URGENT!! VOTE FOR JAZ on @GMA!

WOOHOO!!


Jasmine is going to be on GOOD MORNING AMERICA tomorrow morning!!  (Monday, April 30th!)   


They are having a Dog vs. Dog contest!!     PLEASE go vote for Jasmine!!


Voting is open now, but ends at 3 pm EST tomorrow!  (Monday!)


Here's the link to vote!
http://www.sodahead.com/living/dog-vs-dog-which-pups-trick-was-more-impressive/question-2620806/


Please share with your friends!  If Jaz gets the most votes, she'll get to go to NYC to perform live on the show!!!  


If you want to see both videos, here's the link~
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/dog-vs--dog--arbor-the-border-collie-and-jasmine-the-havanese.html

Behind-the-Scenes footage of the "Who Let The Dogs Out" finale!

WOW.  What can I say.  Wonderful people.  Super talented dogs.  What an awesome experience!


Being on the finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out" was SO MUCH FUN!!   Here's the footage my very awesome brother recorded for me!!  :D

Award Time!

 For those of you who were not able to catch the finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out" on Animal Planet... no worries!  I have some behind-the-scenes footage, I just need to finish editing it and upload it to YouTube!

It's nice that I can actually talk about it!!  They flew us to California to perform at Universal Studios in March!  But then I had to keep the results a secret for almost 2 months!!  That was hard!!! We had a blast there!  We met so many cool people, and awesome trick dogs!!   At the finale, they selected 2 finalists to have a show-down.  The final 2 were Jasmine and Daisy.  Then at the very end, Daisy won!   (And I was perfectly happy with 2nd place!)  I was just impressed that Jasmine did all her tricks!  Sometimes when she's in a new place, with new sights/smells, she gets easily distracted!   So I was proud of her for staying focused!  Jasmine won a giant gift basket (pictured above), and 6 months of Natural Balance dog food!  :)

   When the showed the finale on TV, they cut out the show-down between Daisy and Jasmine.  They showed all the semi-finalists, then jumped right to the end, and showed the winner.  But that's okay.   It was just cool to be on the show!!  

 

Jasmine also received another award in the mail this week!  Last fall, one of Jasmine's trick videos (Dog Goes Shopping) was entered in a doggy version of the Academy Awards. (The Anipal Academy Awards).  And she won for Best Comedy! 

Here she is with her cute little trophy! :)  

(And as you can tell from the 2 pictures, Jaz got a haircut!)  :)

If you haven't seen the full-length version of "Dog Goes Shopping"- here it is: 

Sat. April 21st! Jaz is on #WhoLetTheDogsOut!

It's almost here!!  THIS Saturday, April 21st will be Jasmine's big TV appearance!


I can't believe she's going to be on national TV twice this month!  April 10th was a big day- her dog tricks video was shown on the Anderson Cooper show!!  (If you missed it, click HERE to watch it!)  I was so thrilled!


AND NOW... this coming Saturday, she'll get to be on the season finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out" on Animal Planet!!  They actually flew us to Universal Studios last month to film this.  And I've had to keep the results a secret for a WHOLE MONTH!  But now, after Saturday, I can FINALLY talk about it!!!  :D


Needless to say, we had a BLAST!  We met so many talented dogs, and wonderful people.  I wish it didn't have to end!  


Here's a preview of Saturday's show!





If it looks like Jaz is running with her shopping cart at the end, that's because she is!  The ground was a little slanted at Universal Studios.  (Which worked out great for the skateboarding dogs, they went really fast!)  But it was a little more complicated for the shopping dog!


If you missed the 3rd episode, that was when they invited us out to California to perform live at the finale.  Here's that video:





So... yeah... 3 more days until the finale!!!   What an incredible experience!  Probably one of highlight's of our lives.  :)     I can't wait to tell you all about it.  (after Saturday.)  ;)

Does your dog play basketball?

