Or a clever girl who KNEW how to train dogs... The photographer said he had the dog in one shot... Although not fully explained in the interview they took all persons one by one and merged them into the entire picture later... I did see one photo only showing the girl (of whom it's still a big mystery who she is on the real painting. Many claim the girl on the original painting was Rembrandt's wife who had just passed away around the completion of the photo, and that he drew her in light to depict she had gone to heaven, however this theory is controversial. (The painting was made by order, so I'm note sure how much room Rembrandt had for such personal touches). The girl on the photo was 8 years old, way younger than her painted counterpart, that's for sure), and on that picture she looks exactly the same as in the end result... so much the same that it would be impossible to be two different shots.
The facial hair on the photo is also real, as the photo was shot at high resolution and fake beards and fake mustaches would have been easy to detect. So all the men really had to grow a beard to have it tended by professional barbers in order to mimic the original painting... These kinds of touches really makes the admire the photo even more.
