Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman pose with Peggy the dog
Peggy, ‘Britain’s Ugliest Dog‘ has made her acting debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Deadpool & Wolverine as Wade Wilson’s new sidekick in the movie.
Born as the runt of an accidental litter, Peggy was six months old when East Yorkshire’s Holly Middleton adopted her in 2018. She is a crossbreed of Pug and a Chinese-crested dog. In the past, while all her siblings were adopted, nobody wanted to adopt her due to her unconventional look.
She is mostly bald and has hair on her face while her tongue is always out of her mouth. But to Middleton, she was perfect. The Middleton family immediately fell in love with her and thus she was named after Middleton’s great-grandmother Peggy.
She has now gone viral on the internet. She is no less than a celebrity with a following of 319k on Instagram.
How did it begin?
All of this happened when Peggy entered into an ugly dog competition which was organised by a photo-printing firm known as the ParrotPrint in 2023. There, Peggy won the competition and earned the title of ‘Britain’s Ugliest Dog’.
This led to her popularity. Due to her success in the Ugly Dog competition, she was featured on different television shows. Later, actor Ryan Reynolds posted a picture of Peggy in a Deadpool costume on social media indicating that she would appear in the movie.
Rightly so, she appears as Wade Wilson’s canine sidekick Dogpool.
Peggy Prepares for Her Shoot
For the film, Peggy was trained by the well-known animal trainer for the films Jules Tottman. Tottman has also worked with animals for series like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and the movie 101 Dalmatians. From many of the tricks, she now knows how to jump into Ryan Reynold’s arm and lick cheese off the actor’s face.
While many auditioned for the role of Dogpool, Ryan Reynold says that Peggy was chosen for the role “because she feels like the animal manifestation of Wade Wilson.”
Peggy was trained to jump from different points in Ryan Reynold’s arms and received more training than Hugh Jackman, says the actor.
Peggy’s Now Famous
The first movie-star-dog moment happened when Peggy went to Scotland on a vacation and was spotted by a group of American teens who recognised her as Dogpool. Afterwards, she made her appearance at the Deadpool & Wolverine Red Carpet premiere in London.
While the movie has hit the theatres, Peggy’s Instagram account too is gaining more followers and love from people across. One of the users even commented on her recent reel: Petition for her to get an Oscar for best supporting actress? Another user commented: Movie would have been even great if it was “Dogpool and Wolverine” instead of Deadpool.