Joel Silverman started training and supplying animals for film, television shows, and movies in 1980, which has taken him to 17 countries. Among his over hundreds of credits, he is best known as the trainer of Dreyfuss from the TV series Empty Nest from 1988-1992. He also was responsible for the training and coordination of the dog and cat training for the IAMS national commercials and print ads from 1997-2014.
Joel resides in Fort Myers, Florida but can train and supply dogs nearly anywhere in the world. If you are in Fort Myers, Florida, or anywhere in Florida and have a film, TV, or commercial project coming up, and you area looking for a dog, please contact us. Joel is not only a trainer of dogs for film and commercials, but also a producer and director, so since he has “worn many hats”, he can work with your production staff and make things go as smoothly as possible.
All the dogs Joel has adopted from animal shelters over his over four decade career have come from animal shelters and humane societies. Here are just a few you might remember from the big screen:
- FEATURE – Back to the Future I and II – “Einstein” (real name Fred) – Orange County Animal Shelter, Santa Ana, CA
- FEATURE – Family Man – “Lucy” (Joel’s Dog – real name Ellis) Orange County Animal Shelter, Santa Ana, CA
- TV MOVIE – Annie – “Sandy” (real name Chester) – Orange County Animal Shelter, Santa Ana, CA
- Joel’s Dog “Foster” – Appeared in dozens of commercials, has toured with Joel and performed in front of thousands in over 30 states. On the cover of three of four or Joel’s books. – Orange County Animal Shelter, Santa Ana, CA
- Joel’s Dog “Duke” – Appeared in dozens of commercials, and was featured in national commercials for Nissan, Budweiser, and Polaroid. Duke was also featured in the motion picture “Road Trip” and co-hosted Joel’s TV series on Animal Planet Good Dog U. – North County Humane Society, Oceanside, CA
- Joel’s Dog “Duchess” – Appeared in the Chase Bank national commercial with Joel. – Nevada Humane Humane Society, Reno, NV
Joel’s last feature he worked on was “A Good Year” with Russell Crowe, directed by Ridley Scott in 2005. And in the past three years, Joel has coordinated on been responsible for the training of the dogs for Gray Malin’s still shoots all over the world.
To find out more about Joel’s credits, please check out his IMDb page.
If you are interested in Joel helping you with your next project, please feel free to send us a message. Just hit the “contact” link at the top of the page.