The Photo Shoot Part 2 - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!

We're all still very excited and talking about the FABulous photo shoot by that extremely talented Albert Lewis.

If you have the Facebooks, you can even see a small sample of the pictures he took while he was here!  Just click this link and you can see five sneak peek pictures of the Musher and some Cramplings, one of Crunchie that makes the Musher tear up because it totally captures the Crunchmeister's intensity and power, one of Cindy where it looks like her gorgeous blue eyes will just pop out of the picture, AND one of Cricket that looks like a painting!  That Cricket sure does clean off well and gave the camera such a withering look I'm surprised the lens didn't break... and one of yours truly!

If you don't have the Facebooks... I guess I could ask Mr. Lewis to put one or two on his kickstarter page or something.  If those pictures don't get you to click that button and get in on the action before the book goes to print (significant savings if you do it now, versus retail, plus extra goodies that won't be available later), then I don't know what will... especially once you get a gander at my beautiful pose!

Can't find the button at the top right of our blog... here's a link for you!

Anyhoo, Mr. Lewis took pictures of us for 2 whole hours!  OOOH OOOH, I forgot to mention that he did tell us that that not one Pretty Curly Tail will be in the book, but there will be like three maybe four of them in there!  SERIOUSLY!!!  Here's the link again, because you are probably so excited you can't see straight.

As you may have expected, when it was Rocky's turn... well, he wanted to be carried to the model area place thingie.

Everyone else pretty much did what they were told, because they're professional Pretty Curly Tails.  I had trained them the proper way to pose, and which was their best side, and not to blink when the flashy thing went off.

When the veterans were done, it was time to let loose the Cramplings and Boo Who's, who now have a daddy and will now be called the BooFi's... yes, WiFi is the one and only daddy!

There was a bit of a dust up when it looked like only Vader would get a solo photo shoot, but Boo was satisfied when Cindy got her own photo shoot so she called off her lawyer.  She's trying to get copies of the pictures to include in Cindy's portfolio for the next season of Canada has talent.  Something about tap dancing... don't ask.

The Cramplings wanted to take their own pictures.

Cricket was next.  She really liked Mr. Lewis (although sometimes it's hard to tell the way she looks), and insisted that he scratch her head.  Actually it sounded more like SCRATCH MY HEAD NOW!  I think he was a bit afraid to stop scratching, especially after I told him the story about our neighbor Stubby McOnehand.  hehehehe.

We all did get a bit nervous when Cricket demanded a close up.

To his credit, Mr. Lewis didn't hesitate at all but did make a rather odd high pitched keening noise when she would shift her weight a bit.

Our wonderful neighbors Martin and Gabriela and Roger M came over to help wrangle everyone and did a wonderful job, we thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their assistance.

Now, I don't think that I'll make the final book.  After all I've never run the Iditarod, but I have trained the Pretty Curly Tails since they were wee little pups, and it was a totally biggie big honor to be able to get in front of the camera... even though the Musher had to wash my feet... ugh...

I was going for "rough and tumble Border Collie", but she was right in the end, she wanted pretty Border Collie, sexy come hither look Border Collie.  When you look at my sneak peek picture, please don't stare too long, as I'm nude.  Yep, not even a collar.  No fashionable ensembles (sigh), not even a scarf... I was a bit shy at first, I'm not really into minimalism, but when I saw the finished shot I knew that it was the way to go... even though I had one fur out of place near my right ear.

The most FABulous thing about the photo shoot is that a scout saw my sneak peek preview, and... well, I don't want to brag or anything... but look for this on your grocery store check-out counter next month.

Thank you Mr. Lewis!  We enjoyed having you here, and you are more than welcome to come back once all of the Pretty Curly Tails (and Cricket) have all of their fluff and it's nice and snowy for more pictures!

All of you... go kickstart the book so you get a copy!!!

- Bet

The Photo Shoot Part 1 - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!

It's your non-roving Border Collie Fashion Editor Bet here!

Whooo boy what a day yesterday!  We were all very excited when famous photographer Albert Lewis arrived at North Wapiti!  I mean come on, he's got pictures in VOGUE!!!

The night before, I was trying out some come hither poses that I thought might be a big hit during the fashion shoot.

This is my "Don't hate me because I'm bendy" look

I also thought that maybe it would be better to have an action shot of me

Don't try this at home, professional Border Collie on a closed circuit course

But then the Musher reminded me that the whole purpose of Mr. Lewis visiting was to get pretty pictures of the Pretty Sled Dogs for his upcoming book: Born To Run: Athletes of the Iditarod

I was all like "pfft, I KNOW that Musher, but you've heard of how famous models became famous because they were noticed by a professional photographer and went on to make millions... I'm just making sure I'm ready for success and riches."  Besides, I've spent the past two weeks training the Pretty Curly Tails on posing, the right lighting, and posture, and the Whos and Cramplings were ready for their dance recital, so why shouldn't I spend some ME time before he arrives!

The weather was less than impressive, especially since I had spent most of last week giving Molly a perm to help with a stubborn clump of fluff that just wouldn't blend properly... all that work for nothing because of the rain, rain, and more rain!  As you can see, no amount of fixer or gel would help poor Molly.

I'm ready for my close up Mr. Lewis!!!!

I also didn't have the heart to tell her that she wasn't on the list of finalists for the actual shoot.  She still isn't talking to me once she found out.

The finalists picked for the photo shoot were (and these are their usual bio pictures, not any that Mr. Lewis took, so don't get all excited)

Moses!

Astro,

Irving,

Q,

Rocket (who did dazzle us with dances),

Smartie,

Jinx,

Tess,

Rocky,

Crunchie,

Darth Hellmann's... I mean Vadar,

Cindy

and Daddy

Jinx was one of the first to get photographed.  She did a bit of preparing for her model shoot.

You know, the one thing I'm really envious of that the Pretty Curly Tails can do is to just shake and clean themselves.  It's as if their fur was scotch guarded or something.  I have to get baths and have my feet cleaned, which I despise, but all they do is one little shake and all the mud and gunk is gone.  It's very handy.

More inside scoop of the photo shoot... hehehe, that kinda rhymes, tomorrow!

- Bet

Preparing for the Photographer - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!

I think it may have been a bit of a mistake in letting the dog yard know that the famous and talented photographer Albert Lewis is coming to North Wapiti to take pictures of the Pretty Sled Dogs. 

It got even worse when Mr. Lewis himself told me that there WILL be pictures of the Pretty Curly Tails in the book.  Yes, you heard it here first, the beautiful and wonderful "Born To Run" book WILL have Pretty Sled Dogs in it!  I don't know how many of them, or which one(s) but there will at least one Pretty Curly Tail in the book!

Its been nothing but chaos, preening, cleaning, and boasting since they found out.

Cricket has taken her guard dog responsibilities to a whole new level, making sure all of the Pretty Curly Tails are safe and ready for their modeling gigs.  She threw herself on a marauding porcupine that was attempting to ruin the looks of one of the Pretty Curly Tails.

She'll be fine.  The Musher and our neighbor pulled them all out.

I had been busy at the time of the incident, otherwise I would have summoned my ninja Border Collie mad skills to put a smack down on that evil porcupine... with the sticky spears of doom... that are pokey and hurt... hmmm, ok maybe this would have been a better approach

Anyhoo, the dog yard has now been split into the Haves and the Have Nots... those who HAVE been in the Iditarod and those who haven't.  The bickering is almost as obnoxious as Tramp when she's yammering about nothing.  The Have Nots insist that they COULD be photographed because they are Pretty Curly Tails and just because they haven't yet, they could run the Iditarod, and the Haves are all like "yeah, well... we've been there, done that, we'll get photographed".  I'm not even going to get into what Boo is training the Boo Who's to do, but it involves a modeling stage and stiletto heels.  It's not pretty peoples.

WiFi thinks he's definitely "in" because he single handedly created enough pups to run in three Iditarods while running the Iditarod.

Bait sneaked the mirror out of the Musher's bathroom.

 Sigh... it's going to be a long two weeks until Mr. Lewis gets here.

If you want a signed first edition of Born To Run at a really cheap price so you can see which Pretty Curly Tail gets picked, the best way to get it is to pledge right now!  Click the Born To Run button at the top right hand side of the blog (or top right GEE for you mushers) to go to the Born To Run kickstart site and be one of the backers of the book and for $55 you get a signed 1st edition! 

You can also watch this video on why Mr. Lewis is doing the book, and some behind the scenes of how he captures the heart and spirit of the dogs of the Iditarod.

-Bet

Exciting News - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!

I know that I told everyone of the Facebooks that I wasn't going to post until the Musher finished another of her exciting Iditarod Tales on the Trails stories, but she bribed me with a FABULOUS Bet day in the big city... park thing, and I got to wear one of my fashionable bandanas and run on wonderful trails and have a nice lunch at the Starbucks (even though they called me a Sheltie once, I'm pretty sure that person got fired), and it was such a wonderful time and all... so I'm going to post this very exciting fantastical wonderful news....

It is now official!!!

What do you mean "what's official"?

Where have you been?

Ok, here's the scoop... the FABULOUS photographer Albert Lewis is doing a really REALLY (did I mention REALLY) cool book about the dogs of the Iditarod!  I KNOW!  It's about time.  Usually books are all about the Mushers and all the stuffs and things they do (they hold on to the sled and try not to fall off), but there hasn't been a book that highlights the real athletes of the Iditarod: the dogs... UNTIL NOW!

This picture is © Albert Lewis and if you even think of nabbing it, I'll have Cricket rip your face off

Mr. Lewis is traveling all over the place and photographing Iditarod dogs to publish in his really cool awesome book.  He takes some amazing photos of the pups, like the one above of Jodi Bailey's Loben.


When the Pretty Curly Tails heard about the book, the dog yard was all excited.  They were all bragging about how THEY were the best models for the book.  After all, the Pretty Curly Tails have been used as THE standard of sled dog stuff for years and years and years by (and this is only an example):

• The cover of an Alaska Geographic publication about the Iditarod
• Cover of a "Visit Alaska" tourist magazine (even though the Pretty Curly Tails live in Canada)
• Plaques for 2006 Iditarod sponsors (one of which hangs in the lobby of the Millennium Hotel)
• The official Exxon commemorative 2012 Iditarod posters

When people think Iditarod, they immediately think about the most prettiest Siberian Huskies in all of the land and they are THE PRETTY CURLY TAILS.

There was a collective gasp in the dog yard when we learned that Mr. Lewis couldn't afford to travel to North Wapiti to take pictures of the Pretty Curly Tails.

WHAT????  Well, we can't have that!!!!

The Musher Minions jumped on it, and begged, cajoled, pleaded and convinced Mr. Lewis that he just HAD to come and photograph the Pretty Curly Tails... and he said YES!!!

Mr. Lewis will be coming to North Wapiti on July 4th, staying in the lovely guest cabin

With his own personal body guard

Eating the Musher's FABULOUS cooking (I hope we're having pasta with shrimp), and taking photos of the Pretty Curly Tails.

This is where you all come in! 

This all takes money for Mr. Lewis on top of paying to have the book published, and although we can't guarantee that the Pretty Curly Tails will be in the book, it is still a FABULOUS book of very pretty other dogs, and you can be a part of making it all happen!  Just think, YOU can say that you helped publish this book by being a Stakeholder in its creation.  Isn't that really cool!?!?!

All you have to do is go to Mr. Lewis' kickstarter page and pledge to back his project.  This money will get him to North Wapiti and some other places, get the book published, get you some VERY nice thank you gifts, and make you a part of this historic book! 

I'm even putting a cool button at the top of the blog so you can find it easier, and you can tell others to get in on this very exciting and wonderful project!  He's halfway to the kickstarter goal of money needed, and we've told him just how wonderful all of the Pretty Curly Tail fans are, so let's see if we can't get this project done before the July 20th deadline!

Ok, get over there... what are you waiting for?

I'll be at the Border Collie Broadcasting Center (BCBC) during his visit to give you the scoops and stuffs of his visit, and you can even join his Facebooks page to get up to date scoops straight from him!  Tell him that Bet sent you and BE NICE!  We know how much you want the Pretty Curly Tails in the book, but that's totally up to Mr. Lewis... I, of course, will do everything I can when he arrives to convince him that it would the best thing for his book.

- Bet

Your NW Fix for 18 January 2012 - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!!!  Its time for your picture fix for today!

Now that Irving is convinced that all of the imaginary spiders in his dog house have frozen to death and has stopped howling, the Pretty Curly Tails are getting into the swing of training, and the Musher, Musher Mark, and Donna Photographer Minion are getting some sleep.

Yesterday was a very important training day for the Pretty Curly Tails.  They have to practice things that they may encounter on the trail so that when they pop up in the race, they are ready for it and know what to do.

Today's exercise started out with the very important: look stunning in case a photographer shows up to take pictures exercise.  Donna Photographer Minion played the unexpected Iditarod Trail photographer, and popped out of nowhere and started snapping pictures.

As you can see, the Pretty Sled Dogs are very well trained, and have natural talent for looking stunning and beautiful (I helped by doing some modeling poses on the off season so they'd get it just right).

In this picture you will see just how well they listened to me when I instructed them to look at the camera, but with a "come hither" look, tempting the photographer to stay and take more stunning pictures of them.

In this picture you see the ears back, using the" look at us working so hard and yet making it seem effortless because we are amazingly beautiful and are very fluffy" look.

Finally we have the "oh, what a coincidence that the sun is shining in just the right spot as to make us all shimmering and have golden halos because we are just THAT good" look

Here is an obligatory "behind the scenes" Musher photo shot just before her camera turned into a ball of ice... again.

Once they had completed the scenic tour of the Alaska back lands (or whatever they're called), it was time for the "HOLY POO WHAT JUMPED INTO THE SLED BAG" exercise.

I don't know if you know this or not, but it isn't uncommon for wild animals such as Mooses, penguins and the occasional Sasquatch to leap into sled bags during the Iditarod.  The race coordinators try to keep those things quiet because then tourists will want to have wild things leaping into their sled bags and it'll just get way out of hand...

Here is Musher Mark as the "wayward polar bear" asking the Musher if she'd like her windshield washed for the price of some frozen fish.  Polar bears are annoying like that.

When the Musher says "um, no thanks", the Musher Mark Polar Bear quickly mentions that the sled happens to be going the same way he needs to go, and before you know it...

... it makes a very ungraceful landing in your sled bag.  It is well known that Polar Bears are not graceful.

The Musher tries to dislodge the Polar Bear, but to no avail.  Polar Bears have very sticky feet (which is how they grip bottles of soda)...

There is nothing left to do except hope you drive past a soda machine on the trail and the Polar Bear jumps off.

Ok, I totally made that whole last part up... Polar Bears don't have sticky feet.

- Bet