Frasier's Eddie has died

[Raph's Girl]

Kelsey Grammer's canine sidekick, known as Eddie on the long-running show, died Thursday at the ripe old age of 16 and a half, his trainer, Mathilde Halberg told People magazine.

"He just had an incredible charisma and was such a free spirit," Halberg told the magazine of the dog some called the Lassie of the '90s.

Moose played Eddie for 10 years on the former NBC must-see TV staple and was known for his ability to steal scenes from his human costars.

"He was always trying to put Frasier in uncomfortable circumstances," Halberg said.

Other career highlights included landing a starring role in the film My Dog Skip, as an older version of Skip (who was played by his son, Enzo), gracing the covers of Life, TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly, and penning his autobiography, My Life As a Dog, with a little help from TV writer Brian Hargrove (Wanda At Large, Titus).

In 2003, Animal Planet ranked Eddie the Dog fifth in its 50 Greatest TV Animals special, behind only Lassie, Kermit the Frog, Flipper and Mr. Ed.

However, the precocious pup wasn't always destined for greatness. His first family found him to be more of a challenge than they were willing to handle, as the youthful Moose was destructive, barked a lot, refused to be house-trained and even killed a neighbor's cat.

When he was two and a half, Moose was put on a plane from Florida to Los Angeles, where he got a second chance under Halberg's tutelage.

"I saved him from the pound. His owners called me as a last resort," Halberg told People. "He was extremely mischievous, always escaping, chewing up things and running off."

After six months of training, Moose proved he had what it took to make it in Hollywood when he went on his first audition and beat out his canine competition for the Frasier role.

"Moose had a great disposition for training," Halberg said in a 1994 interview with Animal Press. "He loved it right away...it calmed him down a little. It’s as if all of a sudden he had a purpose in his life."

At the age of 10, Moose retired from show business, turning over the role of Eddie to Enzo and settling into doggy old age.

"The retirement of Moose was gradual," Halberg said in a 2002 interview with The Pet Press. "For a couple of years Enzo was doing all the fast-action, jumping up and down, retrieving or running moves. Anything that I thought was becoming a little too strenuous for Moose."

Even so, Moose still managed to outlive the Emmy-winning series, which came to an end in May 2004.

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,...html?rsslatest

Raph's Girl note: Wow! 16 1/2!! That's a pretty long life for a Jack Russel!! You will definatly be missed Moose!

[Katie]

aww

16 is impressive, though terriers can sometimes have impressive life spans. My childhood dog is still alive and kicking at 19 (yes...that's ninteen...not a typo) we got her in 1988 as a 1 1/2 year old. She's a terrier.

if you don't tell her how old she is, she'd nerver know. Still beats the snot out of my 3 year old dalmation too

here she is not really long ago. She's blind and deaf so we had to help her know where to look

[ThirdMarioBro]

Awww, she's cute.

I'm going to miss Moose. He was always so adorable on that show. My family always watched Fraiser and I eventually grew to find the show halarious. Eddie was always the funniest dog on TV. Moose will be missed.

Aww... That's pretty sad, and it surprisingly depresses me more than hearing the death of a human actor.

Moose was fantastic as Eddie. I totally adored the scenes that he was in.


Moose will be greatly missed.


And on the subject of Eddie and Jack Russells, there's a game which is so adorable and fun to play.
Everytime I play the game, I think of Eddie.
Try it out!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/289115


EDIT: Such a cute dog you have, Katie! ^_^

[ZariusTwo]

At least one version of Eddie is alive and well, farewell to an icon.