Jaz is putting together an international basketball team!  :D   Does your dog play basketball?   
If so, let me know!  I'm putting together a little movie of all Jasmine's trick dog friends!  (from all over the world!)  :D


Here's a sneak peek!  :D





If you would like to participate, please email me a clip by next weekend  (4/20/12) if you want to be included.  You can upload it to www.sendspace.com  and then send it to myfavpupjasmine@aol.com.  
It needs to be in a .mov or .mp4 format.  It should be filmed outdoors (good lighting), with no humans in view.  Shot at a wide-angle, with a tri-pod or a steady hand.  I'm looking for all kinds of behaviors... running, catching, and dunking the ball.   Please name the file  (Your dogs name) _Basketball.mov (or .mp4)   :)      Welcome to the canine dream team!  :D     I can't wait to see what you come up with!    :D

Jaz on the Anderson Cooper Show! :D

Jasmine was on the Anderson Cooper show!!  

(Tues. April 10th!)  :)

Vet Week

This week was "Vet Week" for Jasmine and I!   Jaz is determined to keep the veterinarians in business!!


Jaz has allergies, and is always itching like crazy in the spring time.  (Well, year round, but more so in the spring!)


I've been to my regular vet.  I've tried different diets, special shampoos, fish oil supplements, powders, sprays, pills, everything I could think of to help her stop itching!  She was miserable!

I finally just had to take her into an dog dermatologist to get allergy tests done.  (Even though it was really expensive!!)   So, last week, they shaved her side, gave her a light sedative through an IV, and tested for for 47 different environmental allergies.   


And guess what.... Jaz is HIGHLY allergic to all 47 things!  She tested positive for everything except the control group!  She's allergic to every kind of tree, flower, pollen, grass, mold, human dander, even cats!!!  My dog is allergic to cats!  Go figure.   (So it probably doesn't help at all when she goes over to my parents' house and hangs out with their cat Squeakers.   Jaz always licks his face to say hello.)

So... Jaz is now on Zyrtec, a steroid (only temporarily to get this under control), and weekly allergy shots.


She's also doing a food trial, to see what foods she is allergic to.  So for the next 6 weeks, she can only have Rabbit and Potato.  There's a dry kibble, and canned stuff (which I use to give her the pills).


But I explained to the vet that Jaz isn't just a regular dog.  She's a trick dog, and when we get asked to do commercials, she won't do tricks without a good treat.  (and Jaz doesn't consider kibble to be a high-value treat.)   So he suggested I could make my own rabbit or potato treats.  Obviously, the potato was the easier one to start with.  So when we went to agility class, I took baked potato slivers.  (Basically french fries without the salt or oil.)  They worked okay.  Not great, but okay.


Then my agent called to see if we would be available if she submitted us for a commercial next week!  (What timing!)  So I had to find a better treat that Jaz would want to work for.   So I really did have to buy and cook rabbit for her!  (ICK)   My friend actually cooked it, because I didn't want to touch it!  


She got all the meat off the bones, and put it in the fridge so I could use it for treats.  We threw the carcass away.  Later that night, we went over to a friend's house.  When we came home, we discovered Jasmine (the highly food motivated dog) had opened the cupboard, and pulled out the garbage can.  She at that entire 3 lbs carcass.... nothing but bones.

She's only a 18 lbs dog, so I knew it had to come out one way or another!  So on Monday, when she started throwing up, I wasn't surprised.  However, at one point, it looked like she might be throwing up blood in the bile, I got a worried. I took her into the vet to get checked out.  (I was worried the bone splinters might puncture something.)   They took an x-ray, and as you can tell from the picture above.... there a lot of bone fragments in her!  But LUCKILY, nothing was punctured.  And the remaining fragments that she hadn't thrown up were surrounded by stool.  So they gave her an anti-nausea shot, and a subcutaneous shot of fluids (under the skin).  Then she wasn't allowed to eat or drink for 24 hours.  (Jaz was pretty ticked about that.  She kept flipping her food bowl over and over at dinner time!  I finally had to put it up on the counter.  Then the next day she was allowed 1/8 cup of food for breakfast.  (She gave me "the look" when I put that in her bowl!)   And slowly, she worked back up to normal quantities.  


