Talent-spotted Sheffield pup Bebe becomes celebrity dog after landing More Than ad job

Bebe, a maltipoo from Norfolk Park, was taken in by his owner Sarah Ahmed – while she was trying to conquer her fear of dogs.

But after she took him to a photographer to get some professional pictures of him at home, she was approached about him starring in a television advert for a well known insurance company.

Now he has been placed on the books of an animal acting agency, with more work set to follow for the pet, who has recently celebrated his first birthday.

Sarah, a former teacher at King Ecgbert School, who is now training the next generation of teachers at Huddersfield University, used to be terrified of dogs, to the extent she had hypnotherapy to overcome that fear. Feeling better about them, she decided to get a puppy, and picked Bebe.

He has helped her become comfortable with dogs.

She said: “As an adult I felt a bit embarrassed about being scared of dogs. I’d sometimes be too scared to go inside people’s houses. I would avoid going to places where there were dogs. I think it started when I was younger and I used to play netball. There was a dog behind a gate near where we played. One day I didn’t see it, but it came out of nowhere and must have thought I wanted to play. It chased me all the way home, five minutes away.

‘How I overcame my fear of dogs’

"But because of Bebe I now feel comfortable with dogs and know what to expect. He’s not afraid of anything, and he’s helped me get over my own fear of dogs.

She said Bebe was looked after like a diva on set by the production team who pampered him, and she was happy for him to do more work in future.

She said: “I had never signed up to an agency or anything like that – it just happened.

"It all came about after I arranged for someone to take some nice pictures of him – and it turned out that the photographer also had a pet modelling agency. After I’d had the pictures taken, she got in touch to say there was a production company that was looking for puppies, and asked If she could send them pictures of Bebe. Apparently he instantly came to mind.

"The people who did the advert had a really specific type of dog that they wanted – they wanted a puppy on a bed causing havoc.

"When we went for the filming, they wanted to throw feathers at him so it looked as though he had torn a pillow to pieces. When they threw the feathers he was quite scared at first, but after that he got into it and was happy to jump around for them.

"All the cameramen wanted to have their pictures taken with him.

"There was a vet on the set, and he was very well looked after.”

She said as he was now a famous pup, she had now set him up with his own social media account.

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