Pet Star Experience By: Jennifer Sunga

For those who have never seen or heard of Pet Star, it is a show on Animal Planet. It is a game show where people bring their animal who can do a trick, or something unusual. The team of owner/animal are judged by three celebrity judges, and given a score from 1-10, 10 being the best. The top 3 or 4 scores are then voted by the audience for the best trick. The winner receives $2,500, and then goes on to the finals where they can compete to win $25,000. The Bay Area Ring Club were excited and supportive of our club member, and friend Francis Metcalf when he told us he, and his dog Turbo were going to be on Pet Star. Turbo was going to jump two palisades, retrieve a quarter, jump the two palisades again, and bring the quarter to Francis. What a cool trick! Unfortunately, Turbo was injured a week before Francis and Turbo were supposed to travel to Burbank, California for the filming of Pet Star. Francis came to the house on a Wednesday, which was my day off of work. He was going to see if his other dog, could replace Turbo and do the trick. Francis decided that it would not be good for his other dog. So, he asked if I could do the trick with Indy. SURE, but she won't retrieve a quarter. Francis said no big deal. It was a Wednesday, and he was supposed to go to Burbank that weekend. I said " I can figure something out." Phone calls were made, and things started rolling from there. A producer of the show called me later that day and asked me tons of questions. "How old is your dog? What kind of dog? Male or female? What is her full name? Can she retrieve a quarter? What else can she do? What do you do? What is a normal day at work? How long have you been doing this? Are you bringing anybody else with you? Etc, etc. From there, we decided I would drive down Saturday, and have rehearsal on Sunday, and shoot the show on Monday. What a full weekend. Unfortunately, Felix was unable to come with me since he was in Oregon and then Florida the last two weekends. He needed to take a break. So, I called my mom and she was thrilled and more than ready to make the drive with me. That Saturday, I got off of work around 11:00 am and drove home, picked up my stuff and of course, Indy. We picked up my mom, and we were on the road to Burbank around 3:00 pm. We made it to the hotel in Burbank, the Safari Inn, around 9:00 pm. We were all tired. But what time do I have to be ready tomorrow? No clue! I left a message for the producer to let her know that I was there and with no information for the show. Now it was time for bed. The next day, there was someone from the show in the lobby of the hotel with information for me. He told me that there would be a van to pick me and Indy up for rehearsal around 2:00 pm. So, my mom and I decided to drive around and have some lunch. Since it was Sunday, not much was open. But is was still fun. The time went by, and it was 2:00 pm, and I was ready to go. Indy and I were the only ones in the van besides two guys from the show. Conversation was scarce. I decided to just relax and watch Indy jump from seat to seat. I guess I forgot to mention that she was coming into heat. She always has the worse timing! We made it to the studio, which was basically a huge warehouse. I met the producers and they were all very nice. I looked at the palisades and they were great. The prop guys made them exactly how Francis told them too. With no time to spare, contracts were signed (since it is a game show), and we were out on the stage rehearsing. I tried to warm Indy up but is was tough, being in a warehouse and concrete outside. The jumps were set up and we attempted one of the jumps. I was hard for her to jump, since she was taking off from the floor which was slippery. So, I told them I wanted the jumps lowered and that we needed carpet on the outside. "Sure, whatever you need." It was done. We jumped both palisades twice and she did them perfect. One of the producers then went over what was going to be said between Mario Lopez (the host) and I. At this point, they told me that I have to act like no other dog does this. What? We compete in French Ring. Tons of dogs do this. So now I know that I can not talk about French Ring at all. This kind of sucks, since that is what she does! I guess I have to just go with it The final thing that was discussed was what was expected of me on Monday. Bring two outfits, just put on foundation, have your hair done, and get some rest. Once we were done, we were back in the van on our way back to the hotel. My mom, Indy and I, then took the rest of the day and went to Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, and had some dinner. We couldn't be out too late, since I had to be ready by 7:30 am the next day for the show. Monday morning was just busy. What should I bring to wear? How should a do my hair? Is Indy going to do what she is told? Does the camera really add on ten pounds? Finally, we were on our way. Since Indy was in heat, we drove our own car, and we were following the van to the studio. Once there, all of the competitors were put into their rooms. Indy and I were in Room #1 and there was here name on the door. We were in the room with a wonderful