Trailer for Sniff the Dog Movie
Film Production Snapshots
Making a movie is hard work, and a lot of great fun, too. We hope you enjoy some of these behind the scenes moments of the stars and crew.
Labels: snapshots
Diary of a Film-Maker's Wife
A note from Kim: Scroll down to the end if you want to read this in chronological order. (Recommended, but not strictly necessary…)
Labels: diary
February 6 "Hollywoof" in San Francisco
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Dogpile Dogs
1338 Illinois Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Event begins at 4:30
This is an opportunity for you and your pooch to see Sniff in the company of friends both human and canine. Dogopolis is sponsoring this afternoon and evening event, which includes the chance to walk along the green carpet for a Hollywoof photo of you and your pup and the opportunity to experience the latest in Bay Area dog apparel, services and community activities. The Sniff screening at 5:00 pm will include a Q and A with film makers Barry Stone and Kim Webster as well as an opportunity to purchase Sniff T-shirts for dogs and humans, and of course, your very own signed copy of the Sniff DVD. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here. Event tickets must be purchased in advance. If you and your dog are up for a double header, there will also be a screening of the documentary "Mine" to follow the intermission.
Labels: screenings
February 28, Salinas California
Sunday, February 28 at 10:00 am
Meet film-makers Barry Stone and Kim Webster.
Bring the family!
Maya Cinemas
153 Main Street
Salinas, CA 93901
Buy advance tickets below, or purchase at the door on the day of the event (if we're not sold out!).
Descriptive audio available on request.20% of producers’ profits from ticket sales and DVDs sold after the event will benefit
ARIEL Theatrical Inc., Salinas, CA and
Animal Friends Rescue Project, Pacific Grove, CA
Labels: screenings
Guide Dogs for the Blind
From Joanne Ritter, Director of Marketing
Guide Dogs for the Blind is thrilled to be a part of this playful and informative film. We'd especially like to thank Barry and Kim for their commitment to making the film accessible to people who are blind; they've gone the extra mile and created a descriptive version. The two of them are now part of our Guide Dog family, and we sincerely hope this film will inspire others to get involved with us -- as puppy raisers, volunteers, and clients, and to help spread the word about our services that are offered free-of-charge. Our sincere thanks to everyone who was involved in this film. Congratulations and "Woof!" (November 5, 2009)
Guide Dogs for the Blind is thrilled to be a part of this playful and informative film. We'd especially like to thank Barry and Kim for their commitment to making the film accessible to people who are blind; they've gone the extra mile and created a descriptive version. The two of them are now part of our Guide Dog family, and we sincerely hope this film will inspire others to get involved with us -- as puppy raisers, volunteers, and clients, and to help spread the word about our services that are offered free-of-charge. Our sincere thanks to everyone who was involved in this film. Congratulations and "Woof!" (November 5, 2009)
Labels: reviews
Bay Woof, December 2009
"A Buddy Movie Goes to the Dogs"
Barry Stone's first film was a short called "Dog," four minutes of doggies wandering around doing doggie things as a voice-over puts words in their mouths. At the Grand Lake Theater on November 5, lucky viewers got to see it, followed by Stone's latest effort, a dog lover's dream of a movie called Sniff...
Over the course of 87 minutes, we meet Labrador Retrievers Gabby and Mikey, two pupils at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael; Zoe a Jack Russell Terrier who happens to be a champion surfer; and numerous other cute, courageous and thoroughly captivating dogs.
They all play themselves to perfection and threaten to steal the show, but the human characters are engaging too, as they take in the delights of the Bay Area while suffering the stresses of low-budget film making. We find ourselves rooting for all the dogs and most of the people, even ditsy Juliette (played by film veteran Amanda Plummer) and her stuffy jealous husband Derek (dittto Maurice Godin).
The film is not all fun and games. Serious segments include a touching monologue by a man contemplating the the death of his long-time furry friend and blow-by-blow training sessions with real working dogs.
Sniff manages to entertain and educate at the same time ...
Sniff is alternately funny, amazing, moving and just plain silly. It all adds up to a must-see for dog devotees...
Barry Stone's first film was a short called "Dog," four minutes of doggies wandering around doing doggie things as a voice-over puts words in their mouths. At the Grand Lake Theater on November 5, lucky viewers got to see it, followed by Stone's latest effort, a dog lover's dream of a movie called Sniff...
Over the course of 87 minutes, we meet Labrador Retrievers Gabby and Mikey, two pupils at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael; Zoe a Jack Russell Terrier who happens to be a champion surfer; and numerous other cute, courageous and thoroughly captivating dogs.
They all play themselves to perfection and threaten to steal the show, but the human characters are engaging too, as they take in the delights of the Bay Area while suffering the stresses of low-budget film making. We find ourselves rooting for all the dogs and most of the people, even ditsy Juliette (played by film veteran Amanda Plummer) and her stuffy jealous husband Derek (dittto Maurice Godin).
The film is not all fun and games. Serious segments include a touching monologue by a man contemplating the the death of his long-time furry friend and blow-by-blow training sessions with real working dogs.
Sniff manages to entertain and educate at the same time ...
Sniff is alternately funny, amazing, moving and just plain silly. It all adds up to a must-see for dog devotees...
Labels: reviews
Launch Day
Update November 5, 2009
Flowers just arrived too! The excitement mounts....
In the midst of the madness of preparing our thank you's, organizing our volunteers and trying to find a cheap red carpet within driving distance - I just got this from my gardening clients Lisa and Gia Rinella:
"Look what we saw on our way to school"
Labels: diary
Speak!
Now that you've seen Sniff, tell us what you think! Critics, fans, well-wishers and hecklers are all welcome to leave comments here.
Note: Comments posted on this forum are moderated to ensure that no offensive content appears on our site.
Go to bottom of list for most recent comment.
Note: Comments posted on this forum are moderated to ensure that no offensive content appears on our site.
Go to bottom of list for most recent comment.
A Three Letter Word
Update: October 16, 2009
I was never allowed to say the word “bum” when I was a child, and still consider the word unworthy in comparison to “bottom”, or perhaps “rear-end”, the continental-sounding “derriere” or even “tush” (never tushie, though.) But Barry, with ever-different sensibilities, has indeed used the word “bum” in our film, in the context of what dogs do when they greet each other. So now, I have produced a film with the questionable word featured! What a bummer… (did I say that?)
We’ve had an audio description of the film made for blind people to hear a description of the action in addition to the dialogue, so that they can imagine the visuals on-screen. One night this week I stayed up all night to (among other things) listen to the audio description and check for errors. Today I wrote the following to Jill Jacobson at CaptionMax who has been so helpful in guiding us through the process of getting the closed-captioning and audio description onto the DVD master:
"Hi Jill!
Now that all the technical insecurities have been assuaged, I wanted to take a moment to tell you how much of a kick I got in the middle of the night on Wednesday listening to the audio description delicately avoid using the word "bum"! Please thank your copy-writer ... I just played it for Barry and we both had a laugh! Kim"
(What was their choice, you may ask? I believe it was ... "rear end". Provincials unite!)
I was never allowed to say the word “bum” when I was a child, and still consider the word unworthy in comparison to “bottom”, or perhaps “rear-end”, the continental-sounding “derriere” or even “tush” (never tushie, though.) But Barry, with ever-different sensibilities, has indeed used the word “bum” in our film, in the context of what dogs do when they greet each other. So now, I have produced a film with the questionable word featured! What a bummer… (did I say that?)
We’ve had an audio description of the film made for blind people to hear a description of the action in addition to the dialogue, so that they can imagine the visuals on-screen. One night this week I stayed up all night to (among other things) listen to the audio description and check for errors. Today I wrote the following to Jill Jacobson at CaptionMax who has been so helpful in guiding us through the process of getting the closed-captioning and audio description onto the DVD master:
"Hi Jill!
Now that all the technical insecurities have been assuaged, I wanted to take a moment to tell you how much of a kick I got in the middle of the night on Wednesday listening to the audio description delicately avoid using the word "bum"! Please thank your copy-writer ... I just played it for Barry and we both had a laugh! Kim"
(What was their choice, you may ask? I believe it was ... "rear end". Provincials unite!)
Labels: diary
Evidently Blondes Do Have Fun ...
Update: October 14, 2009
In another response to our e-mail announcement, I found out some news about Rogan – a statuesque Irish wolfhound who features prominently in Sniff:
From Ann Gould:
Oh ... Rogan had a litter this past year so he is a very proud papa. We kept 3 of the litter ... so that means I have 5 of the blondes running around my property. Thanks again ....
Rogan (standing) with his lounging mate and son.
In another response to our e-mail announcement, I found out some news about Rogan – a statuesque Irish wolfhound who features prominently in Sniff:
From Ann Gould:
Oh ... Rogan had a litter this past year so he is a very proud papa. We kept 3 of the litter ... so that means I have 5 of the blondes running around my property. Thanks again ....
Rogan (standing) with his lounging mate and son.Labels: diary
A Blast from the Past
Update: October 13, 2009
We sent out a big email last night and responses have been coming to us in an encouraging volume. Among these, I heard from (conservatively) septuagenarian Mili Rosenblatt who I haven’t seen in years. She wrote to tell me that she and her husband Bill are great friends of Laurie Lewis who will be playing at the Nov. 5th gala at the Grand Lake. So I wrote to Laurie to tell her Mili and Bill were coming to the show, and she asked me how I knew them. Taking a welcome break to think about something unrelated to the film, this is what I wrote to Laurie:
Hi Laurie:
I'm not sure that I've ever met Bill, but I met Mili through an artist neighbour when we first moved to California and became Mili’s "project" for a while, as she tried to get my glass work in to the New Leaf Gallery. It was quite the adventure, going there in our electric bus with Mili talking a mile a minute, and one of my glass sculptures (a giant pea pod) rolling around in the back.
