[how-to] apply 1 mask on 10 movieClips in AS2

programming flash
1

dear all,

Currently i have 10 movieClips and named it as (dog0, dog1, dog2 … dog9)
I would like to appy a mask for these movieClips (dogs) ~~ by using ActionScript

 
// this script works fine 
dog0.setMask(theMask);

however,
when i try the following script

dog0.setMask(theMask);
dog1.setMask(theMask);

the mask only applies on dog1 … but NOT dog0
does it mean i have to create 10 masks for each dog ???

Any body could help me to solve it ??
I would like to mask all these dogs ~~

Thanks
Sam