We did it! The commercial was a great success!

Sundown on the last day and we are done!  This is about 2/3 the crew and the puppies all celebrating a job well done!  This was such an incredible trip for us!  It's always been on my bucket list to be involved (even just watch!) a movie or commercial  being made.  Specifically a dog one of course.  It is such an amazing thing to see.  Although my assistant Lee-Ann and I did all the training of the puppies (sit, down, stay, come, mat) it was the great talent of the two trainers (Melanie and Alex) who managed to successfully get the puppies to do it the right way at the right time with TONS of distractions.  Booms, lights, screens, microphones and a dozen people surrounding them!   I wasn't allowed to be close while they were filming as I was a major distraction to the puppies.  I did watch from a distance though and it was fascinating. They really had to think on their feet depending on each situation.  It was impressive to see.  

The puppies were so good that we didn't even need the extra day of filming at the end!  Scenes that were allotted to take 3 hours, took 25 minutes!!  And that happened over and over and over again!  We were rewarded one day with lunch on a moving passenger train because we had extra time!  A full 45 minute train ride through the prairies!  It was awesome!

Turned out we used 3 puppies instead of 2.  It was really nice to be able to exchange the pups more often.  You will only see what looks like 1 puppy in the commercial but it will actually be all three.  In general terms, Miss Pink (Tia) did the close ups.   Miss Yellow (Leila) did the fast recalls (comes).  And Mr. Blue (Boy) did the kisses and excited greetings.  Each did a little of everything but mostly they had their own jobs.  

The weather was insanely HOT!  38C or 100F on 2 days of the shoot.  The great thing was we (the pups, adult dogs and I) got to spend our time in a $400,000 RV with air conditioning!  They also had a kiddie pool full of ice and another air conditioned van to transport them back and forth to the set.  I felt really guilty as all the crew were working in that heat and me, the newcomer, was sitting in a/c luxury with my own bathroom!  They didn't seem to hold it against me though.   Thankfully!

We all did such a great job that it seems like I could be invited back again.  The director was very pleased with the puppies and the trainers felt this would not be the last time we saw each other.  I'm very excited about the possibilities!

And I must thank the owners of the puppies who allowed me the extra two weeks to keep the pups so I could go on this adventure.  Almost ALL the owners offered their puppies for the commercial.  There was only one who needed to travel at a certain time to come get their pup.  Everyone else was so incredibly generous and I thank all of you.  Whether your puppy was in the commercial or not.  Thank you so much!

Here's to new beginnings!