Friday, June 4, 2010

Hollywood Dachshund

Have I ever mentioned that my boyfriend is an aspiring film maker?

Well being that this is only my second post to this blog I'd guess not. But he is! Sean's being making short films ever since we met. There is a wonderful short film festival every month in Richmond called project resolution. A few months ago Sean made a short film featuring Gaius I thought you all might be interested in. (It had to be on Vimo instead of YouTube because Sinatra has a lot of copyright restrictions. So without further ado... Play?

Untitled from Sean Van Damme on Vimeo.



The skills used in this video were a sit stay, a focus forward (great for agility, his skills on this have diminished slightly, something to work on I guess), a retrieve (this wasn't really trained so much as something he did naturally. He'd be much better at this today now that he knows the 'hold it' command), and an off leash, short distance recall with distractions (he needs some work here too but that's another post).

The video took about two days of shooting (five hours each day, which included travel time. Its a good tour of Richmond as far as I'm concerned. This was probably our first hint that Gaius wasn't so good in hot weather. By the end it was pulling teeth to get him to hold the tenis ball. Granted I wasn't using food and know that he knows 'hold it' he'd be better. Still something to keep in mind. Don't push too hard in training... keep it fun. A motto to live by!

It was such a blast to do! I can't wait to make another movie with my best little star. I keep pushing to work him into the 48 hour film festival later this summer. Well see, if I sneak him in it, you can be sure I'll post it :) Anyhow, if you're an aspiring film maker in Richmond and need a little dog to round out your cast drop me a comment. I'd love to do it again!

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