I seem to remember that we ran out of electricity in the van and had to pull over at some stranger's house to plug in! Poor Mili - what I put her though!
It was somewhat mutual though: the New Leaf Gallery was completely uninterested in the work, and in Mili and me. But we had a nice lunch together, and I immortalized the experience by having one of my fairy characters sign a tiny glass flower with the moniker "Mili Pillywiggin". (I don't think I ever told her that!)
xo Kim
We sent out a big email last night and responses have been coming to us in an encouraging volume. Among these, I heard from (conservatively) septuagenarian Mili Rosenblatt who I haven’t seen in years. She wrote to tell me that she and her husband Bill are great friends of Laurie Lewis who will be playing at the Nov. 5th gala at the Grand Lake. So I wrote to Laurie to tell her Mili and Bill were coming to the show, and she asked me how I knew them. Taking a welcome break to think about something unrelated to the film, this is what I wrote to Laurie:
Hi Laurie:
I'm not sure that I've ever met Bill, but I met Mili through an artist neighbour when we first moved to California and became Mili’s "project" for a while, as she tried to get my glass work in to the New Leaf Gallery. It was quite the adventure, going there in our electric bus with Mili talking a mile a minute, and one of my glass sculptures (a giant pea pod) rolling around in the back.
I seem to remember that we ran out of electricity in the van and had to pull over at some stranger's house to plug in! Poor Mili - what I put her though!
It was somewhat mutual though: the New Leaf Gallery was completely uninterested in the work, and in Mili and me. But we had a nice lunch together, and I immortalized the experience by having one of my fairy characters sign a tiny glass flower with the moniker "Mili Pillywiggin". (I don't think I ever told her that!)
xo Kim
Labels: diary
A Red Letter Day!
Update October 12, 2009
We finished the sound mix with Dan Olmsted at Berkeley Sound Artists yesterday and Barry went golfing to celebrate! I stayed home looking at Oprah's site with Awele, a new friend who was full of ideas for marketing our film.
We were all set to send a finished master to CaptionMax for the addition of a descriptive audio track, when Barry serendipitously discovered a 2 second hole in the audio! So I raced off to the studio in Berkeley and Jim LeBrecht made us another audio file so we could meet still meet our captioning deadline. Phewff! As Barry says, those files are all just ones and zeroes ...
Credits to be added next... and there are loads of them!
We finished the sound mix with Dan Olmsted at Berkeley Sound Artists yesterday and Barry went golfing to celebrate! I stayed home looking at Oprah's site with Awele, a new friend who was full of ideas for marketing our film.
We were all set to send a finished master to CaptionMax for the addition of a descriptive audio track, when Barry serendipitously discovered a 2 second hole in the audio! So I raced off to the studio in Berkeley and Jim LeBrecht made us another audio file so we could meet still meet our captioning deadline. Phewff! As Barry says, those files are all just ones and zeroes ...
Credits to be added next... and there are loads of them!
Labels: diary
The Sniff Dramatic Cast
Neil Morrissey (Neil)
Neil Morrissey is one of Britain’s most popular television actors. Having also acted on stage and screen, he has become a well-known and well-loved personality.
On graduating from the Guildhall School of Drama, Neil went on to make his name in numerous TV programmes. They range from Boon to Roll Over Beethoven, and Gentlemen and Players to My Summer with Des.
Neil also took the part of Tony in the BBC sitcom, Men Behaving Badly. With seven series behind it, it’s clear the show and it’s characters became a part of television history, as viewers took them to their hearts.
Good at raising a laugh, Neil has appeared with many of the country’s top comedians, in series which include Reeves & Mortimer and ITV’s Monkey Trousers. Latterly Neil has also been known to viewers for Paradise Heights, Murder in Mind and Carrie and Barry.
Neil also had a starring role in Waterloo Road for two seasons, for which he’s received a Best Actor nomination by the TV Quick awards, and last year Channel 4 followed Neil and Richard Fox in their brewing adventure, Men Brewing Badly.
In the last few years, Neil trod the boards in the West End with the stage version of Victoria Wood’s Acorn Antiques, followed by the role of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. This autumn Neil is touring Britain with Rain Man, playing the role made famous by Dustin Hoffman.
Richard Huw (Richard)
Richard trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has worked extensively in repertory theatres across the UK. TV credits include Inspector Morse, Van der Valk, Silent Witness, The Bill, M.I.T., Midsomer Murders, The Buccaneers, Family Ties, Casualty, Eastenders and Holby City.
Films include The Four Minute Mile (playing Roger Bannister), Splitting Heirs, She’s Been Away and Stormbreaker.
He currently runs a company called dramalab with his wife, Janice. Dramalab provides theatre workshops for young people and is based in South London.
He has two daughters – Carly and Lucy, and one grand-daughter, Chaya Star. He has two cats, Tango and Tizer, but no dogs. Yet! (He fell in love with a pug called Jack Black during the filming of “SNIFF”.)
Amanda Plummer (Juliette, Owner of the Infinite Paws Hotel)
Amanda Plummer has appeared in a wide variety of films, including: The Fisher King by Terry Gilliam (British Film Academy Award nomination for her performance as Lydia); Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarrantino (American Comedy Award nomination for her performance as Honey Bunny), Butterfly Kiss by Michael Winterbottom as Eunice; My Life Without Me by Isabel Coixet; Pax by Eduardo Guedes; Daniel by Sidney Lumet; Ken Park by Larry Clark; and recently "The Making of Plus One" and "Inconceivable" both by Mary McGuckian.
Her highly acclaimed work on Broadway has garnered her a Tony award and two Tony Award nominations as well as the Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award. Amanda has been honored with three Emmy Awards, one Emmy nomination, a Saturn Award, DVDX nomination, Cable Ace Award and Golden Globe nomination. She is the recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Award for Woman of Achievement.
Maurice Godin (Derek, Juliette’s Husband)
For over thirty years, Maurice Godin has been acting in theatre, television and film. His theatre career has taken him from coast to coast across Canada where he has starred in the major theatres of almost every province, including the prestigious Shaw Festival and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival as well as on Broadway. His film career has taken him around the world and he has appeared on television in dozens of guest star, recurring and series regular roles. Maurice had so much fun playing with the dogs on this film he almost forgot he was working.
Eileen Page (Richard's Mum)
Eileen Page is an accomplished British theatre actor, known recently for her award-winning portrayal of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Mother of the Pride. She has appeared in films such as The Secret Garden and Remembrance, and a variety of British TV shows including Absolute Hell.
Elizabeth Daly (Commercial Director)
Beth Daly holds a degree in theatre from California Institute of the Arts. She has appeared in the film Dream with the Fishes, and she has performed with numerous theatres in the Bay Area. She currently teaches drama and film at San Lorenzo High School.
Jay Lopez (Car Salesman)
Bay Area's Jay Lopez has been acting since the age of 7, starting in theatre and slowly migrating into film. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including Sister Act, Mercury Rules, The Amazing Mr.Excellent, Unfamiliar Waters, and now, Sniff the Dog Movie!!! Jay has appeared on stage in Rivets (where he met Barry and Kim), Grease, A Raisin In The Sun, and MotherLand. This summer Jay toured with Disney Theatre starring as “Chad” in High School Musical 2: Live on Stage.
Labels: team
The Crew Who Made it Possible
Written and Directed by: Barry Stone
Produced by: Kim Webster
Original Music Score: Jon Herbst
Original Documentary Music: Ken Kearney
Directors of Photography (Drama): Frazer Bradshaw and Barry Stone, C.S.C.
Editors: Barry Stone, Eric Sullivan, Hypatia Porter
Assistant Editor: Susan Berger Law
Production Designer (Drama): Schuyler Robertson
Consulting Art Director (Drama): Andrew Lewis
Sound Design: Berkeley Sound Artists
Producers: Barry Stone, Eric Sullivan, Joe Lachoff, Jeff Marvin
Story Consultation
William Farley, Robert Gardner, Richard Levien, Bob Phillips, Eric Sullivan, Finn Taylor
Technical Advisors
Rick LeCompte, Richard Levien, Chris Martin, Frank Salvato, Eric Schultz, Jesse Spencer, T.J. Kearney, Video Arts Team, David O. Weissman
Production Consultation
Jonathon Barker, Debbie Brubaker, Michele Dennis, Norm Hunter, Wendy MacKeigan, Vivian Moens, Starr Sutherland, Johnny Wow
Dramatic Film Crew:
First AD: Bradley Marshland
Second AD: Mark Runnels
Camera: Timothy Kerns
1st Assistant Camera: Cisco Riviera
2nd Assistant Camera: Anne Lee
Jib Operator: ColinDucey/Film Motion
Key Grip: Gary Gill
Grips: Andrew Clark, Justin Malone
Additional Grip: Ernest Kunze
Sound Mixer: Bob Gitzen
Mask Designer: Angela Thomas
Mask Painter: Clelia Scala
Mask Hair Dying: Alice Norton
Mask Jaw Mechanics: Chris Clifford
Costume Designer: Angela Thomas
Props Design: Angela Thomas
On-Camera Drawings: Patti Garrett, Schuyler Robertson
Set Decorators: Jane Altaffer, Peter Altaffer, Stacey McKusker, Greg Runnels, Evan Yu
Hair and Make-up: Sparky Jaxsun
Production Stills: Tara Gill
Production Manager: Emily Pierceall
Production Assistants: Easton Grainer, Evan Yu
Animal Trainers: Francis Metcalf, Gregg Holland
Second Unit Film Crew (Oakland)
First AD: Curran G. Engel
Camera Operator: Steve Buckingham
Gaffer: Ben Casias, Justin Malone
Production Manager: Emily Pierceall
Production Assistants: Max Borge, Evan Yu
Second Unit Film Crew (London)
Director of Photography: Ian Clark
Sound: Martin Scanlan
Locations: Martin Scanlan
Production Stills: Brigitte Cavanaugh
Documentary Film Crew:
Camera: Barry Stone, Kim Webster, Eric Sullivan, Easton Grainer, Dianne Griffin, Cynthia Gill, Steve Ford, Elijah Lajmer, Steve Friedman
Sound: Dan Gleich
Boom Operators: Eric Sullivan, Kim Webster, Jessie Audette
Production Assistant: Miranda Orich
Intern: Jimmy Armentrout
Making-Of Camera: Diane Griffin, Kim Webster, Eric Sullivan
Post Production
Audio Post-Production: Berkeley Sound Artists: James LeBrecht, Patti Tauscher, Dan Olmsted, Alex Wilmer, April Rodriguez, Jamie Branquinho
Post Sound Effects: Elijah Lajmer, Babe and Rick
Video Post Production: CaptionMax, Spy Post, Video Arts
Motion Graphics Designer: Jeremy Martin
Motion Graphics/Transition Animation: Frank Salvato
Consulting Colorist: Heather Lyon Weaver
Music Supervisor: Kim Webster
Attorneys: Richard Lee, Daniel Riviera
Accountant: Patel and Associates, Oakland
Book-Keepers: Lindy Steele, Kim Webster
Insurance: Chuck Whelan Insurance
Publicity: Tara Gill, Alison Huetter, Heidi Kearsley
Location Appreciation
Z-Space Studios, San Francisco
HFH Ltd., Emeryville
Every Dog Has its Day Care, Emeryville
Anderson Motors, Alameda
KPIX/CBS 5 Studio, San Francisco
Absinthe, San Francisco
The Old Dairy, London
Gevertz Jewelry and Loan Company, Oakland
Grand Lake Theatre, Oakland
Labels: team
Toe-Tapping Music Cast
You're Going to love the Music - and the People who've made it!
