthetic on to similate a foot that was twice its normal size.

My heart was pounding SO hard when they finally called us to the set.

If you look at the Wang picture, I was told to get down on the floor to the left of the grand staircase. The other trainer was at the other end of the lobby. Jack would cross the entire floor yelling and dragging his foot (THAT would have been important information to us as trainers by the way!) and the dog was to run alongside him and up the stairs.

The trainer held the dog at his end, I enticed the dog from my end as Jack came into view. What we hadn't planned for was the dog not appreciating the yelling and the scary look Jack presented. After several takes, the director yelled "That's a take!" and the scene for us was over.

Immediately - assistants come over to anyone who was in the shot and takes polaroids (maybe not these days, but polaroids back then) of the actors from every conceivable angle. This is so they have continuity when the scenes are resumed - sometimes days later.

I was holding the dog as they took several pictures of him thinking "do they think the dog will change so much?" and smiling to myself when - be still my heart - Jack Nicholson came over to me and took the dog's leash.

He said, "Follow me young lady" and he proceeded to take the dog for a walk on the street outside the theatre!

Of course the entire city knew of the filming there and the sidewalk was crowded with people hoping for a glimpse of any of the celebrities. Jack actually walked that dog some way down the street until - horror of horrors - the dog make a steamy pile right there on the sidewalk. Jack just laughed it off and said, "He's all yours" and gave me the leash back.

I couldn't leave the mess there, so I was left alone with the dog as everyone followed Jack back to the theater.

When the movie came out, I couldn't WAIT to see it! I went with the other trainer of course. We were to have our names in the credits as "Animal Trainers". I had told literally hundreds of people that we were involved with the movie and to watch for the dog and our names.

When the Wang scenes came on - no dog. Earlier in the movie and later of course, there was a dog - but not OUR dog. What the heck? So of course, our names weren't in the credits either. The trainer of the scruffy dog they had used on the west coast made it into the movie, but they had scrapped our scenes as they hadn't worked out apparently.

I was fit to be tied - I blamed the assistant who hired us for not warning us about the yelling and the scary costuming, but hey! I got to meet Jack Nicholson and walk down Newton Street in Boston with him.