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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWatch the next ‘Air Bud.’ Charlie from Ohio is among dogs in sequel<\/p>\n
Charlie, a lovable and cannonball of a canine in Jackson Township, is expected to get a lot of screen time in “Air Bud Returns” in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/story-highlights> JACKSON TWP. \u2212 Charlie the golden retriever<\/a> has become a celebrity before he even gallops across the big screen next year in the new “Air Bud” movie.<\/p>\n A mailman insisted that he get to meet the lovable and athletic pooch. Another fan handwrote a letter to Sara Wilson, who owns Charlie, along with her husband, son and daughter. People also congratulated the family when Sara was attending a high school sporting event.<\/p>\n Bigger yet is a professionally made sign stretching across the front yard of Charlie’s home on Braucher Street NW.<\/p>\n “Welcome Home Air Bud,” it declares in glittery blue-and-white lettering. Adorning the reusable corrugated plastic yard sign are decorative stars, a clapperboard, basketballs, “Superstar,” “Nothing but Net” and “MVP.”<\/p>\n Charlie returned in mid-November from seven weeks of filming in Canada for the basketball-themed “Air Bud Returns.”<\/p>\n Leigh Benton, who owns a Jackson Township-based franchise<\/a> of Card My Yard<\/a>, with her husband, Rick Benton, found out about Charlie through an article<\/a> in the Canton Repository in early October.<\/p>\n “I just wanted to add a little extra joy to the family welcoming Charlie home,” Leigh Benton said.<\/p>\n She was so touched by Charlie that she donated the sign to the Wilsons.<\/p>\n “How can you not smile when you look at a golden retriever,” said the 55-year-old Benton, who owns two golden retrievers, Mojo and Moxie. “They are literally smiling at you. I thought, ‘How cool that a dog from our very own Jackson Township is going to be in this huge movie.'”<\/p>\n “For me, I think it is a bit of an escape,” she said. “And if you are a person that loves animals and loves dogs, it’s an enjoyable thing to watch. It’s one thing to watch a human actor on screen say their lines and deliver their part that they were hired to do, but to see an animal that was trained to do that, it’s a pretty cool thing.”<\/p>\n Don’t worry, though. Charlie isn’t a diva. And the movie experience hasn’t changed him much.<\/p>\n When greeting visitors, the 3-year-old purebred still sprints from the garage to the driveway as if shot from a cannon. Tail wagging, body bouncing, tongue ready to lick in affection. And his ball fetching and sports skills are better than ever.<\/p>\n Maybe the only difference Sara Wilson has noticed in Charlie is he’s more obedient, due to training he received during the film shoot.<\/p>\n “They talked a lot about how much they loved Charlie,” she said of the filmmakers. “Everyone loves him. He just warms up to everyone.”<\/p>\n\n
‘How can you not smile when you look at golden retriever’<\/h2>\n