Original Score: Jon Herbst, Kensington, CA
Original Documentary Music: Ken Kearney, Berkeley, CA
Lawrence Blatt: “Standing in the Rain”
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones: “Night Rider”
Andrew Edlen and Steve Edlen: “St. Patrick’s Day”, “Tell Me Ma” with Louise Moore
Jon Herbst, Coventry Studios: “Family Fun/Old Home Movies”, “Country”, “Back Porch”
Ken Kearney: “Bubba Risks It”, “King Surfs!”, “Experiment in E flat”, “Dr. Dog”, “Good-Bye Gabby”
Dessie Kelliher: “O Deas, Paddy Fahys”
Jim Kimo West: “Popoke Lolo”
Kitka Womens Vocal Ensemble: “Pol Polju”, “Shen Khar Venakhi”
Laurie Lewis: “Hills of My Home”, “The Maple’s Lament”
Bobby Mc Ferrin Jr: “Baby”
The Mighty Chiplings: “Blackberry Blossom”
Outback (Graham Wiggins and Martin Cradick): “Cuban Connections”
Sam Paglia: “Sweet Lavalamp”, “Strip Tease Organ”
Sharon Shannon: “Blackbird”
Leonard Shaw: “Experiment in E flat”
Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quintet: “Old Timey Dance Party/Kangding Qingge”
Western Aerial: “Whores and Housewives”
Andre Williams with The Diplomats of Solid Sound: “Thunder Thighs”
Sarah Wilson, Sasstone Music: “Fiddle at Macy’s”
Zydeco Flames (Lloyd Meadows, Bruce Gordon): “Zydeco Sont Pas Sale”
Next: Film Production Snapshots…
Original Score: Jon Herbst, Kensington, CA
Original Documentary Music: Ken Kearney, Berkeley, CA
Lawrence Blatt: “Standing in the Rain”
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones: “Night Rider”
Andrew Edlen and Steve Edlen: “St. Patrick’s Day”, “Tell Me Ma” with Louise Moore
Jon Herbst, Coventry Studios: “Family Fun/Old Home Movies”, “Country”, “Back Porch”
Ken Kearney: “Bubba Risks It”, “King Surfs!”, “Experiment in E flat”, “Dr. Dog”, “Good-Bye Gabby”
Dessie Kelliher: “O Deas, Paddy Fahys”
Jim Kimo West: “Popoke Lolo”
Kitka Womens Vocal Ensemble: “Pol Polju”, “Shen Khar Venakhi”
Laurie Lewis: “Hills of My Home”, “The Maple’s Lament”
Bobby Mc Ferrin Jr: “Baby”
The Mighty Chiplings: “Blackberry Blossom”
Outback (Graham Wiggins and Martin Cradick): “Cuban Connections”
Sam Paglia: “Sweet Lavalamp”, “Strip Tease Organ”
Sharon Shannon: “Blackbird”
Leonard Shaw: “Experiment in E flat”
Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quintet: “Old Timey Dance Party/Kangding Qingge”
Western Aerial: “Whores and Housewives”
Andre Williams with The Diplomats of Solid Sound: “Thunder Thighs”
Sarah Wilson, Sasstone Music: “Fiddle at Macy’s”
Zydeco Flames (Lloyd Meadows, Bruce Gordon): “Zydeco Sont Pas Sale”
Next: Film Production Snapshots…
Labels: team
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Anyone can join our affiliate program. Signing up is FREE. As an affiliate, you earn 5% on Sniff DVD sales generated by links from your web site.
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Labels: affiliate
Update October 3, 2009
A Note of Encouragement
This came to us yesterday from Joanne Ritter, Director of Marketing at Guide Dogs for the Blind:
"Barry -- I finally had a chance to watch Sniff last night, and I was thoroughly charmed. Kudos to you, Kim and the gang. Very creative, funny, and poignant. I believe it will be successful. Nice job!"
Barry's been walking on air ... even while sitting at the computer.
This came to us yesterday from Joanne Ritter, Director of Marketing at Guide Dogs for the Blind:
"Barry -- I finally had a chance to watch Sniff last night, and I was thoroughly charmed. Kudos to you, Kim and the gang. Very creative, funny, and poignant. I believe it will be successful. Nice job!"
Barry's been walking on air ... even while sitting at the computer.
Labels: diary
Update October 1, 2009
Counting Down!
Barry and I came up with a song this morning called "not enough hours in the moment" following a just-waking-up discussion of a new script for the trailer and wondering how we’re going to organize the massive number of credits.
Jim LeBrecht, our sound mixer, asked us to get some audio of a skateboard for our story of Oggie. Our neighbour Elijah Lajmer was happy to oblige. Here he is, flying through the air while Barry chats to Joe in the background:
We’ve hired Caption Max at work on doing a descriptive audio track so that blind audiences can enjoy their home DVDs. They’re also working on closed captioning. We want everyone to be able to enjoy Sniff!
Late last night Motion Graphics Designer Jeremy Martin delivered a great animation to accompany Dr. Ian Dunbar’s description of who chooses the mate, the male or the female?
Joe Lachoff is making great strides organizing our website affiliate marketing program and preparing for DVD and ticket sales through our site.
We’re having a “Community Gala” screening at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland on November 5 at 6:30 and 9:00 pm. We'll also have screenings at the Smith Rafael Film Center on November 7 and December 12 at 4:15 pm. Kitka might even perform at the gala!
Signature release copies of the DVD (with a few “extras”) will be available after each screening. Be there, or be square.
All Sniff systems are go!
P.S. This just in … Gus the Bird Herder, one of our star dogs, is featured in a new magazine Coastal Canine. He’s evidently multi-talented!
Barry and I came up with a song this morning called "not enough hours in the moment" following a just-waking-up discussion of a new script for the trailer and wondering how we’re going to organize the massive number of credits.
Jim LeBrecht, our sound mixer, asked us to get some audio of a skateboard for our story of Oggie. Our neighbour Elijah Lajmer was happy to oblige. Here he is, flying through the air while Barry chats to Joe in the background:
We’ve hired Caption Max at work on doing a descriptive audio track so that blind audiences can enjoy their home DVDs. They’re also working on closed captioning. We want everyone to be able to enjoy Sniff!
Late last night Motion Graphics Designer Jeremy Martin delivered a great animation to accompany Dr. Ian Dunbar’s description of who chooses the mate, the male or the female?
Joe Lachoff is making great strides organizing our website affiliate marketing program and preparing for DVD and ticket sales through our site.
We’re having a “Community Gala” screening at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland on November 5 at 6:30 and 9:00 pm. We'll also have screenings at the Smith Rafael Film Center on November 7 and December 12 at 4:15 pm. Kitka might even perform at the gala!
Signature release copies of the DVD (with a few “extras”) will be available after each screening. Be there, or be square.
All Sniff systems are go!
P.S. This just in … Gus the Bird Herder, one of our star dogs, is featured in a new magazine Coastal Canine. He’s evidently multi-talented!
Labels: diary
Update September 4, 2009
Galloping
My friend Tara Gill (fellow gardener, fellow artist and stills photographer for Sniff) sent me a new word from Merriam Webster’s dictionary: “Tantivy” – a noun meaning “a rapid gallop” or “an impetuous rush”. Why, you might ask, did she think to send me this? Here goes…
In the last month, we have locked the picture and thanks to Berkeley Sound Artists Jim LeBrecht and his team, the sound elements are being smoothed-out. Composer
Jon Herbst is making wonderful transition music.
I’m clearing music rights for music by Laurie Lewis, Bobby McFerrin, Dick Dale, Sharon Shannon, Outback (with Martin Cradick now of Baka Beyond and Graham Wiggins now Dr. Didg), Kitka, Zydeco Flames, etc., etc. Our dog stories are delightful and the music rocks! But so much is involved in getting it all together, jeesh!
