Janeane Garofalo obviously doesn't buy into that old Hollywood adage, "never work with children or animals."

The 42-year-old actress is in town for the next three weeks co-starring with a Jack Russell Terrier in the tentatively titled Binky. The movie of the week will air next year on the Lifetime network in the U.S.

Garofalo plays a rock critic who is fed up with her job and her boyfriend. She inherits her mother's dog Binky and takes it on a trip to Boston.

Radar Online recently quoted Garofalo explaining the movie after a recent standup appearance.

"And I don't initially love the dog," she told the site, "but I go through my mid-life crisis while driving cross-country with (him), and it's one of those movies -- journey taken and then I love the dog."

NEW EDINBURGH

The project is being co-produced by Ottawa's Sound Venture International and Montreal's Muse Entertainment. About 60 crew members and dozens more actors and extras will work on the shoot, which started yesterday in New Edinburgh.

The actress, who broke through in the 1994 film Reality Bites, has had guest starring roles on everything from Seinfeld to The West Wing. She most recently voiced the character of Collette in the current animated hit Ratatouille.

Binky is not the first time the tattooed actress has taken chances with pets: She starred with Uma Thurman in the controversial romantic 1996 comedy The Truth About Cats and Dogs and in Canadian writer-director Bruce McCulloch's 1999 film Dog Park.