Behind the Scenes of "Who Let The Dogs Out"

Ever seen "Who Let The Dogs Out" on Animal Planet? (Saturday mornings?) Well, Jasmine was chosen to be one of the finalists!!

Tillman and his friends have traveled all over the country to find America's Most Talented Pet! And Jasmine was chosen to go to California to be one of the finalists performing live at Universal Studios!!

I can't even tell you how much fun it was!!! If you've never seen Jaz's tricks before... click here to see her trick resume. And you'll get a little preview of what we did in California!

Getting there was a little bit of a challenge! I had to fly to Cali with ALL of Jasmine's props! (Minus the mini fridge! I thought it was wise to leave that at home!!) ;) So I had A LOT of luggage!!

5 pieces of luggage! (included a big tub loaded with her stuff!) I'm sure the security guys at the airport were perplexed as to why I would have a full size mailbox in my suitcase!! ;) The truth is... I only packed one outfit, PJ's, hair stuff, and make-up. ALLLLLL the rest of that stuff was Jasmine's!! She's kind of high maintenance when we travel!! ;)

Her shopping cart wheel got a little damaged on the flight over, but I was able to fix it before the next morning. (Quick trip to the store to buy some Gorilla Glue!!) Luckily, it worked!!

We had such a fantastic time! I wasn't viewing it as a competition. I was just going to have fun, meet some awesome dogs, and share some of Jaz's fun tricks!

I was super excited to meet Tillman, the skateboarding dog!! The sun was in their eyes, that's why both dogs are squinting! I have been a fan of Tillman's ever since he was on the show "Greatest American Dog"!

I've been following him ever since! It was SO COOL to actually meet him in person!!

And we met Norman the scooter dog!! He's huge!! (Well, compared to Jaz!) But very nice!! Just a big boy who loves attention!

There was an open set at Universal Studios, so that meant anyone could come and watch the taping

of the show.

So my brother and nephew came to watch!! It was really great having them there to talk to! It made it more casual... so I wasn't as nervous!

I have never filmed a TV show before, but basically it's a lot of standing around... waiting for your turn! So we had fun with it. I talked with the other finalists, and we took pictures with our dogs. There were so many cool people and awesome dogs there!! I wish it didn't have to come to an end!

I didn't know what to expect when I met the cast of "Who Let The Dogs Out"... but they were all SOOOO NICE!!! VERY Friendly.... just regular, down-to-earth people. I like that!! And they all loved dogs... so of course that makes me like them even more!

When it was our turn to perform, Jaz did pretty good! I was very happy with our performance.

There were a few hiccups... but nothing big. The ground was slightly slanted, so all the skateboarding dogs went really fast! But when Jaz was pushing her shopping cart, it got away from her one time! LOL

And during another trick, Jaz was supposed to bring me a Kleenex. She picked it up, but then dropped it, and the wind blew it away! She started to go after it, and I had to call her back so she could just get a new one!

And Jaz has also been having a lot of problems with her allergies. (Spring time brings out the itchiness!)

So when I asked Jaz to "roll up in the blanket", she sat there and itched for about 30 seconds!! Then she did it! (I'm hoping they cut that part out when they edit it!!) LOL.

But other than that... Jaz did all her tricks. I was proud of her. :)

There were a lot of talented dogs there. I can't tell you much about it... other than it's going to be awesome!! I can't wait to see it! Because I was back-stage, I didn't get to see all the other dogs perform. So I'm looking forward to watching it on TV too!!

The season finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out" airs on Sat. April 21st on Animal Planet!! You'll have to keep an eye out for Jasmine!! :D

Jasmine's New Trick Resume!

Jasmine has a new trick video!! This is all the tricks she knows so far... as of March 2012. :)

But I'm always open to new suggestions! If you think of any new tricks I should teach Jaz, please let me know!! My friend just loaned me her son's old skateboard, so I'm excited to try that out!

Who Let The Dogs Out- part 1

I finally got the video uploaded of Jasmine's appearance on "Who Let The Dogs Out" (episode 3).

Jasmine I were invited to go to California to be part of the finale!! I was excited about this!!

I have a ton of pics that I need to upload! We had a blast!! There were a lot of talented dogs there! "Who Let The Dogs Out" is on every Saturday morning on Animal Planet! I think the finale airs on April 21st! Be sure to keep an eye out for Jasmine!! :D

Jaz is squinting because the sun is in her eyes!

Here's some of the tricks we did during the finale!!

#EukanubaPawsInMotion to BarkWorld

Last Oct, Jasmine and I went to Atlanta, GA to attend the BarkWorld Expo. We had so much fun!!

We met Lauren and her trick dog Paige there for the first time!

And together, we gave a presentation on "How To Make Your Dog A YouTube Rockstar"! :D

We shared our unique story. Both of our dogs started off as YouTube trick dogs, and through social media both have now been on TV and commercials!

We each gave tips on how to make popular YouTube videos, how to network, and how to train your dog to do tricks. (We both use positive reinforcement- clicker training.) Then we did a trick dog demo, and answered questions after the presentation.