Barry is using the One-to One tutoring classes at Apple to create some wacky transitions between scenes using Final Cut Pro.
We met local musicians Andrew and Steve Edlen who are going to record a piece specially for our Search Dog story. They came to our place and over my home-made rhubarb crisp (starve a fever, feed a musician), we watched some of our out-takes, just for fun. The Edlens single-handedly rescued our surf dog montage set to Dick Dale’s “Night Rider” from the cutting room floor, with shouts of “Are you crazy? You can not cut this!”
So, having re-established our sanity, with a little help from our friends, the surfing dogs are back in, and we can tap our toes to “Night Rider” (if I can get the license finalized, of course).
My friend Tara Gill (fellow gardener, fellow artist and stills photographer for Sniff) sent me a new word from Merriam Webster’s dictionary: “Tantivy” – a noun meaning “a rapid gallop” or “an impetuous rush”. Why, you might ask, did she think to send me this? Here goes…
In the last month, we have locked the picture and thanks to Berkeley Sound Artists Jim LeBrecht and his team, the sound elements are being smoothed-out. Composer
Jon Herbst is making wonderful transition music.
I’m clearing music rights for music by Laurie Lewis, Bobby McFerrin, Dick Dale, Sharon Shannon, Outback (with Martin Cradick now of Baka Beyond and Graham Wiggins now Dr. Didg), Kitka, Zydeco Flames, etc., etc. Our dog stories are delightful and the music rocks! But so much is involved in getting it all together, jeesh!
Barry is using the One-to One tutoring classes at Apple to create some wacky transitions between scenes using Final Cut Pro.
We met local musicians Andrew and Steve Edlen who are going to record a piece specially for our Search Dog story. They came to our place and over my home-made rhubarb crisp (starve a fever, feed a musician), we watched some of our out-takes, just for fun. The Edlens single-handedly rescued our surf dog montage set to Dick Dale’s “Night Rider” from the cutting room floor, with shouts of “Are you crazy? You can not cut this!”
So, having re-established our sanity, with a little help from our friends, the surfing dogs are back in, and we can tap our toes to “Night Rider” (if I can get the license finalized, of course).
Labels: diary
The final shot of the movie, and hopefully the first shot when we actually release.Labels: snapshots
Does any one know who owns this dog?
We filmed this dog in St.Mary's Park in San Francisco and would love to use it in the film. What a great sniffer.
Labels: clips
All Ways Welcome
This was the first film that Barry and Kim made together. In fact, it's where they met ...and fell in love. It was produced for the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation and was designed to help staffers make their services more accessible to people with disabilities.
Labels: clips
Update August 1, 2009
Midnight Madness
Making a film becomes an obsession. I’ve seen it in others, and now (mea culpa) I’ve noticed that even our most sociable conversations quickly turn to the topic of “Sniff”. It is really all Barry and I are capable of discussing at any great length; our immersion is that great. And with dogs as our subject, every passing canine is inadvertently auditioning for us. When we’re driving to the grocery store, or taking a few minutes to walk around the block, there they are: dogs of all sorts, looking cute, or smart or “breedy” and inevitably we stop to talk to the owner and tell them about our film. (We used to ask for names and phone numbers in case we needed participants, so I suppose just talking about the film is an indication that we’re on the road to obsession-recovery.)
Still, I was a bit alarmed last night when I woke at 4 a.m., jet-lagged from a trip to Toronto, to discover our house guest Robert Gardner, thirsty in the middle of the night, sipping his self-serve ice-water out of a mixing bowl I’d left on the counter. A bowl! As a glassblower, I can assure you there is a plethora of perfectly functional drinking glasses in our kitchen. But here was Robert, ice cubes a-tinkling, swilling his water from a bowl! Perhaps we have a bit too much dog energy in our home?
Despite my concern, I took child-like pleasure in finding that all three of us were wide awake in the wee hours, and Barry and I crept back to our bedroom to whisper sweet film-things to each other until eventually we turned our backs on sleep and fired up the computers for another day.
When Robert re-emerged at 9:30 am, we ate breakfast (I was sure to serve coffee in cups and juice in glasses), and then sat down to watch the “locked” picture together. Robert is a talented script writer and we have valued his encouragement and insights as our script was taking shape. He had never seen the documentary sections, so we wanted to have his fresh eyes see the fully integrated film and make comments.
At the end of the viewing, mimicking newscasters of old, Robert laughed and quipped in his basso profundo voice: “In a world gone crazy, Barry and Kim have dared to make a film about dogs”, and we were off on a new creative tangent: writing a script for a much-needed trailer for “Sniff”. By mid-afternoon, we had Robert posing in front of a video camera, Fedora on tête, doing a Walter Cronkite voice-over for our suddenly blossoming trailer. Barry and I then each took a turn with the script (being sure to don the Fedora), and finally all three of us could be found crowded in front of the camera singing an improvised and shockingly tuneless madrigal version of “In a world gone crazy…”
Our particular world has certainly gone crazy. But it's fun!
Tomorrow we meet with one of our composers Jon Herbst to “spot” the film. I think we’ll keep the madrigal under wraps…
Making a film becomes an obsession. I’ve seen it in others, and now (mea culpa) I’ve noticed that even our most sociable conversations quickly turn to the topic of “Sniff”. It is really all Barry and I are capable of discussing at any great length; our immersion is that great. And with dogs as our subject, every passing canine is inadvertently auditioning for us. When we’re driving to the grocery store, or taking a few minutes to walk around the block, there they are: dogs of all sorts, looking cute, or smart or “breedy” and inevitably we stop to talk to the owner and tell them about our film. (We used to ask for names and phone numbers in case we needed participants, so I suppose just talking about the film is an indication that we’re on the road to obsession-recovery.)
Still, I was a bit alarmed last night when I woke at 4 a.m., jet-lagged from a trip to Toronto, to discover our house guest Robert Gardner, thirsty in the middle of the night, sipping his self-serve ice-water out of a mixing bowl I’d left on the counter. A bowl! As a glassblower, I can assure you there is a plethora of perfectly functional drinking glasses in our kitchen. But here was Robert, ice cubes a-tinkling, swilling his water from a bowl! Perhaps we have a bit too much dog energy in our home?
Despite my concern, I took child-like pleasure in finding that all three of us were wide awake in the wee hours, and Barry and I crept back to our bedroom to whisper sweet film-things to each other until eventually we turned our backs on sleep and fired up the computers for another day.
When Robert re-emerged at 9:30 am, we ate breakfast (I was sure to serve coffee in cups and juice in glasses), and then sat down to watch the “locked” picture together. Robert is a talented script writer and we have valued his encouragement and insights as our script was taking shape. He had never seen the documentary sections, so we wanted to have his fresh eyes see the fully integrated film and make comments.
At the end of the viewing, mimicking newscasters of old, Robert laughed and quipped in his basso profundo voice: “In a world gone crazy, Barry and Kim have dared to make a film about dogs”, and we were off on a new creative tangent: writing a script for a much-needed trailer for “Sniff”. By mid-afternoon, we had Robert posing in front of a video camera, Fedora on tête, doing a Walter Cronkite voice-over for our suddenly blossoming trailer. Barry and I then each took a turn with the script (being sure to don the Fedora), and finally all three of us could be found crowded in front of the camera singing an improvised and shockingly tuneless madrigal version of “In a world gone crazy…”
Our particular world has certainly gone crazy. But it's fun!
Tomorrow we meet with one of our composers Jon Herbst to “spot” the film. I think we’ll keep the madrigal under wraps…
Labels: diary
All About Sniff
Synopsis
Read an overview of the film. What happens when the lights go down and the popcorn starts crunching? No spoilers!
Production Notes
Do you ever wonder what production notes for a small independent film might look like? Well look no more! They look something exactly like this...
Diary of a Film-maker's Wife
Making a film is all fun and games. Being married to the film maker is also all fun and games! Get the story behind this story, straight from the genius behind the genius.
The Team
Mush! Even a small independent film like Sniff takes tens of thousands of support crew to pull off. Or at least, a few good friends...
Labels: about
A Stone Webster Production
This film has been on the brew for 30 years since director/producer Barry Stone made his first short film called “Dog.” The short was picked up by Canada's Cineplex Odeon to play ahead of their feature length films.
When he first set out to make “Sniff” (April 2006) Barry had the idea of using puppets to host the documentary portions of the film – to tell us about how dogs see, how acute their senses of smell and hearing are, and how they’ve evolved to serve mankind. In talking to his friend Neil Morrissey about the great dog stories Barry was collecting, Neil got all excited and offered to dress up in costume to host the film.
As our research progressed, it became clear that there were so many great stories right in California that Neil was going to have to come to us (to which Neil responded: “bummer!”). We asked him who he’d like to play his “partner”, and he immediately suggested his friend from drama school, Richard Huw.
As the idea for the back story of the characters started to gel, Barry called up Amanda Plummer who he had worked with on a Toronto film “Triggermen” (2002), also starring Neil Morrissey. Amanda was delighted to reunite with Barry and Neil and to participate as the charming Juliette, owner of our fictitious dog hotel “The Infinite Paws” where Neil and Richard do their day-job. Maurice Godin, a friend from our days in Toronto and a fine stage and film actor now living in LA, also agreed to play Derek, Juliette’s husband. And so the zany plot was hatched and cast!
Many months and several script drafts later, the foursome converged in Oakland. By this time, Barry and his wife Kim had filmed all of the documentary segments and had edited them in sequence so that Neil and Richard could be seen on screen with the footage as the serendipitous “makers” of Sniff. Through their eyes, we see a mixture of fun and bizarre dog stories (surfing, bird-herding, bubble-blowing) as well as more informative segments about the training of two working dogs.
