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for BlogPaws,
one of the biggest pet blogging conferences around.
We are about the conversations,
whether it's online, at our conference,
so that the brand, the people, the enthusiasts want to facilitate with us.
ANNOUNCER: Then, Norman guest stars on the set of Good Things Utah.
And his talk show appearance has a surprising ending.
And stick around for tips with Doc Halligan.
I get asked all the time, "Doc, do I really have to brush my dog's teeth?"
And the answer is, "Yes."
NARRATOR: All that and more coming up
on this week's episode of Who Let the Dogs Out.
(THEME SONG PLAYING)
Brought to you by Petco, where the healthy pets go.
And Natural Balance Pet Foods, the food for a lifetime.
JOHN: This is Tillman.
He could be the most famous dog on the planet.
This is Ron, Tillman's dad and our head trainer.
This is Norman, our very own scooter dog.
Norman's trained by Karen, his mom.
There's Rose, Sully and Wally.
Then, there's Lexi, and Eric, he's Tillman's personal assistant.
Steve, he's our driver.
Our bosses, Hollywood legend *** Van Patten and his son Jimmy.
Me, I'm John, the team spokesman.
We're crisscrossing America
looking for talented, high-flying and inspirational dogs.
Hey, it's not a bad life.
(THEME SONG PLAYING)
JOHN: The Natural Balance team of dogs live pretty extraordinary lives,
performing for crowds all over the place.
When they're not skating or scooting though,
they're just like any other normal dog.
We spent some time with Norman
to see what a day in his fur is really like.
A lot of people keep saying Norman is a person in a dog suit.
I mean, that's ridiculous. I don't know where they come up with this stuff.
He's just a regular dog.
(TICKING)
(ALARM DINGING)
He sets his alarm, he gets up.
He goes, he looks in the mirror, you know, he's normal.
He just does what everybody else does.
Norman is definitely an early riser.
I'm usually not even out of bed yet when I see this blur go by.
I hear Norman tromp down the stairs.
He's rattling around in the kitchen.
I know he's down there preparing breakfast
and he's usually eaten before I even get up.
The best part about it is Norman,
unlike the other members of the family,
actually cleans up after himself.
He even puts his bowl in the dishwasher.
And Norman, just like the other kids in the family,
spends a lot of time on the computer.
He's constantly checking his schedule, keeping up with things.
He helps keep me organized.
He has a little sister, Zsa Zsa, now,
and he loves having a playmate.
They play out in the backyard for hours.
(BARKING)
What's nice is everybody plays together. The kids, the dogs,
they all have fun in the living room and they stay out of my hair.
So, I can get my work done, and everybody's happy.
Norman is a remote hog.
He always has the remote.
Anyone else lets it slip down, he gets it,
he brings it back to his spot and he holds it.
He does not keep his paws off of it.
In the few spare moments I get to sit down,
I'm usually met with Norman running up to me with his leash in his mouth
saying, "Come on, let's go, let's go."
What does that mean? Do you want to go for a walk?
I'm thinking, "Don't I get five minutes to sit down?"
But he doesn't get tired. He wants to go all day.
So, he's dragging me out for a walk,
or a training session or whatever.
CHILDREN: (CHANTING) Norman! Norman! Norman!
KAREN: Good boy. Coast!
Norman has exceptional manners.
He's probably the cleanest one in the house.
He actually comes in, he shuts the door, and he wipes his feet.
If I could just get the kids to do that every time.
Now that I think about it, Norman has a pretty good life for a dog.
He gets up, picks out his own breakfast, rides his bike,
watches TV, surfs the web.
Why do people think he's human?
I just don't get it.
JOHN: What do you think? Is Norman a dog or a human?
Go to wltdo.tv to find out.
Everywhere we travel, the dogs are a media sensation.
This morning, on a trip to Salt Lake City,
Karen was tested as Norman got a chance to sit in
as one of the hosts of Good Things Utah.
(MAN SINGING THEME SONG)
KAREN: The whole time we've been in Salt Lake, it's been extremely hot,
which makes Norman extremely thirsty.
(SLURPING)
You were thirsty, huh, Normy?
So, today, before we got to the set of Good Things Utah,
I gave him a drink.
And he drank, and he drank,
and he drank some more.
Norman's done a lot of media appearances,
and usually does a great job.
Today I was asked if Norman could sit
between a cast of three women for a segment or two.
So I dressed him up in his anchor outfit and he joined the show.
And usually he's there for two or three minutes and I'm with him.
So, the show goes live,
and I'm trying to keep Norman focused on me behind the camera
and have him stay in his seat.
So, one minute goes by, then two, then three,
and I'm thinking, "When are they gonna give him a break?"
I can see Norman has to use the fire hydrant,
and he's looking at me, like, "Mom, I gotta go now!"
So, four minutes go by, then five, six, seven, eight minutes!
I can literally see him searching for a fire hydrant to use.
(WHISPERING)
I'm freaking out. It's been 12 minutes now.
I'm starting to think about that dog from last season,
that went on John's foot for two minutes straight.
He's peeing. Sorry.
He's peeing. Is this one of the tricks?
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
(LAUGHING) No.
Then I remembered Norman went on the tie I borrowed from Tim Estes.
He's the president of Fiesta Parade Floats.
KAREN: Sorry, Tim, I promise I had it dry-cleaned.
Finally we go to break and I get Norman outside.
You ready?