But man, what a scare.  That's my dog for you though!!   She's a nearly perfect dog... except when it comes to food.  Then she gets herself into trouble.  A LOT!!   (and for the record, I had to get baby locks installed on the cabinets because of my highly food motivated dog!!)  It's great for teaching tricks!  But it's bad when she gets into trouble because of it!!  I keep telling Jaz she has to learn to use her superpowers for good, not evil!!  ;)   Silly dog.  She's okay now.  (But like I said- she's trying to keep the vets in business single handedly!!)  ;)

#WhoLetTheDogsOut Finale on #AnimalPlanet !! :D

It's getting close!!!  

Jasmine and all her friends are going to be on the finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out" on Animal Planet!!

(If it looks like Jaz is running with the shopping cart, that's because she is!!  The ground was a little slanted, so it made the cart roll really fast!)

I can't believe it's almost here!!  Sat. April 21st will be the finale!!  It was SO MUCH FUN performing live at Universal Studios!  After the show was done taping, and they were packing all the set, I still hung around Universal Studios with Jasmine.  It was just.... so.... cool.  We had such a GREAT experience!   We met some really wonderful people.  We saw and met some really awesome and talented dogs!!  It was kind of surreal!  I didn't want it to end!

Anderson Cooper

April is a big month for Jaz!  She gets to be on national TV twice this month!   Tomorrow, April 10th, she is also going to be on the Anderson Cooper show!!   They are going to make a video montage from some of these clips:  

I can't wait to watch both shows!!  FUN FUN FUN!!!  :D

Anderson Cooper Show appearance!

Anderson Cooper

Just found out Jasmine is going to be on the Anderson Cooper show this coming Tues. April 10th!!   They are going to feature some clips from her recent "Dog Trick Resume" video!  :D  

A friend recommended Jaz's trick videos to them, and I gave them permission to show them.  But now, after reading the episode bio, I find out it's about Extreme Pet Owners!   :P   So.... I'm really curious if they are going to portray trick training in a positive or negative light.  I guess I'll find out!!  


The way I see it, it's like training for a sport.  Yes, it takes up a lot of my time (which might be considered extreme), but Jasmine LOVES to do it.  And we have fun with it.  We volunteer at the hospital -showing off Jaz's tricks.  She does commercials and photo shoots.  She loves it.   So- maybe that does make me an extreme owner!  But- so be it!   Either way, I still think it's cool that she's going to be on the show!!  :D  http://www.andersoncooper.com/episodes/jack-wagner-newly-discovered-daughter-dwts-extreme-pet-owners/  

And that actually means Jaz is going to be on national TV twice this month!


I'm counting down the days until the "Who Let The Dogs Out" season finale on Animal Planet!  It airs Sat. April 21st!  :D    (Jasmine and I flew out to California to take part in this competition- they are looking for America's Most Talented Dog!)   We had soooo much fun!!!  :D    Now I can't wait to see the end result!!

So- keep an eye out for Jasmine!   April is "Jasmine's on TV" month!  ;)   

Cover Girl! For Havanese Breed Magazine!

COVER GIRL!! :D

Every other month, I write an article for Havanese Breed magazine. It's usually about the life lessons I have learned from Jasmine, or telling about our latest adventure.

So when the editor asked for a high res picture of Jasmine, I just sent him a random one. I thought it was to be included with my article!

Imagine my surprise when I discovered she was on the front cover of the magazine!!

Don't get me wrong, it was a very pleasant surprise! I was thrilled! (I just would have picked a different picture!!) Oh well- it's all good! :D



So- if you subscribe to Havanese Breed Magazine, there will be a familiar face looking back at you on the March/ April 2012 copy!

Here's our latest article. If you click on each page, hopefully you'll be able to read it. I have yet to learn how to upload an adobe file to a blog, so I converted each page to a jpeg.

By the way, if you know how to attach one, please let me know!! :D

Our most recent article is all about our adventures going to California to film the season finale of "Who Let The Dogs Out"! It airs on Animal Planet on Sat. April 21st! So be sure to keep an eye out for Jasmine!!!! :D :D