Harriet Potter's Big Day Out
In June 2008 - there was
great excitement! Harriet a Chocolate Tortie Longhair LaPerm had been chosen to
go down to London to take part in the filming of a Channel 4 documentary on the
Cat Family called 'In the Womb - Cats'.
Arriving early Harriet and her owner were invited in to
watch an Animal Trainer being filmed, which was amazing to see well trained cats
perform various activities with great enjoyment.
Soon it was Harriet's turn, her owner took her through to
the filming area to discover that Harriet was to be filmed and photographed on a
huge glass platform over four foot from the ground. How would Harriet react,
this was a totally new environment to her.
Harriet took to her glass stage with great confidence and
showed true LaPerm characteristics; she was not phased by the environment and
quickly took to exploring her surroundings.
There were a few tense moments when she started to eye up
the black drapes around the
filming
area with a 'could I jump onto them' look in her eye. This was quickly replaced
with a total fascination of all of the lights around the platform and at one
stage she tried to jump up to the lights causing every one to panic! This she
thought was great fun and proceeded to get her owner, the Animal Trainer and
production assistants running around the stage trying to predict where she was
going to go next.
However with a little persuasion Harriet soon started to
strut her stuff, settled down and performed like a seasoned Pro, surprising
everybody that at at the tender age of 11 months she was such a natural. The
Animal Trainer loved not only her confidence but also her quick responses when
put into position or asked to sit and look in certain directions. Her owner
singing to her to get her attention at times also causing a few laughs amongst
the team.
Throughout the filming she purred constantly and
definitely enjoyed herself, at the end she had a cuddle with all of the
production team before setting off on her 2 plus hours journey home. On arrival
home she quickly filled in all of her friends with her exciting day before
tucking into a tin of pilchards in tomato sauce and sleeping for the rest of the
evening.
The program was aired in November 2008.
