MUST READ: "Better Call Saul" Crew Takes In Stray Dog While Filming In Middle Of Desert But That's Only Half Of The Story
While the "Better Call Saul" crew was filming the eighth episode ("Bagman") of the current sublime season on a reservation miles into the desert, something odd happened. A dog came out of seemingly nowhere and sidled up between Jonathan Banks and Bob Odenkirk while the two actors were doing a scene.
Picture that for a second. Saul Goodman and Mike Ehrmantraut are sitting literally in the middle of nowhere on the To’Hajiilee Indian Reservation, miles from civilization. And this dog just strolls up. Where did it come from? Was it somebody's? Was it sick? They must've been baffled.
Some of the crew fed it and gave it water. Later that afternoon, the dog returned. Being on a reservation, Odenkirk checked with the tribal council to see they can take the seemingly ownerless dog. After getting a 'yes', he took it to a vet in Albuquerque to get it checked out and cleaned up.
On the way to the vet, the dog paused before a patch of grass to feel it out before stepping on it. The dog had never seen/walked on grass before. The vet informed Odenkirk that the dog was a) pregnant and, b) going to give birth to about four pups in two weeks.
So they kept it and exactly two weeks later, the dog gave birth to not four puppies...not five...not six...not seven...but EIGHT puppies. And as if I couldn't love her anymore, Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler) and another (unnamed) woman helped midwife the births. And this was the result.
All eight puppies were adopted with Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin) taking the runt.
He not only kept the runt, he took the mother as well that he then named Lucky.
What a heartwarming story in a world of shit right now. Mad props to the BCS crew.
And what's wild is that while filming "Ozymandias", "Breaking Bad" writer Moira Walley-Beckett had the same thing happen to her (minus the pregnancy). A beat-up looking stray just wandered onto the set. She ended up adopting it and taking it home to L.A.
(Interviews from the Better Call Saul Insider Podcast Ep. 508 were used to provide information for this story. If this season doesn't sweep the Emmys, we riot.)