The development of the documentary parts of the movie was nothing short of a gift from the universe. As we’d hear about one dog story, another would emerge. Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California were immensely helpful and gave us free reign to follow the training of one of their star Guide Dogs, Mikey. Through them, we found out about Gabby, a Guide Dog puppy who wasn’t quite suitable to train as a guide, so she had a career change to become a Search and Rescue dog.
In gratitude for the all the magic and the help that we’ve received, Scrap and Taffy Productions plans to donate 10% of proceeds from DVD sales on our website to charitable canine organizations like Guide Dogs for the Blind, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation and the American Humane.
Next: Diary of a Film-Maker's Wife…
Labels: production
Update June 2009
London Calling
We’ve just gotten back from London where we filmed our actors Neil Morrissey and Richard Huw in their real and fictional home town. As a result of our test screenings, we wrote a couple of extra scenes – to better set the stage for their collaboration on the documentary.
We decided to give Richard a “Mom” – played wonderfully by British stage actress Eileen Page (Eleanor of Aquitaine in Mother of the Pride, The Secret Garden) Eileen came to us through Sonya WIlliams a friend of Barry’s Mom, Sara Gregory, herself a soubrette of London’s West End in the 40’s and 50’s. Eileen, a vibrant octogenarian, is an intelligent, wiley force with dancing blue eyes and a spritely step. As we walked to Neil’s local for lunch, she told me of her role as Eleanor of Aquitaine and cited Eleanor’s history and speeches as though she was channeling the historic queen herself!
Neil was a brick as he returned home on the first night of our arrival to discover that Barry and I had completely switched the furniture in two of his guestrooms to transform one of the rooms into a set for Richard’s “bed-sitter.” He just glanced at the chaos and suggested we pop out to the pub. So we did, and enjoyed a delicious pint of bitter (or two) – all jet-lag aside!
We put the kids to bed while we hit the pub.
Neil wields the camera while...
Barry and Kim act like dogs.
We’ve just gotten back from London where we filmed our actors Neil Morrissey and Richard Huw in their real and fictional home town. As a result of our test screenings, we wrote a couple of extra scenes – to better set the stage for their collaboration on the documentary.
We decided to give Richard a “Mom” – played wonderfully by British stage actress Eileen Page (Eleanor of Aquitaine in Mother of the Pride, The Secret Garden) Eileen came to us through Sonya WIlliams a friend of Barry’s Mom, Sara Gregory, herself a soubrette of London’s West End in the 40’s and 50’s. Eileen, a vibrant octogenarian, is an intelligent, wiley force with dancing blue eyes and a spritely step. As we walked to Neil’s local for lunch, she told me of her role as Eleanor of Aquitaine and cited Eleanor’s history and speeches as though she was channeling the historic queen herself!
Neil was a brick as he returned home on the first night of our arrival to discover that Barry and I had completely switched the furniture in two of his guestrooms to transform one of the rooms into a set for Richard’s “bed-sitter.” He just glanced at the chaos and suggested we pop out to the pub. So we did, and enjoyed a delicious pint of bitter (or two) – all jet-lag aside!
We put the kids to bed while we hit the pub.We’re grateful to our British friend and camera-man Ian Clark and his gracious colleague Martin Scanlon for scouting locations in London and arranging to augment our video camera with various pieces of equipment that were too bulky for us to bring over on the plane. Richard came up from Beckenham armed with a funky collapsible bike he’d borrowed from his neighbour. Cast and crew spent a whirlwind day on and off the London tube following Barry around like the Pied Piper of Hamelin; tripods, bicycle and camera equipment on each of our shoulders. (No permits either, but the London bobbies just nodded and turned a blind eye – as we held our collective breath.)
Our photographer friend, Brigitte Cavanaugh, joined us from Paris to shoot some publicity stills too. Next morning, when our serious filming was through and we’d gotten Neil’s house back in order, Barry and I donned the dog masks and Neil took up Barry’s video camera to shoot some “making of” while Barry and I posed for Brigitte. I’ve decided that it’s not so easy being an actor – dog’s head or no. It was hot in there, and after a while I ran out of ideas for ways to embody a dog having a conversation with his ‘mate over a paper and a cup of tea … Turns out Neil’s camera footage wasn’t so hot either. So much for switching it up.
Our photographer friend, Brigitte Cavanaugh, joined us from Paris to shoot some publicity stills too. Next morning, when our serious filming was through and we’d gotten Neil’s house back in order, Barry and I donned the dog masks and Neil took up Barry’s video camera to shoot some “making of” while Barry and I posed for Brigitte. I’ve decided that it’s not so easy being an actor – dog’s head or no. It was hot in there, and after a while I ran out of ideas for ways to embody a dog having a conversation with his ‘mate over a paper and a cup of tea … Turns out Neil’s camera footage wasn’t so hot either. So much for switching it up.
Neil wields the camera while...
Barry and Kim act like dogs.Labels: diary
Dog
"Dog" (1979) was Barry's first film, and the inspiration for Sniff. It played in theaters as a short ahead of Odeon features.
Labels: clips
Host a Screening
Festivals
We'll put some festival information in here.
Labels: festivals
Synopsis
Sniff is a serious documentary wrapped in a fictional comedic story. Two British concierges of a high-end dog hotel collaborate on a documentary about dogs. The trouble is, they’re not quite making the same film!
Neil (British star Neil Morrissey: Bob the Builder, Men Behaving Badly) wants to regale us with a host of heart-warming stories of unusual dogs. But his dour partner Richard (Richard Huw: The Four Minute Mile, Splitting Heirs) is bent on investigating the life and times of working dogs.
Juliette (Amanda Plummer: Pulp Fiction, The Fisher King) is Neil’s former love-interest and the co-owner of the Infinite Paws dog hotel along with her slightly conservative husband Derek (Maurice Godin: House, Monk, Working).
Through the dueling lenses of these two serendipitous film makers, Sniff follows in detail the lives of dogs at work and at play:
Next: Production Notes…
Neil (British star Neil Morrissey: Bob the Builder, Men Behaving Badly) wants to regale us with a host of heart-warming stories of unusual dogs. But his dour partner Richard (Richard Huw: The Four Minute Mile, Splitting Heirs) is bent on investigating the life and times of working dogs.
Juliette (Amanda Plummer: Pulp Fiction, The Fisher King) is Neil’s former love-interest and the co-owner of the Infinite Paws dog hotel along with her slightly conservative husband Derek (Maurice Godin: House, Monk, Working).
Through the dueling lenses of these two serendipitous film makers, Sniff follows in detail the lives of dogs at work and at play:
- Meet Mikey, a yellow Labrador Retriever, who completes his training to become a working Guide Dog.
- Meet Gabby, a black Lab who is socialized at Guide Dogs but switches careers mid-stream to become a Search and Rescue Dog.
- Take a romp in the ocean with Zoe, a Jack Russell, at the Coronado Bay Surf Dog Competition.
- Run on the beach with Gus, a McNab herd-dog, who has taken to rounding up sea-gulls for want of a good sheep.
- Marvel at Retriever Harley as he and water-shy Rover tag-team ball retrieval from the Klamath river.
Next: Production Notes…
Labels: synopsis
Mask Designer Angela Thomas gets Neil ready to go on
Amanda Plummer and Neil Morrissey having a chat
Trainer Francis Metcalf gets a kiss from Chomskie
Neil gets a kiss from a yoga dog
Extras relax in the afternoon sun
Director Barry Stone scratches an itch for Richard Huw
A classy combo comes to the hotel
Another classy combo
Rick - you lucky dog!
Neil plays hard to get
Queen Flea-wea. One of our more glamorous cast members.Labels: snapshots
Screenings Past
Labels: screenings
We got the last shot!
Thanks to everyone who joined us at the Grand Lake Theatre for the finale shot. We had the big letters up on the marquee and they looked great!
Casey's almost done ...
We attracted a classy crowd, don't you think?
Barry's editing the end of the film, Jon Herbst and Ken Kearney are writing music, and the sound design starts at the end of August. So far so good.
Here's the first letter going up...
Casey's almost done ...
We attracted a classy crowd, don't you think?
Update April, 2009
Rough Cut
The good news is that we now have a completed rough cut of the entire film! It is about 95 minutes in length and quite enjoyable if we do say so ourselves. Barry is continuing to make refinements, and I’m researching temporary music to complement the content, but at least now we know we have a structure that works, and that our beloved dog stars are soon going to be endearing themselves to a wider audience! Barry is anxious to have a screening for a select number of colleague directors, writers and editors to get their input and suggestions.
Local Oakland musician Ken Kearney has been very helpful in providing his musical input and suggestions, many of which we’ve popped into place in the film. And this past weekend we showed the rough cut to Berkeley singer/song-writer Laurie Lewis because we wanted to get her approval to use one of her songs. She came to our place (I was so excited – she’s won Grammy awards!) on her bicycle (wow!) and sat down with us to watch… Barry stopped the film to get her reaction to the spot where we’d used her song and she immediately asked him to keep it running, and watched with enthusiasm right to the end! She told us she’d “be thrilled to be part of the project” – a phrase which Barry repeats to me periodically like a mantra of affirmation.
And so it goes, here in our little Oakland aerie. A film well on the way, and a garden that’s bursting with roses, despite my inattention to pruning this winter.
The good news is that we now have a completed rough cut of the entire film! It is about 95 minutes in length and quite enjoyable if we do say so ourselves. Barry is continuing to make refinements, and I’m researching temporary music to complement the content, but at least now we know we have a structure that works, and that our beloved dog stars are soon going to be endearing themselves to a wider audience! Barry is anxious to have a screening for a select number of colleague directors, writers and editors to get their input and suggestions.
