Indy (dog)

Indy is owned by Ben Leonberg and Kari Fischer, with Leonberg first receiving Indy in 2017.^[1] Leonberg named him after the Indiana Jones film series.^[2][3]

Indy made his debut playing a fictionalized version of himself in the 2025 film Good Boy, written by Leonberg and produced by Fischer.^[4] Indy had no formal acting training prior to the film, and Leonberg originally did not picture Indy as the lead while writing.^[5] However, he described Indy as having an "intense, unblinking stare" and expressive movements that he thought would make him a good fit for the role.^[6] Leonberg conceived the idea for a supernatural horror film framed from a dog's perspective after re-watching the 1982 film Poltergeist.^[5] Leonberg also cited the 1980 film The Shining as an influence for Good Boy, noting that both films question whether the characters' seemingly supernatural experiences are genuine or products of their psychological state, and feature endings open to interpretation.^[7][8] A stuffed replica of Indy, which Leonberg nicknamed 'Findy', was used as a stand-in for Indy when setting up various shots of the film and performing stunts.^[9]

As a lead, Indy's performance received an abundance of positive reviews from critics.^[10][11] Rendy Jones of Den of Geek likened Indy's performance to the title character of the animated comedy horror series Courage the Cowardly Dog.^[12][13] Nominated for Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller for his performance at the 9th Astra Film Awards, Indy made film awards history as he is now the first canine to be nominated for a major film acting category that had previously recognized only human talent.^[14][15] Indy ultimately won the award; though not in attendance, Leonberg accepted the award via an acceptance speech video, with Indy by his side, which was published on the Astra Awards YouTube channel the following day.^[16][17]