The Happy Camper: My Camping Dog Has Become a Diva
My dog, Angel, got a job this past summer. A film producer chose her to be one of the canine stars in a pilot for an up-and-coming Netflix special—12 Summers. It’s a seven-episode series based on how dogs need to be out in nature (just as we do). It helps them deal with stress and anxiety. Angel fit the part perfectly. She’s half border collie and half golden retriever. The border collie part makes her one hyper dog, and it seems only times spent out on a canoe trip or a backpacking trail calms her down.
The producer saw Angel on a number of trip videos on my YouTube channel KCHappyCamper. She was amazed how well-trained my dog was in the canoe and on the trail. Angel is an amazing dog, but film can be deceiving. However, I needed some cash for Angel’s addiction to liver treats, so we took the gig.
The film crew had planned for the shoot to be along the shores of Lake Ontario, at a local park not far from the CN Tower. I thought it was little odd to paddle a canoe and dedicated bush dog in such an urban setting, but they promised that tight shots, drone footage and artistic editing would masquerade everything into outdoor film sequence. Personally, I think they wanted their espresso coffee breaks rather than swat mosquitoes in the true north—but that’s just me.
I arrived the night before and stayed at one of my canoe buddy’s place, a quaint house set in a suburban neighbourhood that shoulders the megalopolis of Toronto. I was anxious. So was Angel. We are not city creatures. The sound of honking car horns and police sirens kept us on edge. We prefer the evening sounds of loon calls and owl hoots. Angel wasn’t her true self the moment we arrived. She rolled in racoon poop in the backyard and narrowly escaped getting sprayed by a skunk living under the garden shed. She wasn’t a happy camper. Neither was I.
The plan was to meet the film crew, dog trainer and veterinarian (a very professional crew I might add) at the lakeshore park just before sunrise. The camera person wanted the morning light, and I wanted less wind and waves out on Lake Ontario.
It didn’t take long for the stage to be set. Scene 1 seemed like an easy clip. I was to portage my canoe down to the water with my trusty dog walking beside me. Easy peasy, right? Angel had done that countless times while on the portage or a hiking trail. Not this time, however. The moment the camera started rolling she escaped her leash, took off across the park grass, harassed a mini Shih Tzu Yorkie mix and its elderly owner and then took a big poop directly in front of the camera person. Angel was not herself, out of context and unquestionably out of her mind.
Scene 2 was having Angel fetch a stick thrown into the lake. She wanted nothing to do with that. It seemed silly to get her doggy PFD wet before getting into the canoe.
The paddling scene went well…at first. The cameras were mounted on shore while I paddled across calm waters of Lake Ontario, with my faithful companion sitting directly in front of me just like we had done for days on end out on wilderness trips. We were both finally at peace with our surroundings; that is until the drone hovered over to get some aerial shots. Angel mistook the quadcopter camera to be a pesky deer fly and kept jumping up and snapping at it. That’s what she does when deer flies bother her at camp. She eats them like a kid gobbling down popcorn at a movie theatre.
To capture some b-roll the camera person then joined me in the canoe, squatting down in the bow seat and pointing the lens at Angel. The dog wanted nothing to do with this silliness either. Not once would she look at the lens. She gawked at some Canada geese flying overhead, lapped up grungy Lake Ontario water over the gunwale and then lied down on her mat for a quick snooze—but not once would she look at the camera. She then got the toots from drinking tainted Lake Ontario water.
The last scene was a dance segment. Yep, it seems each episode the producer would have the dog and owner dance along to that cheesy emotional 90s power ballad Wind of Change. Every dog they had filmed so far excelled in this particular scene. Angel did not!
I assured the crew that my dancing skills were more than adequate. I had taken disco dancing lessons back in high school to impress a girl I was smitten with. She broke it off with me after our first session, but I continued on with the dance lessons and ended up winning several disco dance awards—true story. Angel, however, didn’t like to dance. Once again, it seemed silly to her. She even growled at me when I lifted her front paws to attempt a Saturday Night Fever maneuver. She’s never growled at me. Once again, she was out of her element.
The kicker of this whole story is what happened during the interview the crew did with me at the end of the day. It was to do about the meaning behind the Netflix series and was done with various cameras, lights, a casting chair for me to sit on and a cozy dog bed for Angel to lie on and eat her liver treats. The poor audio guy stepped in her poop, but that’s another story…
I answered questions about how outdoor adventures mean so much to Angel and I, how sharing time in nature has improved our relationship, how it has changed us, how it heals our anxiety, how outdoor life offers us so much more that modern life cannot and how wilderness trips keep calling us back. It was a good interview…until the producer asked me what I thought about the title of the series 12 Summers. That’s when it got weird.
I must confess that I didn’t read the script prior to the film shoot. I was too busy with washing raccoon poop off of my dog’s fur the night before. So, when that question about the show’s title was thrown at me, I had to ask back, “What is with 12 Summers?” I guess I’m not in the loop when it comes to dog life, but the saying comes from the fact that a dog usually only gets 12 summers before it passes. Who knew? The show wanted to emphasize that during that small amount of time in its life it’s so important to get your canine companion outdoors as much as possible.
My answer was twofold. First, I agreed with the whole concept of getting your dog outdoors as much as possible before it goes to doggy heaven. But then, right after stating the obvious, I started weeping uncontrollably. You see, Angel is 11 years old. That triggered my emotions a wee bit. But what brought on the main tears is that my partner’s dog, Oliver, had just passed away a couple of days before the interview. He had just turned 13.
Angel felt my anxiety and sadness, ignored her cozy dog bed and liver treats and sat down by my feet for a scratch behind the ears and cuddles. Dogs know your anxious because they also feel it themselves.
I love the concept of this new series, and I can’t wait to watch it. Neither can Angel. Stay tuned….
Oh yeah—a couple of days after the filming job, Angel and I went for a wilderness canoe trip together to ease our stress and anxiety of our visit to the city. We had a lovely time; anxious free.