Local Oakland musician Ken Kearney has been very helpful in providing his musical input and suggestions, many of which we’ve popped into place in the film. And this past weekend we showed the rough cut to Berkeley singer/song-writer Laurie Lewis because we wanted to get her approval to use one of her songs. She came to our place (I was so excited – she’s won Grammy awards!) on her bicycle (wow!) and sat down with us to watch… Barry stopped the film to get her reaction to the spot where we’d used her song and she immediately asked him to keep it running, and watched with enthusiasm right to the end! She told us she’d “be thrilled to be part of the project” – a phrase which Barry repeats to me periodically like a mantra of affirmation.
And so it goes, here in our little Oakland aerie. A film well on the way, and a garden that’s bursting with roses, despite my inattention to pruning this winter.
Treats for our test audience.Labels: diary
Update January, 2009
Drama in the Can
We had an amazing time in December filming with our English actors, Neil Morrissey and Richard Huw. We had 12 action-packed days with them and we all worked flat out to get the dramatic portion of Sniff “in the can.”
The weekend at the “Infinite Paws Hotel” was perhaps the most gratifying. We had over 20 dogs on set throughout the course of the weekend, and with the addition of delightful performances by Amanda Plummer and Maurice Godin as the fictitious owners of the hotel, our extras, cast and crew of volunteers and near-volunteers were aglow with the spirit of fun and enthusiasm. It was wonderful to see Barry’s dream coming to fruition, and we are both so grateful to all who have helped support us in getting this far.
The American Humane Association sent a representative to see that no animals were being harmed in the process. I don’t suppose there has ever been a cast of doggies more well-loved than ours were. Trainer Francis Metcalf made sure the dogs were well acclimatized to Neil and Richard wearing Angela Thomas’ wonderfully realistic but somewhat daunting dog masks, and we had lots of laughs while filming dogs doing yoga, watching tv, reclining in the luxury of a fur-lined futon and relaxing in the spa!
The last shot of the weekend was a scene with several dogs being serenaded with live music. Bluegrass mandolin player and fellow film-maker Finn Taylor and his guitarist friend played us a choice of tunes for the scene, and the cast and crew had a moment of spontaneous toe-tapping and dancing when the musicians struck gold!
We had an amazing time in December filming with our English actors, Neil Morrissey and Richard Huw. We had 12 action-packed days with them and we all worked flat out to get the dramatic portion of Sniff “in the can.”
The weekend at the “Infinite Paws Hotel” was perhaps the most gratifying. We had over 20 dogs on set throughout the course of the weekend, and with the addition of delightful performances by Amanda Plummer and Maurice Godin as the fictitious owners of the hotel, our extras, cast and crew of volunteers and near-volunteers were aglow with the spirit of fun and enthusiasm. It was wonderful to see Barry’s dream coming to fruition, and we are both so grateful to all who have helped support us in getting this far.
The American Humane Association sent a representative to see that no animals were being harmed in the process. I don’t suppose there has ever been a cast of doggies more well-loved than ours were. Trainer Francis Metcalf made sure the dogs were well acclimatized to Neil and Richard wearing Angela Thomas’ wonderfully realistic but somewhat daunting dog masks, and we had lots of laughs while filming dogs doing yoga, watching tv, reclining in the luxury of a fur-lined futon and relaxing in the spa!
The last shot of the weekend was a scene with several dogs being serenaded with live music. Bluegrass mandolin player and fellow film-maker Finn Taylor and his guitarist friend played us a choice of tunes for the scene, and the cast and crew had a moment of spontaneous toe-tapping and dancing when the musicians struck gold!
Maurice Godin instructs Richard at the Infinite PawsLabels: diary
December 17th, Toronto
Thursday December 17th 2009 at 6:30 pm
Fox Theatre
2236 Queen Street East
Toronto
Descriptive Audio available on request
Click here for other Toronto events.Labels: screenings
December 16th, Ottawa
Mayfair Theatre
1074 Bank Street
Ottawa
Descriptive Audio available on request
Click here for other Ottawa events.Labels: screenings
December 13th, Toronto
Sunday December 13th 2009 at 4:00 pm
Royal Theatre
608 College (at Bathurst)
Toronto
Descriptive Audio available on request. Click here for other Toronto events.Labels: screenings
December 12th, San Rafael, California
Saturday December 12th at 4:15 pm
Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
1118 Fourth Street (Between A and B),
San Rafael CA 94901
(415) 454 1222
Advance tickets available online at www.cafilm.org
or in person at Film Center Box Office
General $10 Over 60/ Under 12 $6.50
Audio description on closed circuit headsets available on request.Labels: screenings
Update November, 2008
Prep and more Prep
Tickets are all purchased. We’ve hired Emily Pierceall to help manage the production details (a major treat!). We found a rental house in our neighbourhood for the actors to live in while they’re here, and the excitement mounts. Angela arrives in a week with the dog masks, so I’ve got to clear out my studio so she’ll have a place to work (and sleep).
Barry has been working day and night to get all the dog stories ready and in sequence so that Neil and Richard can be filmed watching them on screen. We used file cards with a documentary sequence itemized on each card, then brain-stormed with our Co-Producer and Search and Rescue story editor Eric Sullivan to decide on a running order. Now to fine-tune the script so each sequence is introduced properly….
Extras to organize, permits to obtain for filming in San Francisco and Oakland, shooting schedules to plan, locations to scout, and our annual Thanksgiving Turkey pageant to organize too. We’ll parade the feast to the actors’ place down the path because there’ll be too many friends and neighbours to fit around our little yellow table. Barry’s Mom arrives from England the day before, his sister comes in from Nepal the day of, Neil and Emma come up from Australia and Richard flies in from London. Must remember to order the turkey. Neil says he’ll cook it. I’m on the tofu version.
Tickets are all purchased. We’ve hired Emily Pierceall to help manage the production details (a major treat!). We found a rental house in our neighbourhood for the actors to live in while they’re here, and the excitement mounts. Angela arrives in a week with the dog masks, so I’ve got to clear out my studio so she’ll have a place to work (and sleep).
Barry has been working day and night to get all the dog stories ready and in sequence so that Neil and Richard can be filmed watching them on screen. We used file cards with a documentary sequence itemized on each card, then brain-stormed with our Co-Producer and Search and Rescue story editor Eric Sullivan to decide on a running order. Now to fine-tune the script so each sequence is introduced properly….
Extras to organize, permits to obtain for filming in San Francisco and Oakland, shooting schedules to plan, locations to scout, and our annual Thanksgiving Turkey pageant to organize too. We’ll parade the feast to the actors’ place down the path because there’ll be too many friends and neighbours to fit around our little yellow table. Barry’s Mom arrives from England the day before, his sister comes in from Nepal the day of, Neil and Emma come up from Australia and Richard flies in from London. Must remember to order the turkey. Neil says he’ll cook it. I’m on the tofu version.
Something tasty for Thanksgiving!
Labels: diary
November 7th, San Rafael, California
Saturday November 7th at 4:15 pm
Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center
1118 Fourth Street (Between A and B),
San Rafael CA 94901
(415) 454 1222
Advance tickets available online at www.cafilm.org
or in person at Film Center Box Office
General $10 Over 60/ Under 12 $6.50
Audio description on closed circuit headsets available on request.Labels: screenings
Gala Screening in Oakland Nov. 5 - Join Us!
We're Ready to Unveil Sniff!
Community Gala Screenings - One night only
Thursday November 5th, 2009
6:00 pm (bring the kids) -
Barry and Kim will make introductions at 6:00 and Laurie Lewis and her band will perform at 6:15, and the film starts at 6:30
9:00 pm
Kitka Womens Vocal Ensemble will perform at 9:00, and the film starts at 9:15 with a brief Q and A after the screening.
Grand Lake Theatre
3200 Grand Avenue
Oakland,California
Community Gala Screenings - One night only
Thursday November 5th, 2009
6:00 pm (bring the kids) -
Barry and Kim will make introductions at 6:00 and Laurie Lewis and her band will perform at 6:15, and the film starts at 6:30
9:00 pm
Kitka Womens Vocal Ensemble will perform at 9:00, and the film starts at 9:15 with a brief Q and A after the screening.
Grand Lake Theatre
3200 Grand Avenue
Oakland,California
Labels: screenings
Laurie Lewis and Kitka at the Gala November 5th
Sniff has a great sound track, and Grammy Award-winner Laurie Lewis and Kitka Womens' Vocal Ensemble both have music in the film. We're honoured to have them participate at the gala screenings.
Laurie and her band will join us prior to the 6:30 screening. Barry and I will do some introductions at 6:00 and Laurie will play at6:15 (including "Hills of My Home" - one of our favourites in Sniff).
Kitka will join us at 9 pm to sing Pol Polju and Shen Khar Venakhi, two thrilling pieces which you'll recognize in the film.
Gala Release DVD's of Sniff will be on sale following each screening - you can treat yourself, or someone you love! (We may even have Sniff t-shirts - to be announced!).
Laurie and her band will join us prior to the 6:30 screening. Barry and I will do some introductions at 6:00 and Laurie will play at6:15 (including "Hills of My Home" - one of our favourites in Sniff).
Kitka will join us at 9 pm to sing Pol Polju and Shen Khar Venakhi, two thrilling pieces which you'll recognize in the film.
Gala Release DVD's of Sniff will be on sale following each screening - you can treat yourself, or someone you love! (We may even have Sniff t-shirts - to be announced!).
Labels: news, screenings
Update July 2008
Gathering Stories
We have 30 hours of high def video footage for the "documentary" part of the film. And we have come up with a pretty funny back story of the two "lads" making the film.
We have been following (right from his initial socialization and training) a sweet yellow lab called Mikey at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. He has been placed with a man named George Kerscher in Montana, so we went there last month to film the conclusion of that story. It was great to see Mikey again, and to know that he’s gone to live in a beautiful spot in the company of two other labs – Lily, the family pet, and Nesbit, Mikey’s guide dog predecessor who logged over 1 million miles on Delta airlines with George.
