[pyrnet] CHAT: 5 seconds of fame

["Tracy Bassett" <espinay@dynamite.com.au>]

Well, my dogs Halley and Milou will have theirs anyway :-)

We spent the day yesterday filming a segment for the national TV show
'Harry's Practice':
http://harryspractice.i7.com.au/MinisiteFrameset/0,,PDI76,00.html

Up early, we drove to Faye Cartilege's house where we found Faye busy
getting puppies spic and span for the day.  From there it was a drive down
the road to 'Pomeroy' - a property where it had been arranged that the dogs
would be filmed in with some livestock.  No problem with the dogs there as
they are used to my little menagerie (they were more interested in eating
the poop! LOL!) - only problem is that the goats were not used to dogs!
After spending some time settling them together, the crew arrived with the
presenter Dr Katrina Warren.  The dogs were great through the numerous
takes, walking on and off camera with Katrina (goats etc ended up in shot
behind them).  From there it was back to Fayes to film the puppies.

The pups had a ball playing out on the grass and thought the sound guy's
fluffy microphone (and all those cables!) a great toy.  Katrina filmed a
piece with them discussing hip displaysia and how fast the pups would grow
in their first 12 months. Around that time the stills photographer arrived
to take photo's for the Better Homes and Gardens magazine (the show is part
of their 'Great Winter Ideas' special where a number of shows combine so
will be featured in the magazine as well).  While the photographer was
taking shots of Katrina and the pups, the film crew took some footage of
Halley and Milou being loved on by some of the kids there to take part in
all the excitement.  Then it was Halley and Milou's turn for some stills
shots with Katrina.

Halley by this point was getting a little tired (passed her nap time LOL!)
and decided she didn't want to be famous any more.  She sat beside Katrina
and after a few shots looked blatantly the other way!  Nothing we could do
to make her look either towards the camera or at Katrina.  We tried swapping
her to the other side, but she just looked the other way LOL! Nothing like a
stubborn Pyr who has decided she has had enough.  Halley went back to bed
for a nap, and Milou had a few more shots alone with Katrina for posterity.

After a short break for lunch, the crew filmed some shots of Katrina trying
to call one of Fay's Pyrs 'Ossie' who of course was paying no attention and
sniffing around the trees.  Katrina did a great impression of a Pyr owner
trying to get their selectively deaf Pyr to come when called ;-).  After
filming another piece with Ossie and one of the pups, we bundled back into
the cars and over to a neighbours place for a change of scenery.

In a lovely garden with pink flowers for a backdrop, Milou lay on a rug to
be brushed while Katrina discussed grooming.  She showed off her double
dewclaws for the camera and had one of them clipped.  We then went up on the
veranda where Katrina gave her a 'sponge bath' (wet towel, dry towel,
powder, brush etc).

Then it was inside for some footage beside the fireplace.  The room was
quite hot, and Milou decided she was not sitting still so close to the fire,
so Halley was brought in instead to lie down and look pretty for the scene
(she was feeling a little more refreshed from her nap by now).  The last
scene of the day had them filming a puppy being lifted off a chair for a
piece discussing the importance of not letting pups jump down from high
places.

Both the dogs and I arrived home totally exhausted.  It is amazing how much
work goes in to something that will only take up a few minutes of air time.
Katrina and the crew were great and seemed to have a lot of fun with the
dogs too.  They commented a number of times how easy the girls were to work
with (well, some of that training actually paid off! :-)).  I will be
looking forward to seeing how the final product turns out when it is aired.

Tracy Bassett
Canberra, Australia
espinay@dynamite.com.au