Paige’s PetMeds Commerical

Paige recently had the opportunity to star in a PetMeds commercial all the way in Evansville, IN.  Some of you might remember that Paige has previously been in a PetMeds commercial.  Although this was her second time working on the set in Evansville, she was excited as ever to show off her talents! Paige’s part consisted of interacting with her on-screen mom, Kourtney and her on-screen dad, Chris. Not only that, but she had to pull a dog biscuit out of a PetMeds box and hold it (like she did in the first commercial). This behavior can always prove to be challenging, as dogs naturally want to eat the treat, but Paige pulled it off wonderfully! She definitely stole the show!

We were very lucky to see our friends Heather and Jesse (the Jack Russell terrier). Jesse is a very talented little guy who won PetMed’s Facebook photo contest this year.

Paige and I would like to thank the Oswald Communications team for being so welcoming and supportive. It was such a wonderful experience!

Below are some pictures that were taken during the filming.  Enjoy!

Paige with her on-screen mom, Kourtney!

Paige with her on-screen dad, Chris!The PetMeds Family!

beautiful ladies

lights, camera, action!

Paige’s on-screen grandma

…and grandpa!

Paige relaxing with her co-star

me with the talent!

Jesse and Paige

setting up for the next scene

after a full day of shooting

Dogs Teaching Chemistry – A Viral Hit!

About a week and a half ago I posted a video to YouTube about a topic I’m very familiar with…chemistry! I had the idea for some time to do a “chemical bonding” video, where Paige and Dexter acted as atoms, and demonstrated how valence electrons can be shared and transferred during chemical bonding. I never thought a video like this would be so popular! I was amazed after the second day when we received 20 thousand views….well now, ten days later, we have 700+ thousand views! I decided I really wanted to continue the series, so last Sunday I posted a second Dogs Teaching Chemistry episode that focused on the fundamentals of an atom. Here are the two videos:

I have received hundreds of comments, messages, and emails from people and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve heard from teachers who are showing our videos to their students to get them interested in chemistry. I’ve heard from students who are learning about chemical bonding in their science class and how our video helped them conceptualize the topic. I’ve had science professionals and experts tell me how impressed they were with the idea of dogs helping to teach chemistry and get people interested. Overall, I am completely blown away by all these comments and I am honored so many people are enjoying them as much as I enjoyed creating them.

A little about my background, I am a chemist by profession and I have an undergraduate degree in biochemistry and a master’s degree in chemistry. If you’ve been following my dogs online, you know that my greatest passion is dog training. I spend most, if not all, of my free time training Paige and Dexter, participating in dog sports, attending various classes, competing in shows, doing advertising work like commercials and print, and the list goes on an on. There’s nothing I love more than being with my dogs and strengthening our bond through all the fun activities we do! Creating videos on YouTube is no exception. What I really love about making our own videos is the ability to represent who I am and how much I treasure my animals. I’ve definitely gotten better at filming, editing, and telling a story. It’s a fun, creative outlet and you can bet there will be many more videos coming out on YouTube channel, snuggliepuppy!

Thanks for visiting!
-Lauren, Paige, and Dexter

Featured:

Daily Planet

ABC7 KGO-TV San Francisco, CA

Cheezburger

Yahoo Trending

Scientific American

Discovery

The Washington Post

PawNation

Laughing Squid

Buzzfeed

Tested.com

Geekosystem

BlogPaws 2012 – The Power of YouTube

Paige and I have just returned from a wonderful time in Salt Lake City, Utah! What were we up to, you ask? We were at BlogPaws, a conference for pet bloggers and pet social media enthusiasts. We spent three whole days attending sessions, showing off our dog trick talents, and networking with a bunch of amazing people and pet brands.

We were joined by my good friend, CJ, and her six year old havanese, Jasmine. CJ is also a YouTuber who trains her pup to do some amazing tricks!

CJ and Jasmine (left), Lauren and Paige (right)

It was our second time attending a conference together where we presented a talk about the media success we’ve had with our dogs via YouTube.  We don’t assume to be experts, but we did have some tips for those who are looking to make their pet the next YouTube sensation!

Jasmine and Paige Sitin’ Pretty in the Conference Room Before Our Session!

• Getting Started: Have a plan!  Brainstorm a plot or make a drawing board to hash out ideas. This will save you time and also make your video more cohesive.

• Get the Right Tools: Lighting, camera angles. make sure your subject(s) are lit appropriately, so the audience can clearly view your adorable pet! Although it seems obvious, good lighting and camera angles can make all the difference.

• Training: Although not necessary to make a popular video of your pet, this can significantly improve your ability to script out a video with your pet as the main star! The more behaviors and cues your dog knows, the more your dog will be able to “act” in your video! Even a sit/stay will help you film some great shots of your pup!

• BE UNIQUE: This is the most important part of making a great YouTube video! Show your personality and your pet’s personality through your video. Make a video that YOU would enjoy watching. don’t just try to replicate what’s been done before or please the masses. If you enjoy heartfelt, emotional videos, create something that will elicit emotion from your audience. If you enjoy funny videos, film your pet’s hilarious antics or create a funny story line!

Once you have filmed and uploaded your video, here are some tips to help gain a viewership!

• Market your video: Title, Keywords, and description.  Writing a good title can vastly affect your video’s click-through. You don’t want to make your title too generic, but you also don’t want to make it too descriptive. The goal should be to provide a descriptive title containing popular keywords.  The less work someone has to do to find your video, the better chance of producing something “viral”. You should include the title in both the keywords and the video description.

• Use your resources: Contact related bloggers and forums, post and tag your video on related pet sites using all your social media outlets.

If you follow this advice, you’ll be sure to increase your chances of creating a hit Youtube video.

Good luck!

Lauren & Paige

#SharetheJoy

We are so lucky to be sponspred by Cesar Canine Cuisine for our trip to BlogPaws! Whether or not you are attending the conference, Cesar invites you to #sharethejoy with them on Twitter! When you use the hashtag, #sharethejoy from June 21-June 23, Cesar will send you a care package of their new product!

Don’t forget to follow Paige on facebook AND Twitter! We will be tweeting about our adventures at BlogPaws in Salt Lake City!
https://twitter.com/PaigetheBC

Welcome to our new blog!

Welcome to the official blog of Paige and Dexter! I’m looking forward to sharing our experiences and adventures here. Take a look at the tabs at the top of the home page to learn more about my two wonderful pups!

Let us know what you think!