He was an American Bulldog. He is famous for playing the role of Chance in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Although, in the film Chance is a young, exuberant American Bulldog, while in the novel his name is Luath and he is a Labrador Retriever. He has since died.
Ben, Rattler, and Tiki, the main animals portraying Shadow, Chance, and Sassy, receive star billing in the film, but, in reality, Chance and Shadow were each played by four dogs, while Sassy was played by 10 cats.
Trivia. In Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, even though Chance is still called an American bulldog, he was actually portrayed by an American Pit Bull Terrier. This is apparent in that in the first movie, Chance's face was more mushed in, whereas in the sequel, his face was stretched out.
Shortly after the wedding, the family has to temporarily move to San Francisco because Bob must relocate there for his job. They leave the pets at a ranch belonging to Kate, Laura's college friend. Shadow and Sassy miss their owners immediately, but Chance sees it as an opportunity to relax and be free.
And its canine narrator, Chance (voiced by Michael J. Fox), was one of the primary catalysts of its success. Despite being a Labrador Retriever in the novel, the role of Chance in the film was played by an American Bulldog, named Rattler.
Did they actually put the cat in the river in Homeward Bound?
There are close-up shots of a frightened cat and then a shot of Sassy going over the waterfall. This scene was shot in many cuts. Fake cats, a mechanical cat, and a real cat were used. When the real cat was used, she was not in a river, but a heated pool.
For example, the popular film “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” is actually based on a true story. Other accounts involve similarly unfathomable distances and obstacles that most humans would not be able to overcome. This includes: Bucky the Labrador who travelled 500 miles after he was relocated.
The Homeward Bound II production backed up this fact given that multiple animals shared the role of the three lead pets. During filming, the team switched between four Bulldogs, six Himalayan cats, and four Golden Retrievers.
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey is set in California, with the pets' journey taking them through the Sierra mountain range. In reality, however, filming was conducted in Oregon due to its varied topography, and diverse locations in Portland were used to substitute San Francisco.
The title character (voiced by Will Canon) is a dreamer of a pit bull, who believes in a canine god and a peaceful place where “Hatonas” (dogs) can live idyllic lives. Taken from his mother as a puppy, Chance is forced to fight and kill other dogs in the ring to entertain “Krots” (humans).
The animals follow their instincts and head west, towards home, 300 miles away through the Canadian wilderness. They face many obstacles in their path; from rivers to irritable people, but nonetheless, they struggle bravely on, until they finally reach home.
Most of the other shots of animals were filmed by a second unit that filmed nature in the wild and the footage was spliced into the scene with the animals. The three hungry animals go fishing in a stream and Shadow lunges at one fish that he manages to get out. This scene was shot in cuts.
Owner(s) Shadow is a golden retriever and the deuteragonist of the Disney film, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and its sequel, Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco.
However, the vast majority of animal actors earn far less, and can expect $4,000 to $10,000 a year. Also, agents and trainers will earn a commission, which is usually a flat rate per project.
The animals are a young obnoxious puppy, an older and wiser dog, and a fuzzy cat, who are all able to talk to one another in the voices of Michael J. Fox, Don Ameche and Sally Field, respectively.
Chance gets curious about a porcupine and goes toward it but the porcupine flicks his tail into Chance's face and injures him badly. Porcupine needles stick out of Chance's face and Sassy tries to remove them. The porcupine scene was shot in cuts with a real porcupine and a fake dog.
About 30 kittens were killed during the shooting and the most terrible thing is that most of them were killed deliberately. The famous scene when Chartran (Milo or Otis, in french the kitten name is Chartran) falls from a high cliff needed many kittens, one for each take...
The Disney family adventure-comedy, "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey", starred two dogs and cat, and filmed in multiple locations close in the Wallowa area, including a picturesque ranch a few miles from Joseph, Mount Howard as well as multiple other locations in Oregon.
Kate then calls the Seavers and asks to call Peter that Shadow wants to talk to him and he did. She then goes to her ranch and writes a note to his neighbor friend Frank to keep an eye on Shadow, Chance, and Sassy while she goes to winter grazing for her horses.