We've also been filming a black lab called Gabby who started out at Guide Dogs and had a "career change". Gabby is now training at Sundowners Ranch in Gilroy, California to be a Search and Rescue dog. It was a rough road for a while because although Gabby loved finding the “hidden trainer,” she wouldn't signal her discovery with a bark, an essential job requirement. She’s over that hurdle now and we have been filming her in various stages of training. Certification is on the way and we are currently waiting to find out where she gets posted so we can follow her life in the real world.
On the lighter side we've got dogs that lean out of windows, dogs that surf and a sweet story of Harley fetching a ball in the Klamath.
Barry and Harley - fetch anyone?
We have 30 hours of high def video footage for the "documentary" part of the film. And we have come up with a pretty funny back story of the two "lads" making the film.
We have been following (right from his initial socialization and training) a sweet yellow lab called Mikey at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. He has been placed with a man named George Kerscher in Montana, so we went there last month to film the conclusion of that story. It was great to see Mikey again, and to know that he’s gone to live in a beautiful spot in the company of two other labs – Lily, the family pet, and Nesbit, Mikey’s guide dog predecessor who logged over 1 million miles on Delta airlines with George.
We've also been filming a black lab called Gabby who started out at Guide Dogs and had a "career change". Gabby is now training at Sundowners Ranch in Gilroy, California to be a Search and Rescue dog. It was a rough road for a while because although Gabby loved finding the “hidden trainer,” she wouldn't signal her discovery with a bark, an essential job requirement. She’s over that hurdle now and we have been filming her in various stages of training. Certification is on the way and we are currently waiting to find out where she gets posted so we can follow her life in the real world.
On the lighter side we've got dogs that lean out of windows, dogs that surf and a sweet story of Harley fetching a ball in the Klamath.
Barry and Harley - fetch anyone?Labels: diary
Update April, 2008
From an Email to my Friend Doug in Canada
Just trying to stay calm what with camera-work, logging footage and an upcoming bit of directing for Sniff while Barry is in Marin working on a Korean pig horror film to keep the tofu on the table.
I’m chronically behind on the ever-present book-keeping for our four business entities, and I’m waging a pathetic struggle to prepare for glass shows in June, cope with an onslaught of spring gardening (one new client too) and managing a snow-balling home improvement project. We’ve cleared out the kitchen to put in a beautiful cherry wood floor, so I decided to do a bit of tiling behind the stove while it was pulled out. The floor replacement uncovered some water seepage where the kitchen extension meets the concrete pad it was built on. In order to fix the seepage, we had to rip off the old shakes and re-seal the area from outside. The shingling man starts this week and we’ve got piles of new redwood shakes waiting in the backyard among the detritus.
I can't believe I'm actually learning how to do documentary camera work at this stage in life. In eighteen years of knowing him I've never even turned on one of Barry's cameras of my own volition. It has been really fun following dogs around but now Barry is working on a feature so I've had to pinch hit for him filming the Guide Dog we've been following for the past few months. He’s now been matched with his blind person and they’re preparing together for life in the real world. The pair "graduate" at a ceremony on Saturday, so I’m about to add yet another string to my bow. I'll be leading a troupe of 2 camera people and a sound person (all volunteers, also only recently trained on our particular HD cameras) to achieve what I hope will be at least a work-woman-like representation of the event. These one-time-only, gotta-get-it-right situations are way too stressful for the novitiate!
Tomorrow on his day off from Chaw, Barry and I will travel to Gilroy to continue filming a Search and Rescue dog being trained. (Barry does the close-ups and I shoot the wide.) I so prefer it when B's there with all his experience. I freak out internally when I'm not sure of the exposure, the framing, the focus, well everything - and that's most of the time.
It has been informative to walk in Barry's moccasins, but really I'd like to give them
back... and before Saturday! I'm really an oxfords person.
Turning 50? That's easy.
xo
me
Just trying to stay calm what with camera-work, logging footage and an upcoming bit of directing for Sniff while Barry is in Marin working on a Korean pig horror film to keep the tofu on the table.
I’m chronically behind on the ever-present book-keeping for our four business entities, and I’m waging a pathetic struggle to prepare for glass shows in June, cope with an onslaught of spring gardening (one new client too) and managing a snow-balling home improvement project. We’ve cleared out the kitchen to put in a beautiful cherry wood floor, so I decided to do a bit of tiling behind the stove while it was pulled out. The floor replacement uncovered some water seepage where the kitchen extension meets the concrete pad it was built on. In order to fix the seepage, we had to rip off the old shakes and re-seal the area from outside. The shingling man starts this week and we’ve got piles of new redwood shakes waiting in the backyard among the detritus.
I can't believe I'm actually learning how to do documentary camera work at this stage in life. In eighteen years of knowing him I've never even turned on one of Barry's cameras of my own volition. It has been really fun following dogs around but now Barry is working on a feature so I've had to pinch hit for him filming the Guide Dog we've been following for the past few months. He’s now been matched with his blind person and they’re preparing together for life in the real world. The pair "graduate" at a ceremony on Saturday, so I’m about to add yet another string to my bow. I'll be leading a troupe of 2 camera people and a sound person (all volunteers, also only recently trained on our particular HD cameras) to achieve what I hope will be at least a work-woman-like representation of the event. These one-time-only, gotta-get-it-right situations are way too stressful for the novitiate!
Tomorrow on his day off from Chaw, Barry and I will travel to Gilroy to continue filming a Search and Rescue dog being trained. (Barry does the close-ups and I shoot the wide.) I so prefer it when B's there with all his experience. I freak out internally when I'm not sure of the exposure, the framing, the focus, well everything - and that's most of the time.
It has been informative to walk in Barry's moccasins, but really I'd like to give them
back... and before Saturday! I'm really an oxfords person.
Turning 50? That's easy.
xo
me
Kim filming some making of while Barry looks on.Labels: diary
Update April 5, 2007
Scouting Trip
Barry and I went to Los Angeles last weekend to explore some of the facilities we’ve read about and thought might provide juicy material for “Dog” (our working title).
First stop was Canyon View Ranch – a swank day-camp for dogs which also provides long-term boarding for more affluent hounds. It was a wonderful site – a panoramic view of Topanga Canyon, immaculate gardens, and tucked into the landscape were two huge playgrounds for dogs – the larger one included a bone-shaped wading pool and cascading waterfall for the playing pleasure of the larger dogs. The small dogs and elderly were grouped together in a smaller area, but the activities seemed equally gleeful – except for a few dogs who had probably seen it all, snoozing in the late morning sunshine. Each playground was overseen by a human supervisor charged with keeping the dogs amused and well-mannered.
We were met by owner Randy Neece who joined us where we stood on the hillside enjoying the view of about 50 dogs leaping in and out of the pools and frolicking with various toys and tunnels. It suddenly occurred to us that this bucolic scene was missing something. Despite the number and variety of dogs, there was not one sound – not one bark or growl. Apparently, the Canyon View trainers teach all dogs not to bark when they first come onto the premises – and they gently enforce the rule at all times!
It turns out that Randy and his partner Joe have just written a book on dog training and they are in serious negotiations about doing a television series on training dogs with methods that involve understanding how dogs think. Although we all agreed that our film would be quite different in approach and intention than their training series, they were reluctant to have us film there. But we left it open for discussion, depending on what happens to their t.v. series bid, etc.
Next Stop: a doggie day care center whose name shall remain undisclosed. This place was a serious disappointment. We had visions of brushed aluminum countertops and efficient lab-coated dog groomers attending well-coiffed pedigreed pups with attitude. Instead we entered off Hollywood’s famous Sunset Blvd. into a dingy, linoleum-floored reception area lined with dust-ridden racks of leopard-look doggy outfits and some sequined collars of yester-year, replete with the sounds of unhappy dogs penned in a darkened hall just off the entryway. The “Business Manager” was clearly unhappy with her bosses who phoned to stand us up, leaving her to tour us through the facilities and tell us up front that they’d want money for filming. It was a fortunately short tour punctuated by the Manager’s ineffective scolding of one particularly whiny dog. The “tour” didn’t do much to augment our first impression. We did come upon a grim “living room” with a torn, overstuffed couch intended to make the doggies feel right at home. The fresh dog turd in the corner certainly gave us the feeling of que sera sera. We left wondering exactly which famous stars and restaurateurs actually left their best friends in a place like this. Personally, I wouldn’t have left my imaginary goldfish there for the day.
We drove off to visit another “camping” facility for dogs, this one recommended to us by the folks at Canyon View Ranch. This was apparently an urban, multi-coloured concrete knock-off of Canyon View – with a bone-shaped viewing hole in the board fence, a pond and fountain for the dogs to enjoy, and staff to mind the play areas (one with a jungle theme indoors, and a Tex-Mex theme for out-of-doors). We toured past a Mexican Hairless boarded in a dark, isolated kennel who would happily have chewed our heads off … I guess he wasn’t sociable enough to join the other dogs outside in his pseudo native land. Except for this, the place seemed to be well-enough run – with a goodly emphasis on its retail section and an ego-stroking speaker system to announce when a dog’s owner had arrived to take “Harley” home.
The facility’s collagen-lipped owner was practiced in Burbank Brusk – so we didn’t feel a great need to pursue the possibility of filming at this particular location. We went to a local dog park and saw the same sort of dog interactions, and Barry communed with a baying beagle to the bewildered amusement of the people in the park.