Crisis averted.
ANNOUNCER: And coming up on Who Let the Dogs Out,
we head to Salt Lake City to meet the pet bloggers
who reach out to the 160 million dog and cat owners.
Then, spokesperson for BlogPaws Chloe DiVita
tells us how social media can get your stories heard.
It just takes one person saying, "Oh, check this blog."
And then the next person says,
"Oh, well, I heard it on this blog."
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JOHN: So, we got instructions to drive to Salt Lake City to join Norman and Karen.
We took in the sights
and got ready for a Skype call to get directions from headquarters.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hey, guys, welcome to Salt Lake City.
How's it going?
It's awesome, man!
Gorgeous place.
Downtown and everything's just amazing.
Do you know that Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah?
It's the home of the University of Utah.
And it's this year's BlogPaws convention.
It's the largest gathering of pet bloggers, you know.
Internet sites devoted to dogs and cats and the people who love them.
ALL: Oh, BlogPaws. Got it.
Let me show you.
Jimmy, what are you doing there?
He wants to start his own blog.
(CHUCKLING) Does he know how?
No, so I need you guys to check out this whole blogger thing for me
so I can help Jimmy, okay?
It's my first assignment, and I just, you know, I don't want to...
Look, I wanted to show you but I can't find my computer.
(LAUGHS)
Yeah, it's right here, Jimmy.
Oh!
Look, so while you're there, get to know all the bloggers.
See how they create a successful blog, so that people could actually
read about them and then know all about their pets.
Tillman and Norman, you know what to do. Hmm?
No worries.
Bye-bye.
JOHN: BlogPaws' annual conference brings together pet bloggers
from all over to connect in person.
(DOG BARKING)
These social media enthusiasts have conquered cyberspace
with stories of their experiences that have connected
pet lovers around the world.
We got a chance to sit down with Chloe DiVita, the COE,
chief of everything, of BlogPaws to see what it's all about.
We are for pet bloggers,
people who are active in social media and pet enthusiasts,
so one of the big things we're pushing with BlogPaws,
and we've wanted all along, is that it's more than just the conference.
We are trying to promote and really get out there
and get people aware that we do campaigns all year long.
We are for pet bloggers,
people who are active in social media and pet enthusiasts,
so it's through Facebook, even Pinterest,
there's a lot of different ways to interact with our community,
who is very active online.
Hi, this is CJ and Jasmine.
And we're here to interview Karen and Norman at BlogPaws.
CHLOE: We are utilizing all those channels
to work with brands and be the connection,
be the, be sort of the place
for all of the community and all of the brands to come and engage.
And so the conference is amazing, because it's face to face.
Um, you carry on those relationships that you make here.
And it does make a difference. When you walk away, you know,
and you don't just know someone's Twitter handle, you know their real name,
their face and you've had an actual conversation with them,
face to face, it definitely makes a difference and it carries over.
Well, BlogPaws is a wonderful event.
Oh, I think it's amazing.
It's great. This is my fourth BlogPaws.
BlogPaws, well, BlogPaws is such a great place to network.
One of the things that we wanted to do while we came here was to find out,
you know, what kind of other things that people are doing.
So, it's great to be able to put a face, with their Twitter handle.
BlogPaws is paw-mazing.
Well, it's the one place that I can be that I'm not the crazy dog lady, you know.
I fit in here perfectly. (LAUGHS)
We have grown, until this year, 100% by word of mouth.
So that has been amazing.
Just getting that word out there is huge.
Since that's so heavy, just knowing...
I mean, it just takes one person saying, "Oh, check this blog."
And then the next person says, "Oh, I heard it on this blog."
Just spreading the word as you go places has a huge impact.
Um, and I think, especially, in the pet community, people like that referral.
People like to hear it coming from somebody else.
BlogPaws is a chance for me to learn new stuff about social media,
it's a chance for me to meet other bloggers...
And it's so much fun to see everybody and network
and get the word out that deaf dogs rock.
This is my second BlogPaws and I've learned so much at the last one.
Even though I had to travel much further for this one, it was well worth it.
BlogPaws is awesome.
We've had so much fun meeting up with new people
and meeting all the people who come up to me and say, "I know that dog."
I'm proud to say, I have about 14,000 followers and fans
from all the information I learned and education I gathered at BlogPaws.
CHLOE: We're about the conversations, whether it's online, at our conference,
whatever it is that...
The brand, the people, the enthusiasts, whoever it is, want to, uh...
Facilitate with us, that's what we are about.
We want people to know that, you know, we're gonna be that medium for them.
JOHN: But the highlight, what those bloggers were clamoring for the entire
convention, was the dog they've seen skate on the Internet
over 30 million times, but never in person.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Today Tillman just nailed it.
I mean, he was skating so good,
he had these silky moves, and these carves... It was amazing.
It was a good thing he stayed on his board, though,
because the pavement was well over 100 degrees.
And we had to wet it down so he wouldn't burn his paws.
NARRATOR: Coming up, we chat with a blogger who gave it all up for man's best friend.
When he got cancer, we were just dumbstruck.
I mean, he was our life, he was our kid.
NARRATOR: And stick around for tips with Doc Halligan.
I get asked all the time, "Doc, do I really have to brush my dog's teeth?"
And the answer is, "Yes."
THAN ONE VALENTINE.
ONE, FOR MAKING MY PERFECT CUP OF COFFEE.