Meet Zacc - the 10-year-old beagle-cross-kelpie who loves pats, has mastered the puppy-dog eyes and could save you from a collapsed building if needed.
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Based in Darwin, Zacc is a search-and-rescue dog, and he is about to steal Canberrans' hearts when he appears (on-screen) at the Top Dog Film Festival next month.
This special pooch - along with his owner and handler Bronwyn Mullins - appears in the festival's headlining film, Dogs to the Rescue. The 30-minute documentary film demonstrates the impressive use of dogs using their genetic behaviours to make a difference.
For Zacc, this means showcasing his ability to sniff out anything, sense things as far as kilometres away and overcome the hardest of obstacles, even life-threatening ones.
But believe it or not, when Mullins first brought Zacc home as a puppy, she never intended for him to be anything more than a pet. It was only after she noticed that Zacc loved to use his nose that she started to consider specified training.
"He's trained to find lifeline missing persons in collapsed buildings, that can be caused by earthquakes, cyclones, structural defaults - stuff like that," Mullins says.
"At the moment, we're lucky Australia hasn't had that situation so a lot of it is training for the anticipation of being able to deploy at any minute.
"But even the training environment, it is quite dangerous. There are lots of things you have to be aware of. It can be unstable, there can be sharp objects, stuff like that. So he's got to be fairly nimble and as a handler, I have to keep a good eye out to make sure that he's staying safe.
"He tends to follow his nose, he doesn't use his eyes very well so I have to step in and stop him sometimes when he's just following scent. It's how we train them, we want them to follow the scent, not use their eyes."
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This is the Top Dog Film Festival's sixth year of bringing delightfully doggy moments to the big screen.
In two hours, it will tell the story of a pack of senior dogs who live together in Tennessee, explore a centuries-long sledding tradition that continues in Greenland, and introduce Canberra to Rodney, the adventure-loving bulldog.
Top Dog Film Festival founder, Jemima Robinson said it was the type of festival that leaves a mark on everyone.
"Seeing the impact that dogs have on the lives of their owners and those around them never ceases to amaze me," she says.
"While each of the six films in this year's program are very different, the common thread is the incredible impact dogs have on our lives; how they can make us smile, save us from misfortune, provide us with hope and fill our hearts with love.
"The past few years have been tough in the film industry with many productions halting, however, with the world opening back up again we are thrilled to give audiences around Australia the opportunity to discover these unique and inspiring stories from around the world and even some closer to home."
Top Dog Film Festival will be at the National Film and Sound Archive on August 10 and 11. For tickets go to topdogfilmfestival.com.au.
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