Do you have a problem dog and wonder what it takes to audition to be on the Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan? Well, here is one possible answer. I produced the audition video for the Dog Whisperer tv show episode from Season 4 featuring a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, also known as a Swissy, entitled: Barclay – Putting The Cart Behind the Dog. He really did not like being near his cart. Perhaps that was not very clear? He’d rather have “those glands” expressed at the Vet’s then get near that cart. Really. Fun piece of trivia: When submitted to the show’s producers the original audition video was titled “Barclay Don’t Play That.” Yes, it was that bad.
At the time the audition video was shot, Barclay was a big, handsome, young, sweet Swiss Mountain Dog. He was owned by a professional horse trainer and breeder, who also had serious professional credentials in the Greater Swiss Mountain breeding, training and showing world. The owner’s equine resume even included horses that pulled carts. But she could not get Barclay to comfortably strap his furry body into the harness to pull the cart. Not for obedience, love, nor yummy treat.
Click “Read more…” to see the rest of the story and the video!
Cesar Millan Dog Whisperer Audition Tip 1:
In the television industry landscape, Cesar Millan is a Doggy Dr. Phil.
Thus, to get cast on the Dog Whisperer tv show you must have a substantial and interesting problem that will make for “good television.” Yuck.
While our hero Barclay was thankfully not aggressive, mean, or destructive in any way I had ever seen (I found him to be very gentle and sweet), his owner wanted him to pull a cart but he would have none of it. So to our first Tip’s point, yes, we have a substantial problem. But what makes it interesting, tv interesting, is how much experience with dogs, and even bigger critters, those mighty giant horses, his owner had. Yet despite that experience she could not solve the problem. So from a tv production point of view, if Cesar could do his Dog Whisperer magic on Barclay he really would be all that and a bag of chips.
Cesar Millan Dog Whisperer Audition Tip 2:
TV is a visual medium.
You must clearly, beyond any limitations of a distracted, busy, latte-drinking tv executive’s microscopic attention span, show the problem – both how substantial the problem is and how very interesting it will be on national television.
Disclaimer: Nothing should be construed herein as advice to do anything that is unsafe to you, any dog or other animal, or others. Be safe in all aspects of your efforts to produce your audition video.
Let’s assume all the facts about Barclay are accurate. Sure, his owner did have a substantial and interesting problem, but it would have ended there without a video that demonstrated those facts. Here is an embarrassing admission: I think the video kinda sucks. And I made it. It is way too long. At least certain shots are. But it was done in a big hurry. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
But it did work. Why? In the beginning it established the key characters. Barclay. The Owner. Horses. And the duck.
Next, the cast walks, marches and waddles out to the stable’s exercise ring so we can see how awesome the owner’s horse skills are along with several gratuitous cut-aways to Barclay. And the duck.
On the way back to the barn there is a much too long shot that cements how interesting the characters and the location could be