The next day we struck gold. Drummond Ranch and its founder Janna Duncan had the kind of authenticity and stories-in-the-making that we were looking for. We arrived at the beginning of a Tuesday morning beginners’ sheep-herding class. Janna used one of her experienced Border Collies to efficiently move a few sheep from the pasture into a small training corral and then the fun began. First up was a young couple with a dog they had gotten from a Rescue. Janna identified Mattie’s probable breeding as part Border Collie and part Australian Cattle Dog. The owners brought Mattie into the corral for an instinct test. Janna asked the owners to step outside the pen and not make eye-contact with their dog. Mattie took a moment to wean herself of her owners’ attention and then she turned toward the sheep. Without ever having seen a sheep, she immediately rounded them up and brought them toward Janna in the centre of the ring. Then, as Janna walked and talked, Mattie tirelessly kept the sheep circling her. The owners gleefully saw that this was their dog’s calling and could hardly wait to sign up for lessons. As Barry ascertained later, Mattie had been discontent at home – chewing and nervous with pent-up energy. She was obviously a great dog – but she had yet to find her niche.
Next, a novice Pembroke Welsh Corgi was brought in to work with Janna. This dog wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about sheep-herding as his owner, so Janna thought she’d try something. She brought in a Border Collie puppy who was smaller than the Corgi to help inspire him and build his confidence. The puppy kept the sheep bunched together and the Corgi took slightly more interest, but he wasn’t fit or keen enough to work for long. (Corgies, by the way, were bred to herd cattle more than sheep. Their short stature helps them avoid getting kicked.)
After working with different members of the class all morning, Janna brought out a 13 year old former U.S. Champion Border Collie to work in the large pasture. This was a story that would break your heart. The dog couldn’t hear well any more and has had a hip replacement, but he still loves to work. So they let him – just for a little while every week – and he remains spirited and as agile as his aging hips will allow.
We met with Janna after the students left to discuss filming at her ranch. To our delight she is as enthusiastic about working with us as we are with her, and she loves the premise of the film we want to make. She told us that she also works at a ranch in Malibu with a more affluent clientele, and that she’ll be judging a sheep-herding contest in Santa Barbara in early June – so there are lots of possibilities for some pre-production filming. She is going to keep an eye out for stories-in-the-making and will let us know next time she gets a call from those folks with an unruly rescued sheep-dog …
Hooray, hooray! We’re on our way!
P.S. – This just in … Barry and I found Gus at Asilomar Beach in Monterey yesterday. He’s a Border Collie/McNab Stock Dog cross and we couldn’t take our eyes off him. In the absence of pasture and sheep, he was racing around barking up at the sky, herding seagulls. After at least15 minutes of circling the beach at break-neck speed, when there were no more birds to be seen, he headed straight out into the surf and rolled, clambered up and went at it again, and again. Gus’s owner Cindy is delighted to have us film him – they come to the beach every day. We never actually got a chance to meet him – Gus was constantly on the alert for more birds. Socializing was not on his agenda. (The McNab Stock Dog is an unrecognized Northern California breed known best to ranchers and farmers in the state. A Scotsman named Alexander McNab was the original breeder about 150 years ago. These dogs are short-haired, love water and can cope with the California heat.)
Barry and I went to Los Angeles last weekend to explore some of the facilities we’ve read about and thought might provide juicy material for “Dog” (our working title).
First stop was Canyon View Ranch – a swank day-camp for dogs which also provides long-term boarding for more affluent hounds. It was a wonderful site – a panoramic view of Topanga Canyon, immaculate gardens, and tucked into the landscape were two huge playgrounds for dogs – the larger one included a bone-shaped wading pool and cascading waterfall for the playing pleasure of the larger dogs. The small dogs and elderly were grouped together in a smaller area, but the activities seemed equally gleeful – except for a few dogs who had probably seen it all, snoozing in the late morning sunshine. Each playground was overseen by a human supervisor charged with keeping the dogs amused and well-mannered.
We were met by owner Randy Neece who joined us where we stood on the hillside enjoying the view of about 50 dogs leaping in and out of the pools and frolicking with various toys and tunnels. It suddenly occurred to us that this bucolic scene was missing something. Despite the number and variety of dogs, there was not one sound – not one bark or growl. Apparently, the Canyon View trainers teach all dogs not to bark when they first come onto the premises – and they gently enforce the rule at all times!
It turns out that Randy and his partner Joe have just written a book on dog training and they are in serious negotiations about doing a television series on training dogs with methods that involve understanding how dogs think. Although we all agreed that our film would be quite different in approach and intention than their training series, they were reluctant to have us film there. But we left it open for discussion, depending on what happens to their t.v. series bid, etc.
Next Stop: a doggie day care center whose name shall remain undisclosed. This place was a serious disappointment. We had visions of brushed aluminum countertops and efficient lab-coated dog groomers attending well-coiffed pedigreed pups with attitude. Instead we entered off Hollywood’s famous Sunset Blvd. into a dingy, linoleum-floored reception area lined with dust-ridden racks of leopard-look doggy outfits and some sequined collars of yester-year, replete with the sounds of unhappy dogs penned in a darkened hall just off the entryway. The “Business Manager” was clearly unhappy with her bosses who phoned to stand us up, leaving her to tour us through the facilities and tell us up front that they’d want money for filming. It was a fortunately short tour punctuated by the Manager’s ineffective scolding of one particularly whiny dog. The “tour” didn’t do much to augment our first impression. We did come upon a grim “living room” with a torn, overstuffed couch intended to make the doggies feel right at home. The fresh dog turd in the corner certainly gave us the feeling of que sera sera. We left wondering exactly which famous stars and restaurateurs actually left their best friends in a place like this. Personally, I wouldn’t have left my imaginary goldfish there for the day.
We drove off to visit another “camping” facility for dogs, this one recommended to us by the folks at Canyon View Ranch. This was apparently an urban, multi-coloured concrete knock-off of Canyon View – with a bone-shaped viewing hole in the board fence, a pond and fountain for the dogs to enjoy, and staff to mind the play areas (one with a jungle theme indoors, and a Tex-Mex theme for out-of-doors). We toured past a Mexican Hairless boarded in a dark, isolated kennel who would happily have chewed our heads off … I guess he wasn’t sociable enough to join the other dogs outside in his pseudo native land. Except for this, the place seemed to be well-enough run – with a goodly emphasis on its retail section and an ego-stroking speaker system to announce when a dog’s owner had arrived to take “Harley” home.
The facility’s collagen-lipped owner was practiced in Burbank Brusk – so we didn’t feel a great need to pursue the possibility of filming at this particular location. We went to a local dog park and saw the same sort of dog interactions, and Barry communed with a baying beagle to the bewildered amusement of the people in the park.
The next day we struck gold. Drummond Ranch and its founder Janna Duncan had the kind of authenticity and stories-in-the-making that we were looking for. We arrived at the beginning of a Tuesday morning beginners’ sheep-herding class. Janna used one of her experienced Border Collies to efficiently move a few sheep from the pasture into a small training corral and then the fun began. First up was a young couple with a dog they had gotten from a Rescue. Janna identified Mattie’s probable breeding as part Border Collie and part Australian Cattle Dog. The owners brought Mattie into the corral for an instinct test. Janna asked the owners to step outside the pen and not make eye-contact with their dog. Mattie took a moment to wean herself of her owners’ attention and then she turned toward the sheep. Without ever having seen a sheep, she immediately rounded them up and brought them toward Janna in the centre of the ring. Then, as Janna walked and talked, Mattie tirelessly kept the sheep circling her. The owners gleefully saw that this was their dog’s calling and could hardly wait to sign up for lessons. As Barry ascertained later, Mattie had been discontent at home – chewing and nervous with pent-up energy. She was obviously a great dog – but she had yet to find her niche.
Next, a novice Pembroke Welsh Corgi was brought in to work with Janna. This dog wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about sheep-herding as his owner, so Janna thought she’d try something. She brought in a Border Collie puppy who was smaller than the Corgi to help inspire him and build his confidence. The puppy kept the sheep bunched together and the Corgi took slightly more interest, but he wasn’t fit or keen enough to work for long. (Corgies, by the way, were bred to herd cattle more than sheep. Their short stature helps them avoid getting kicked.)
After working with different members of the class all morning, Janna brought out a 13 year old former U.S. Champion Border Collie to work in the large pasture. This was a story that would break your heart. The dog couldn’t hear well any more and has had a hip replacement, but he still loves to work. So they let him – just for a little while every week – and he remains spirited and as agile as his aging hips will allow.
We met with Janna after the students left to discuss filming at her ranch. To our delight she is as enthusiastic about working with us as we are with her, and she loves the premise of the film we want to make. She told us that she also works at a ranch in Malibu with a more affluent clientele, and that she’ll be judging a sheep-herding contest in Santa Barbara in early June – so there are lots of possibilities for some pre-production filming. She is going to keep an eye out for stories-in-the-making and will let us know next time she gets a call from those folks with an unruly rescued sheep-dog …
Hooray, hooray! We’re on our way!
P.S. – This just in … Barry and I found Gus at Asilomar Beach in Monterey yesterday. He’s a Border Collie/McNab Stock Dog cross and we couldn’t take our eyes off him. In the absence of pasture and sheep, he was racing around barking up at the sky, herding seagulls. After at least15 minutes of circling the beach at break-neck speed, when there were no more birds to be seen, he headed straight out into the surf and rolled, clambered up and went at it again, and again. Gus’s owner Cindy is delighted to have us film him – they come to the beach every day. We never actually got a chance to meet him – Gus was constantly on the alert for more birds. Socializing was not on his agenda. (The McNab Stock Dog is an unrecognized Northern California breed known best to ranchers and farmers in the state. A Scotsman named Alexander McNab was the original breeder about 150 years ago. These dogs are short-haired, love water and can cope with the California heat.)
Labels: diary
Next: Meet The Team…
Labels: diary
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