Dionne II, movie star

Dionne's life is being documented more thoroughly than any previous puppy of ours. Not only have I been chronicling her development in my blog, but she's also going to be the star of a documentary!

It's being created by our friends Alberto Lau and Bob Schneider, both longtime professional photographers. Now retired from their day jobs, the two of them have dived into a documentary project in which they're telling the story of a local Holocaust survivor. They've apparently enjoyed that challenge so much that they want to do more. One of their ideas is to document what's involved in raising a service dog. 

Steve and I have been bringing Dionne to regular movie-watching nights at Albie's ever since we got her (in December). Bob often attends these too, and he's among those who are most tolerant of Dionne's sometimes trying presence. He's not only a talented photographer and cinematographer, but he also trains his own dogs to participate in the sport of schutzhund. 

So far Albie has captured footage of our puppy drill team performing in the Coronado Fourth of July parade.  Both guys came to puppy class two weeks ago and recorded the action there.

Here's Albie capturing Steve and Dionne in puppy class. Dionne's demonstrating proper execution of an Under, while Steve demonstrates an interesting approach to sock fashion. (Photograph by Bob Schneider)

Yesterday Bob and Albie spent a couple of hours interviewing Steve and me about our experiences with CCI pups. 

It takes an amazing amount of time to set up for a shoot.  These guys have a ton of patience. 

Most exciting of all: they're traveling to Chicago in two weeks to film one of the key figures in their Holocaust-survivor film. And while there, they've arranged to meet with Aimee and Yuriy Zmysly. They lived with the wonderful Mr. Brando, whom we raised and who graduated two years ago! I'm thrilled that Albie and Bob will get to meet all three! And I'll continue to report on the documentary, as it shapes up.