Barking Blondes: ACCESS ALL AREAS FOR DOGS!!!!
Busy old week this week. The new season of ITV’s Alan Titchmarsh show has kicked off and we are lucky enough to be joining it as Pet Experts for a third season.
Monday found the two of us, with our seasoned performers Molly and Matilda, strutting our stuff through the corridors of ITV studios. The girls were wagging their tails with excitement and as with any working environment when a dog appears, chaos and smiles were in abundance. The crew absolutely loved their breaks from routine, to pat and indulge the girls who reciprocated by wagging their tails and bouncing up and down.
You should have seen the look on Coleen Nolan’s face when the lift doors opened to reveal two bull breeds on the way to Make Up. Wonderful Kay Adams was in the dressing room next door preparing to debate a news item on the show but as a dog lover spent most of the time with us….indulging the pooches.
Live TV is always nerve-racking but somehow we get it easier…because whatever the audience may think of us (and our outfits)…the dogs are the ice breakers. They may or may not have been on their best behavior, barking at the cherry picker camera, blowing off by Alan’s chair and dragging a startled comedian (Alan Davies) onto the set, but they were always forgiven.
And last Monday, for us, with our dogs, the best place in the world was sharing the Green Room with a forever nimble Cannon And Ball! They were everything we wanted them to be. Massive dog lovers…when one ( don’t know which) tripped over Matilda ..instead of questioning why there was a dog in the room…he fell to the floor to apologise to her and poured out tons of affection. She was in her element. Long live show biz!
Saturday afternoon found us signing our books in Horsham Library. This was to celebrate twenty years in their new building. Apart from assistance dogs, no other pets have ever been permitted into this municipal and very popular library.
Books and dogs, what better combination! Judging by the expression of the faces of the children arriving to return or borrow books, maybe the local authority should relax the rules. Not even those seated and reading silently raised an eyebrow when Matilda broke away to do a circuit through the aisles of books.
Thursday and it was our final The Barking Hour outside broadcast of the summer, in the Piazza outside BBC New Broadcasting House. The show is dedicated to dogs and despite not being able to take them into our studio…….they are made more than welcome outside.
It’s an opportunity for listeners to join us with their four legged friends and for BBC staff to burst into smiles at the sight of such mayhem. Again, how wonderful would it be if this happened more regularly.
Or maybe not. Perhaps it’s the novelty of finding dogs in ITV corridors, BBC spaces and urban libraries that makes it so special.? I wonder, if they had access all areas all of the time, maybe we dog lovers would get as exasperated by them a we do of ourselves?
Somewhere you WILL find lots of dogs this weekend is THE NATIONAL PET SHOW in Birmingham N.E.C. We will be there judging Super Dogs with Molly and Matilda.
Make sure you come and say hello, it’s allowed .
Barking Blondes by Jo Good & Anna Webb, published by Hamlyn, £12.99www.octopusbooks.co.uk
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