Alice The Movie Star Visits The Animal Health Trust

AHT’s Centre for Small Animal Studies was lucky enough to receive a visit from a movie star last month! Alice, the nine-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi first visited the AHT after she was referred by her vet with a severe corneal ulcer in the right eye. Clinical Ophthalmologist Jane Sansom initially examined Alice, but little did she know she was treating a movie star. Alice’s owner Liz Smith has always kept Corgis, and after being spotted with her dogs at an Obedience Competition back in 2005, was approached to see if she’d be interested in her dogs taking part in the filming of a new movie called ‘The Queen’. This meant starring alongside Dame Helen Mirren in her role as Queen Elizabeth. Five of Liz’s dogs, including Alice, were trained on set to take part in several scenes with the actress. Liz commented: “I had to train the dogs so they would be happy to go for walks off lead with Helen Mirren. By watching the film I could see how happy they were to go with her.” She continued: ‘We did a total of five scenes, including one in the study where they had to stay lying down for a long period of time.’ It’s clear to see from the movie that none of the Corgis had trouble obeying their orders and took to ‘acting’ very naturally. And fortunately for Alice, whilst her ulcer was very deep, and caused great concern for the first few days, after close monitoring at the AHT, Jane found that no operation was required and that the ulcer was slowly healing with medical treatment. Alice is now back to full strength and no doubt ready for her next starring role, along with Liz’s other Corgis; Anna & Holly (16), Oliver (9), Elin (5), Bertie & Daisy May (10 months).

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