Life on the Leash

We all had quite a time at the commercial shoot last week. My clients Cooper and Murphy were awesome, despite some challenging circumstances.

The commercial was for a new dog bathing product (that shall remain nameless since I didn’t get permission to write about the shoot). In the commercial, a father and son are challenging each other to a “dog wash-off” to see which bathing method is superior, the old fashioned way with a hose (Dad’s technique), or the super new bathing product (Son’s technique). That meant that Cooper and Murphy had to get very dirty and very clean a few times during the day. They were such troopers about it all!

Cooper was the star for the first part of the day. He was so patient with the young actor, and he seemed to really enjoy the bathing system (it was steamy that day, so the cool water was probably a relief!)

At one point I had to gently hold Cooper’s bottom to make sure that he didn’t jump up when the water hit him … the young actor kept accidentally hitting me with the stream of water, so someone was kind enough to cover me with a towel so I didn’t get soaked:

Murphy was all smiles while Cooper was busy acting:

Then Coop got the last laugh when it was finally Murphy’s turn:

It was a long day, and by the end everyone was dog-tired:

And yours truly was filthy!

A special shout-out goes to Lilly and her people … Lilly was our stand-in dog in case one of the other dogs couldn’t deal with the pressure of being on camera … it turned out that we didn’t need her for the shoot, but she would have been perfect!

Lilly spent her time giving Cooper and Murphy pointers from off camera, and sucking up to Sandi, the American Humane representative on set. (Sandi was there to make sure the shoot was safe for the dogs, a la “No animals were harmed in the making of this production” … we’ve worked together on a bunch of different shoots and she’s always a blast.)

I managed to snag one of the bathing systems and I must say that it’s great. Zeke and Sum really enjoyed their bath yesterday, and I enjoyed the speed and ease of it.

The commercial is set to air in August … I’ll give a heads-up when the date nears so that you can witness the magic that happened in front of the camera.

Things are going to be crazy for the next few days … off to shoot a commercial tomorrow (I’m behind-the-scenes on this one, doing dog training and coaching), and then I have the final dash to finish Part One of the ole’ book by Monday. I will be very, very happy on Tuesday, but until then I’m pretty much a banshee.

Zeke is looking forward to Tuesday as well.

I’m on a fun little TV show called Faithful Friends. It airs on Animal Planet on Sunday mornings at 9:00AM … that’s early, I know. We filmed the show in CA last October … here I am on the set, looking like I just made a mess in my pants:

We’re getting ready to begin filming season 2, and I’m thrilled. I really, really love doing TV stuff … sure, it’s nerve wracking (I’d never used a teleprompter prior to this show, and oh, it happens to be filmed in pore-enlarging wrinkle-enhancing HD), but for some reason I just dig it. It feels natural for me to “perform” dog training and talk to the camera, because I basically do just that all day. I pretend that the camera is a client (a silent, very unforgiving client, mind you) and attempt to make the lessons as streamlined and coherent as possible. Sometimes we’d finish taping a segment and I’d wonder if the words coming out of my mouth made any sense at all. I’ve been surprised to discover that most of my segments on the show are coherent. Not all of them, but most.

I was back in CA a recently for a “Red Carpet” summit for the show. Now we’re talkin’! It was a “get to know you” event where potential sponsors had a chance to learn more about the show … and it was held at THE FOUR SEASONS.

This was the view from my room:

Yeah. I could get used to that.

They did a red carpet cocktail party on the final night, so I decided to live it up and have my hair done. I wanted a simple, chic Audrey Hepburn French twist. Easy, right?

The hairdresser clearly didn’t hear my pleas to “keep it simple” and “don’t make it too big” and most importantly “I’m not going to a wedding!” He back-combed it into Bride of Frankenstein-ville, then gave me this:

Not simple! Big! Wedding-y! It was too late for me to re-do it, so I sucked it up and headed to the party feeling matronly and self-conscious.

I hit the mini red carpet and the first thing Wanda, the host of Faithful Friends, said was, “Your hair. Wow. Who did it?”

Um, Satan?

(That’s a really, really bad picture of me.)

A few glasses of champagne later and I’d all but forgotten the beehive sitting on my head. I instead focused on the amazing exotic animals at the party:

Mr. Snake wasn’t as popular as the furry guys for some reason. I never knew so many people are afraid of snakes! Grown men, for crying out loud! Elektra Mustaine, the junior co-host on the show, gave in to my goading and finally touched it, only to discover that, hey, snake skin ain’t slimy!

Our party went late into the night and ended with lots of tipsy “I love you, dudes.” A few of us decided we wanted to dance so crashed the Johnson & Johnson President’s Club party in the ballroom next door. We made it through one song before security kicked us out.

That’s showbiz.

We have guests for the week:

(Notice all the towels on the ground? Yeah, it’s been raining, and sixteen paws can make a floor look mighty dirty mighty quick.)

Benson the Springer Spaniel and Tootsie the English Bulldog are hanging out with us while my sister-in-law and her family are on vacation. This is Benson’s third visit with us, and Tootsie’s first. The guys are thrilled to have visitors:

“This is different. We hate different.”

Benson tries to be friendly with them, but they want nothing to do with him. I brought an extra bed up to the kitchen so they’d all have a comfy space to hang out while I work on my book, but Zeke and Sum try to claim as much bed as possible so there’s no room for their cousins.

Benson’s all, “But I’m so nice and handsome. Why don’t they like me?”

Not that Tootsie seems to mind. I’ll often find her sacked out alone in the workroom:

She’s such a funny girl … she was asleep sitting up facing me, and when I tried to take a picture of her she did this:

She was very deliberate. No photos, please.

I think Benson and Tootsie are having a fun time hanging out with us:

Zeke and Sum just want me to wake them when it’s over:

Eat lots of hot dogs …

Be careful with the fireworks …

Don’t drink and drive …

And have a happy 4th!

The weather broke so I’m back in my outdoor office working on the old dog training book. Today was shaping up to be a very creatively-juicy day … I got an early start and things seemed to be flowing for me. (Which means I was averaging about a half page every two hours. Look out.)

I returned to my little TV tray desk with a tall glass of water, and wouldn’t you know it, spilled the entire thing on my outline. And mouse. And cell phone.

Technology be damned, I flipped out about the wet outline. I still have a copy of it on my computer, of course, but that little paper outline is filled with additional scribbled musings like “Buddhism vs. Catholicism” and “Don’t forget the braid!” (Yes, this is a book about dog training.) It’s my red-inked security blanket.

Here’s my solution:

There are a dozen additional pages scattered around my patio, secured under other animal-themed glasses.

I lost some of my border notes, but the majority of them are still legible. I can’t help but wonder, though, was the dousing akin to putting out a fire? Was it a baptism? Does it mean that my doubts about the book need to be washed away?

I’m all about reading signs, but maybe this sign just means I’m clumsy …

This first book is KICKING MY ASS. It’s an up till 1AM, not showering, SYTYCD-missing, self-doubting ass-kickin.

It better be worth it.