Estonia-born dog appears in Nolan’s The Odyssey

An Estonia-born Portuguese Podengo dog named Corsair appears in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster The Odyssey, ERR’s Terevisioon reported.

Three Portuguese Podengos played Odysseus’s dog, Argos, at different ages. Corsair, who is four years old, was born in Estonia.

Corsair was one of two puppies from his litter that moved to the United States. “Their mother is from America. She lives in an extremely active home, where her training began as soon as she arrived. They started practising different dog sports, so it was easy for the Hollywood film trainer to choose a dog that already knew the basics,” breeder Iren Naarits said.

Most of Naarits’s puppies leave Estonia, where the breed remains uncommon. She is Estonia’s only Portuguese Podengo breeder and one of only a few breeders outside Portugal and the United States, the two countries where most breeding currently takes place.

Portuguese Podengos are a very old breed of Mediterranean sighthound. Related breeds include the larger Ibizan Hound and the Pharaoh Hound, Naarits said, noting that their characteristics developed according to the terrain where they were used for hunting.

The dogs are more active when young but become fairly calm as they grow older. They seek attention and affection, are loyal family dogs, and may take some time to get used to new people. Naarits said they are also highly trainable: once they learn something, they remember it for life.