Burgess Supadog

urgess have released a new dog food which is a casserole, it uses freeze dried pieces of real beef which expand when hot water is added and turns into a gravy and looks just like a beef casserole! So to launch this they were having a video day and they want to promote agility so I was invited to train a celeb and their dog to do agility.

We arrived at the hotel late Wednesday night and settled down for the night, they provided Emz with a bed and a bowl.

Next morning we went off to shoot the video. Met Jeremy Edwards and his dog Molly. She was a great little dog and was a complete natural at agility. Jeremy and I did some chat about agility for camera then I did a demo with Ember (there was a tunnel, weaves and jump from one of those little home sets). Then we taught Molly to do each bit of equipment, we were lucky as she loved her food so she was dead easy to train to do it. We did a summary and that was that done, we probably started at about 11am and went on till about 2pm. Having to stop for the usual aeroplane going over, people clip clopping in high heels etc etc. Back at the studio we filmed me mixing the food and feeding it to Emz and also we both sat on the sofa and I had to feed her treats for camera.

It was a great day, Emz was absolutely shattered at the end of it. I had taken the car as it is so much more easy to drive round London.

Italian Bank

Today it was going to be Cas as the production company had seen her from her Goldfrapp video, however they advised us there would be lots of people and children dancing so I decided Ember was probably the better of the two.

So off we went to London, got there for 10am and didn't get called till 6pm, Ember was having a great time as she befriended to young boys to play with all the time. Ember is not one for laying down and conserving her energy, she is on the go all the time though by the time we were called she was starting to get a bit tired and when she's tired she gets quite reactive to things such as noises etc.

As soon as we got to London I was put in costume, I had been beginning to wonder what this would be and when I arrived to see mini skirts I almost had a heart attack, but luckily they dressed me in something more suitable. I have to say working a dog in a dress is a little strange - I had no pockets for clicker, target stick, treats etc. Kay took this piccie of me dressed up!

So anyway onto Ember, we took her on set when called and rehearsed a bit with her and she was great if a little noisy and excitable as finally she was getting to work! Then the dancers came in and they were dancing so close to her, kicking their legs and waving their arms she got a bit freaked out and wouldn't stay at a distance as she was worried. So she did some work close to me then the dancers were stopped and she did some stuff at a distance. She was very good considering she had had a long boring day.

Unfortunately they never used the scene Emz was in, here's the commercial:

Citroen Shoot

Diz had some work today in Wimbledon. Typically it was the worst day ever to travel! I woke up to a blanket of snow and I thought once out of our lane the roads would be fine, nope so surely the main road into the village - nope again, main Shifnal A-road would be clear - no again, at this stage I couldn't believe the state of the roads and almost got stuck up the hill out of the village twice, the wheel was just spinning at one point! Well the main road to the motorway would be gritted and no again, 5 miles I travelled to get to the motorway and I didn't get out of 3rd gear! The motorways were horrendous, the outside lane was just covered in snow, I couldn't believe the amount of cars in ditches on the M40, a snow plough travelling in the opposite direction - quite surreal. Anyway we got there spot on 10am.

Had a lovely hot bap for breakfast, didn't do anything before lunch as they were packing the car and getting the set up perfect - it was a nice C3 Picasso. Braised beef for lunch and we didn't actually get Diz on set till 4pm. Shot various different positions with her lying in the car with chin up and down, sitting up and then some of her sitting by the car, looking in to the car and looking towards camera. She was good as gold and had stayed on her bed in the studio all day, she's such a chilled out dog, so easy to work with. We left at 6pm and got home about 10pm.

Kali Cat - Audition

Kali did her first ever bit of stills work today and I was worried that she might freak out at the flash. Well she didn't and she was so good, she was better behaved than the dogs were at their last shoot! We went down to Hammersmith for the audition and will find out soon whether she has been picked.

Mary Ann's Book Shoot

Mary Ann Nester has written a HTM/Canine Freestyle book and she invited me and the rowdy rabble to the photo shoot. Diz was up first and was a star as usual, did some paw over nose and chin on ground/chair work etc. she was thrilled to be in front of the camera again - such a show off! Then up was Ember who was doing jumping into my arms which she thoroughly enjoyed and was generally accompanied by noise! Rum up next who did heel position and round the handler and finally paw over nose in a down - he has always been really nervous at a photo shoot and I was so pleased today as he started off quite wary off the flash sound but really relaxed towards the end - good lad. Finally Cas who did all sorts of moves and she would not shut up she was soooo wound up - doesn't bode well for the Crufts Semis.



Anyway a good day and thanks to Mary Ann who invited us!

ITV??

Today I had a researcher from ITV come over and interview me and film the dogs doing freestyle and tricks. Then we went over to Lees and she filmed a bit of them doing some agility but couldn't get much footage as it was a bit wet and windy! They are looking to commission a documentary on people and their dogs which sounds like a really good idea but they're still in the research stages and compiling footage of different 'doggie' people. Fingers crossed it gets the go ahead and they like the dogs' tricks :-)

Animals At Work

I performed a display with Cas at The Wag & Bone Show and held a freestyle masterclass. We had arranged to meet up with someone from the BBC as they were interested in the dogs' tricks.

At the end of a long day Cas was asked to play basketball again and again, bless her she worked so hard and I could see her age showing - she tires much quicker these days.

Then Rum was asked to skip and he was a star, still a bit distracted but we performed some good skips - I normally trip over the rope lol!!

The show will be shown on CBBC I believe and is a series of programmes on clever animals.