Behind the scenes with Peggy (aka Dogpool)

She’s mostly bald. She’s willing — even excited — to wear a skin-tight red-and-black suit on a film set. She’s one of a kind and just right as the sidekick in Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Peggy, a dog with humble beginnings, stars as Dogpool, a new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Best Friends is teaming up with Marvel Studios to help more pets of all shapes and sizes go home this summer. And to celebrate Peggy’s film debut alongside Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, we talked to the people who know the canine co-star best.

Holly Middleton, who lives in the U.K., first laid eyes on baby Peggy when she saw her posted for adoption online several years ago. Peggy was 6 months old by then, and all her siblings had been adopted well before her. No one else had picked the mostly bald, pug-nosed pup whose tongue wouldn’t stay put inside her mouth.

But to Holly and her family, Peggy was just perfect. “We all instantly fell in love with her,” Holly says. “She fits into our family perfectly like she’s always been there. My youngest son especially has a very close bond with her. He was 3 when we brought her home, so they’ve grown up together.”

[All roads lead home]

On a whim and at family and friends’ suggestion, Holly sent in a photo to enter Peggy in Britain’s Ugliest Dog contest in 2023. Peggy won it, and she was crowned with the tongue-in-cheek honor.

Peggy appeared in the national media in all her (mostly) bald and beautiful glory, but that the attention was nothing new. Holly says that because Peggy is just one of the family, she sometimes forgets that she’s “not your standard-looking dog.” People in the village where they live are used to seeing Peggy. “But when we go further afield,” Holly says, “I still find it surprising when I catch people pointing, staring, whispering, or coming over to ask for photos.”

You could say that Peggy has always had that something special, but her stardom has recently skyrocketed to a level her family couldn’t have predicted.

Peggy’s family never set out for her to appear in a major motion picture. After Peggy won Britian’s Ugliest Dog contest, Holly was approached and asked whether they’d be interested in their pup being in a movie. At that time, they didn’t even know what the film was or whether Peggy had the chops to do it.

The film was Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, and the character she’d play, called Dogpool, would need to be able to do certain things. “She was given a little trial to see if she could do what was needed and if, more importantly, she was comfortable and enjoyed it,” Holly says. Peggy passed, and with that she landed a role in a major movie. And just like the rest of the cast, she’d need to start training.

That’s where Jules Tottman, head animal trainer on the film, came in. She was hired to work with Peggy in her film debut, just like she’d done for countless other animals who appeared in everything from the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones franchises to 101 Dalmatians, Casino Royale, The Dark Knight, and many others.

For her role in Deadpool & Wolverine, Peggy would need to reliably run from point A to point B, to jump into Ryan Reynolds’ arms, and to “do a lot of face licking, which was very amusing,” Jules says.

[ABC’s ‘Will Trent’ sponsors pet adoptions plus an adorable PSA]

Peggy stayed with Jules (who is also based in the U.K.) full time for a few months before filming began. And while Peggy started out a bit uncertain about it all, barking at strangers and such, “she lapped up the training,” Jules says. “She absolutely loved it and grew every day with confidence.”

Jules says that Peggy’s favorite tricks were jumping into people’s arms and licking their faces (the secret to that one is a dab of squeeze cheese). “She would try to lick everyone’s faces, thinking there would be cheese somewhere around,” Jules says. Soon Peggy reveled in all of it because it was great fun.

Once filming began, Jules gives credit to the human actors who worked alongside Peggy as well. “It helps when the actors are so helpful with feeding the dog and loving on the dog and making them feel confident.” And the face licking? Jules says, “Ryan was brilliant. He just embraced it, which was great.”

Jules is no stranger to working with animals from shelters or rescue organizations. She runs a business to find and work with the animals for filming. “We do actually rescue most of our animals,” she says. She’s trained animals who came from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and various other organizations, depending on what filmmakers are looking for.

“When we did the Harry Potter films, I approached Neapolitan mastiff rescues to work with dogs from them,” Jules says. “That was great because over the 10 years of filming, we rescued 10 Neapolitan mastiffs.” When filming is over, some of the pets stay with her for good, and others she places in homes herself. “My village is full of my rescued dogs,” she says.

And Jules encourages anyone interested in training their own pets for the big (or small) screen to go for it. Her advice is to be consistent, keep training fun, and always end on a positive note. “The animals love it. They want to learn,” she says. “My biggest advice is consistency and kindness.”

Filming for Deadpool & Wolverine has wrapped up, and Peggy is back to life as usual, at home with Holly and the rest of her family. She wears hoodies and raincoats for wet, chilly weather, and, Holly says, “if the smallest sliver of sun is shining through the blinds onto the floor, she will go and bask in it like a lizard.”

She has an active Dogpool Instagram account and had her first fan encounter recently. “Peggy was recognized as Dogpool for the first time by a group of American teens while we were on holiday in Scotland,” Holly says. “It felt really surreal. That’s been my only movie-star-dog moment so far, but I’m sure there will be more to come.”

Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine is in theaters everywhere beginning July 26.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill in 2025. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.