Lauren and I both had a fantastic time at BarkWorld! What an experience! I had no idea anything like that even existed! I made a lot of connections- some really cool friends and some professional contacts. And I attended classes to help me (CJ) become a little more tech-savvy! :) (which I need!) (Although I now use Twitter, I still can't say I fully understand it!!) LOL

But I'm pretty good with YouTube and Facebook. :) And now we just joined Pinterest, but so far that seems pretty easy to figure out. :)

I absolutely loved this convention! One of the best parts was being able to meet Victoria Stillwell!!! From the Animal Planet TV show "It's Me or The Dog". She's a big advocate of positive reinforcement training, so it was sooooo cool to meet her in person!! We went to her class to hear her presentation. Absolutely LOVED it!!

Here's the little promo video I made of our trip to BarkWorld!



We would love to go back this year too! Eukanuba is sponsoring a sweepstakes to win free airfare/hotel/transportation to Atlanta! It's called "Blog Your Way To BarkWorld".

(This is my entry!) If you would like to enter too, here's the link: http://www.barkworldexpo.com/attend/blog-your-way-to-barkworld-2012/

Maybe I'll see ya there!! :D

What's our best dog trick?

Jasmine and I are going to California to be a part of the finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out"- a new show on Animal Planet!! They are searching for America's most talent pet!

I need suggestions! Jaz can do a ton of tricks... and we won't have time to do them all! We will only have a few minutes in front of the judges! Which tricks should we do??

"Who Let The Dogs Out" airs every Saturday morning on Animal Planet. And the finale is April 21st! Keep an eye out for Jasmine!!

I'm so excited to go and meet all other other cool trick dogs! It's going to be a lot of fun!! :D

Prepping for our trip to Cali! :D

Since we were chosen to be a finalist on the show "Who Let The Dogs Out", we get to go to California to be on the finale! :D (It's on Animal Planet on Saturday mornings.)

We're getting ready for our big trip! There's so much to do!! It took me a lot of searching to find a container big enough to ship most of Jasmine's props! I finally found this over-sized bin. But it was like playing Tetris trying to figure out how to get all the stuff to fit in it!!

I was quite proud with the end result!! MOST of it fit... Not the keyboard, the mailbox cover, or a few other little things. But most of it's in there! :D

(I'm obviously not bringing the mini fridge!!) I wouldn't do that to the poor mailman! ;)






As you can see from this picture, Jaz isn't real thrilled that I had to bubble wrap her cart!! She can't figure out what I'm doing with all her stuff!!

One day I'll get a fancy container for all this. In the meantime, we'll just have to make do with our plastic tub! :D (and just tape the lid on super well!!!!) :D

Jaz practiced being in her airline carry-on... so it won't be so foreign when we have to do it again! Last time we flew, it was to go to Atlanta for Barkworld last October. This should be a much easier and shorter trip!

I'm getting excited!! (And a little nervous!!!) But either way, it's going to be a lot of fun. :) I can't wait!! :D

Our Prize for Winning #Tillman's Tues Bloghop!

Look what we found on our doorstep when we got home this evening! It's a case of Tillman's treats!! Jasmine won Tillman's Tuesday Sweepstakes last month! So we got to donate Natural Balance dog food to our favorite rescue group, and Jaz won a case of Tillman's treats to share with her friends! We picked Friends For Life Animal Rescue! And I'll just be passing out bags of treats to my dog friends! :D

Every Tues, Tillman hosts this contest! If you want to enter, here's the link! http://www.tillmanskates.blogspot.com/ It's super easy!

Jaz is in Fido Friendly Magazine!!

Jasmine is featured in this month's Fido Friendly Magazine!! :D This is so cool!! She's mentioned in an article called "Dog Stars in the Making". :D

(Along with Paige, Lillie and Dustie!) How fun!!! :D

And this article was written BEFORE I found out that Jaz was going to be on the Super Bowl Commercial and a finalist on Animal Planet's "Who Let The Dogs Out"! :D

I guess Fido Friendly had a hunch! :D





Check out these other cool dogs! These doggy stars have been in movies already! They're all featured in the Feb/Mar 2012 issue of Fido Friendly Magazine!





This is our new friend Bocker! We're friends on Facebook now! https://www.facebook.com/bocker


I don't know these other pups yet, but I hope to someday! :D

Tomorrow's Episode of #WhoLetTheDogsOut

Ever since Jasmine was picked to go to California for the finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out", I've been so excited! If you missed it, the show airs every Saturday morning on Animal Planet. Tillman and his friends are trying to find America's Most Talented Pet. Jasmine was on last week's episode. They were watching one of Jasmine's trick videos called "Canine Personal Assistant". Then they called me and invited us to come out to Cali to be in the finale. If you missed it, here's the part we were in!

Tomorrow is a new episode. And I've heard that possibly 3 of my other trick dog friends are going to be on this episode! Maybe more! Who knows?? I'm definitely recording it (plus watching it live!) I can't wait to see it!!! :D There's so many talented trick dogs across the country, and I love watching them all!! Should be awesome!! :D Here's a sneak peak of tomorrow's episode: