Truth in Advertising

I was contacted this past weekend by an ad agency in Calgary to possibly use the dogs in some advertising for flea and tick control for a company in Toronto. Lindsay at Woodruff Sweitzer described what she needed, I gave it a moment of thought and said, “I can get exactly what you’re looking for. No Photoshop required.”

They are asking for the lifestages of a dog so a puppy, an adolescent, a grown adult and a older dog.

The cast includes:

Kika as the baby puppy. Recently she moved to Calgary from Jahina Ridgebacks in Manitoba with proud new owners Jim and Barb Kruse. Kika is just about 9 weeks old and will probably pee somewhere and have a 3 second attention span. Those babies are so darling!

Rory as the teenage Ridgeback. Just about 7 and a half months old and as many know he is owned by Kathryn in Calgary and was bred by me. Rory is at that gangly stage of half puppy half adult and will make a perfect adolescent Ridgeback. He’ll probably play his Nintendo and look ‘pretend bored” by the proceedings as teens are wont to do. Or he’ll be beside himself with excitement and knock over lights and give out monster kisses.

Raimi as the adult Ridgeback. Mr. Handsome with muscles bulging and soft brown eyes. All the girls will swoon and giggle. I just knew one day those looks would pay off; you don’t have to be smart if you’re handsome and Raimi is that in spades. Apparently all they need him to do is ‘sit’ so … phew … because I don’t think he knows much else.

Seth is the old man. Seth of course has been putting up with Rory for the last 4 months and he’s earned his turn in the limelight for the abuse heaped upon him by that puppy. He’s the perfect example of an old dog who is greying across the brows and grizzled along the muzzle. He’ll be the guy offered the comfy chairs and a hot cup of coffee. He will also probably be barking out orders and grumbling about how hot or cold he is.

None of this is written in stone of course, the client has to approve the dogs and everything has yet to be finalized but it’s an exciting prospect just the same. Apparently they were prepared to photoshop and manipulate the dogs so they all looked like the same animal but thankfully because of a healthy network of Ridgeback owners we can offer 4 dogs who look relatively the same.

I’ll keep you posted as to the progress we’re making and whether they ultimately decide to use these dogs. I’m not sure if they are considering with other breeds of dogs but like, really … what trumps a Ridgeback??