Gere 'nervous about movie set dogs'

Richard Gere has admitted that he was apprehensive about meeting the dogs in his latest film Hachi: A Dog's Tale.

The actor has said that it took him a lot of work to gain the dogs' trust.

Gere told The Mail On Sunday: "Akitas are very discerning. I was nervous about meeting them. You can't buy them with treats - they have to trust you."

The 60-year-old also insisted that he did not want the dogs to be trained to do tricks as he didn't want them doing anything unnatural.

Gere added: "We didn't want to make a Disney movie. We wanted to spend a long time filming their natural actions. We wanted to create situations which explore what a dog feels."