Frasier's Four-Legged Cast Members Caused Quite A Bit Of Chaos Behind The Scenes
One of the most memorable characters on the long-running NBC sitcom "Frasier" isn't one of the fussy humans that surround radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) but rather his father Martin's (John Mahoney) Jack Russell Terrier, Eddie. Eddie is a fully-fledged character who sometimes seems even more human than his two-legged counterparts, showing love to Martin and the Crane's live-in housekeeper, Daphne (Jane Leeves) while serving as Frasier's arch-nemesis. Portrayed by dog actor Moose and later his son, Enzo, Eddie became a vital part of the series' comedic chemistry. However, there's an old adage about never working with animals or children because they can be difficult and chaotic, and that was often the case on the set of "Frasier."
In a Vanity Fair oral history of the sitcom series for its 25th anniversary in 2018, the cast and crew shared their memories working alongside furry four-legged actors, and it sounds like the dogs caused plenty of havoc. It's pretty well-known that Grammer wasn't a fan of performing with the precocious pooch, but apparently, the rest of the cast wasn't so hot on their canine co-stars either!
The chaotic adventures of Moose and Enzo
Co-creator David Lee explained that the network did some testing to see how people reacted to different things in the series, and a tester let them know that a good way to improve their results was to add a "baby, cute child, or dog." Since it would make absolutely no sense to suddenly introduce a baby or child to "Frasier," the show's creatives decided to go with a dog. Unfortunately, even the best-behaved animal co-stars are still animals, and Moose was no exception. He could be a little feisty, even allegedly biting Mahoney on multiple occasions, for which the only solution seemed to be putting sardine oil on the actor's hands. Jack Russell Terriers were bred to go into animal burrows to help with both hunting and pest control, and Moose was excellent at that, as writer-producer Anne Flett-Giordano revealed that he was "forever killing rats." (She also said he once swallowed a tennis ball, a nightmare situation many dog owners know all too well.)
Eventually, Moose was pretty much replaced entirely by his son, Enzo, who was painted by the makeup team to make his markings match his father's. It doesn't seem like there's nearly the same amount of bad press for Enzo as there was for Moose, so one can assume the younger pup was a little better-behaved than his dad.
Frasier and Eddie, the ultimate adversaries
When Moose got older and was replaced with Enzo, there was one little problem: the two couldn't be on set together. According to co-creator Peter Casey, they absolutely hated one another. He joked that it was "one of those classic parent-child Hollywood rivalries," though it's more likely that they were both just territorial unneutered male dogs. Jack Russells are also pretty notoriously feisty, which might explain why the dog in the "Frasier" reboot on Paramount+ is a Dalmatian. Not only that, but Eddie the Jack Russell was on TV when the breed was at its most ridiculously popular in pop culture. It was tough to change the channel or go to the movies without seeing one of the white and brown terriers somewhere, between shows like "Wishbone" and movies like "The Mask," "My Dog Skip," and "Volcano."
These days, Jack Russells are still a fairly popular breed but don't have the cultural cache that they did in the 1990s, which Eddie definitely contributed to and helped grow. The new show's Dalmatian is pretty neat and hopefully doesn't bite the talent, though it would be great to see the Cranes adopt a shelter dog. Then again, that might be asking Frasier to change his pedigreed spots.