My Little TV Star

Back in September, Dandy answered a casting call for a part in a State Farm commercial. We ventured into Greenwich Village in New York City for the job, and it was quite an experience to see how things work ‘behind the scenes’. I wondered if Dandy was going to end up on the cutting room floor, knowing how fickle show business is! Well, it is now a reality, the commercial is being aired across the country on the three major networks (ABC, NBC & CBS)! I discovered it first on Youtube on November 22. Then while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, I saw Dandy on my TV! It was aired that day during the National Dog Show and a football game as well, I heard from friends & family that they had seen it. It’s a great commercial as it uses the theme song from the old TV show “Cheers”, which is a great song...”where everybody knows your name” Dandy is at the very end (which gives me time to ‘catch’ him when I hear the song!); he is being walked down the city street at night by a young man who waves to his State Farm Agent through the office window. It’s a bit dark, and there is text that obscures the view of Dandy, but he does manage a millisecond of direct face time as he mugs for the camera just before he walks out of frame! I have it saved on my DVR so I can watch it over and over, and a copy is on my computer too. They really didn’t make use of Dandy’s best features; he does a killer head-tilt, and he could have been the one waving to the State Farm agent! But it’s very cool to see him on TV, even if it’s a just a small walk-through part, and I’m very proud of him, once again.

Here is the link to the commercial on youtube….you have to watch to the VERY end, right after the shot of the traffic light.

Dandy in State Farm Commercial

Agility in November

November gave us two indoor USDAA Agility trials. On November 5 & 6, we headed to BucksMont in Hatfield, PA, to a trial hosted by High Octane Agility. Tempo was in Advanced, needing to qualify in Standard, Pairs & Gamblers to finish his AAD title. That didn’t happen, but he did get his Gamblers Q with his first time in Advanced Gamblers on Saturday. The gamble had 12 weavepoles plus 3 jumps, and he nailed it! His other runs had good portions but something went wrong in each of them. He did however qualify in Steeplechase, with a 3rd place finish in the Finals. This was his second Steeplechase Q, making him eligible to enter USDAA Cynosport (Nationals) in 2012! Dandy had an upside-down weekend; he did not qualify in his ‘best’ classes (Standard, Jumpers & Steeplechase) but DID qualify in those that are hardest for us! He qualified in Master Gamblers with a 1st place; he got a Super Q and 1st place in Snooker; and he qualified with a 3rd place in Grand Prix. This was his 2nd Q in GP for 2012, so he is now qualified for 2012 Cynosport in both Steeplechase & Grand Prix.

We were in Barto, PA, on November 19-20, for KineticDog’s tournament-only trial. Dandy was on a team with very experienced dogs, and although they did well in all the classes, the Team Relay proved to be our downfall…two of us went off-course, and we ended up not qualifying. Individually, Dandy earned 3 Q’s getting 2nd place in Team Gamblers & Jumpers, and 3rd place in Team Standard. But Relay was the game-changer….in many ways. Tempo was on a team for the first time, just for experience and so he would get to play that weekend. He was teamed up with his littermate Quid and another young Border Collie friend named Tag! Individually, they did OK, though not setting the agility world on fire…they were not in position to qualify but we still gave it our all when it came to the Relay. Tempo & I had to do the middle part, running second, and he shocked me when  he actually held his ‘stay’ and let me get the head start that was vital in our section. He was awesome! Quid and Tag! each got one refusal but they too rocked it! Amazingly, our Relay boosted our points total enough to qualify! So the baby boys earned their very first Team Q and Tempo is now qualified to run in both Team and Steeplechase in 2012 Cynosport! I also ran both boys in Grand Prix, but neither qualified. Dandy had an awesome run but took a brief detour for an off-course when the dogwalk caught his eye. Tempo had 3 refusals, so he did not qualify either but he did really well on a very tough course. Overall, the weekend was a great experience for both boys, since every course included both the Wall Jump and the Long Jump, which they don’t get to practice outside of trials. Below are links to videos of Dandy in Team Gamblers and Tempo in Team Relay & Grand Prix.

Dandy in Team Gamblers

Tempo in Team Relay with Quid & Tag!

Tempo in Grand Prix