woman, Shannon, and her pet Trixie. Trixie is an 11 week old, exotic animal. I can’t remember for the life of me what kind of animal it was, but I would describe it as a cross between a raccoon and an ant eater. She was the cutest thing. Once we were settled in, Indy and I were able to do a "walk through" on the stage and have her get familiar with the stage. We healed around and played with her tug. She was having a blast. Once that was done, we were back in the room. About 30 minutes later, all the competitors were taken to a room and we were all given a Pet Star shirt and we were told what was ahead for us. The producer gave the order in which they were going to film. Indy and I were first, since we had the biggest props. A big good luck, and I was in the make-up seat. I can't remember the last time I had that much make-up on. Once I was done with that, I was escorted back to the room, and another producer went over the questions that Mario was going to ask me and we decided on the outfit to wear. Luckily, she approved of my black pants, black shirt and my gray/black Eurochien vest. Of course they needed red tape to tape off the Eurochien on the back but I was fine with that. I was hooked up with a microphone, and then waited. About 45 minutes later, Indy, my mom and I were brought downstairs to the set. My mom was able to sit in the back and watch on the monitor. I was up, and I was nervous. Finally, I hear, "Jennifer Sunga, and her dog Indy, from Ryde, California". I think it was something like that. I was out on the stage, standing next to Mario Lopez, who is as good looking in person. Luckily, Indy was stuck to me like glue. We had a quick conversation. "What is your dog's name?" O'Bre-on's Independence Ziggy, but we just call her Indy" "What do you do" "I am a San Francisco Deputy Sheriff" "How long have you been doing that" "About 4 years" I wish I could remember more, but I think I was so nervous, if you asked me my name, I would have said it was Indy. From there, Mario asked what we were going to do. I told him that Indy was going to jump two 6& ½ foot walls. From there, he backs up and Indy and I have the floor. I set Indy up at the first one and I give her the command. She does it easily. Everyone claps and yells. I am thinking to myself, if I wait too long, she will come around back to me. So, I give the command for her to jump and I think it was a little too soon, since people were still clapping and yelling. She didn't hear me, and pokes around the jump and looks at me as if to say "What did you say?" I announce that it was my fault and maybe she didn't hear me. I place her back on the other side and walk back. I give the command and she is over the wall and back to me with a quickness. We walk to the other wall, and she does it all perfect. I was so excited, and so was she. I gave her the tug and she was thrilled. We went back to the center of the stage with Mario. Mario says "That was great. She is like spider-man climbing up the wall." I respond with, "We should call her Spidey." Then he asks "Is she is on the force?" I said "No. This is just a hobby." Then, of all questions Mario asks "How did you know to train her to do that?" I am thinking to myself, that I can't say anything about French Ring, so I say something about her dad doing this and we just figured she could too. Dorky answer but I think it worked. We turned to the judges and we were given our scores. All 9's!! We exited the stage and we were escorted back to the room. From there we just had to wait for all of the other competitors. During this time, I spoke with a couple of people from the show and they all said that Indy was fantastic. They also said that usually the first act, even if it is great, always gets 9's. The judges are hesitant to give 10's since they don't know what else is coming. So that made me feel a little better. Finally, I was told that we were one of the finalist. There was one competitor with a score of 30, and three of us with 27. We were all introduced again and brought out onto the stage. The audience watched a clip of all of the tricks and then voted. At this point, one of the producers came up to me and said, "Okay, if you win, Mario will ask you how you feel, and what are you going to do with the money." I responded with, "Build a higher fence." He said, "Perfect, that is great." So I am thinking, we won!! Cool!! The four of us are back in the center and Mario announces the winner, "The winner is, SPOT!" I am bummed. Oh well. The show is over, the celebrity judges all come to say hello to the competitors and the animals, and we are done. My mom, Indy and I head back to the room, grab our stuff and head on out. We made it back to hotel, packed up the car, checked out and we were on our way back home by 3:00 pm. It was a easy drive back home. A few stops to walk Indy, get gas, dinner, and we were home by 8:30 pm. I have to confess, I have a lead foot. To be honest, I was disappointed we didn't win. But, the experience and the opportunity was priceless. Thank you to Francis who believed that Indy and I could step in and fill his spot. I only hope that Turbo gets well, and is healthy. In the end, that is all that matters. Healthy and happy dogs.