# Documentary



## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

Here is the official trailer just released of the Million Dollar Duck documentary that Hallie and I are part of that will be out this fall on Animal Planet and in select theaters. Animal Planet has been begging me to bring Sophie which I was so excited to do but of course that can't happen now.  I still have a hard time believing she has this stupid medical thing that will get in the way of so many things we loved to do and had planned!


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## jef (Apr 17, 2016)

cool beans, Dee Dee! :surprise:


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## PaulineMi (Feb 5, 2016)

The duck stamp program is awesome as is your part in it. I have to admit though that I got choked up watching it knowing what an unfair turn your life with your pups has taken.

We live on a small inland lake, man made (it was a gravel pit). In the springtime we have the neatest assortment of ducks and loons hanging out here. The buffleheads are entertaining to watch. They're black and white, congregate in big groups, dive, then pop back up to the surface. There'll be 50 of them then suddenly poof, they're gone underwater, then poof, they're back.

It's interesting to know that The Million Dollar Duck project and your participation in it contributes to our enjoyment of these little birds. One detail you left out....

Realistic horse, dog, cat, wildlife, bird art and pet portraits


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## Zoe093014 (Jan 27, 2015)

As soon as she stabilizes, I have confidence that you can continue your work with her and will find a way to train without food treats. She seems to respond to your enthusiasm and body language along with repetition. It's impressive what you do and have already done. :smile2:


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## Hanna (Feb 25, 2016)

Awwww:|


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

Wow...incredible painting! Hallie was precious.... Wishing Sophie to be over this rough spot soon!


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## Lisa T. (Feb 5, 2015)

Hallie was adorable. 

Hope Sophie starts feeling better soon.


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## Raffi'sMom (Jan 25, 2016)

I Hope to get to watch you and Halie.


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## Eveningpiper (Sep 23, 2015)

The Million Dollar Duck documentary (featuring Dee Dee) will be showing on Animal Planet this Wednesday September 14. It doesn't seem to be listed on the Canadian version of Animal Planet but I hope we get to see it too. Let me know if you find out when it plays in Canada.

This Dog Can Paint | The Million Dollar Duck | Animal Planet


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Oh I'm so excited! I was afraid that it had already aired and I had missed it.


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## Zoe093014 (Jan 27, 2015)

I can't wait to see it! Thanks!


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## Ollie"s Mom (May 23, 2014)

Fantastic Dee Dee. I hope we will see it in Canada too.


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## Chi-Chi's Mom (Dec 10, 2015)

Looks very interesting. Congratulations! I'm not counting Sophie out just yet. I believe you will find a way to work around her food issues.


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## Layla's Mom (Feb 1, 2016)

I have my dvr set! I can't wait to see it.


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

Thanks you guys we had a preview party Saturday to see the final edits and cried my eyes out (along with a few others). Still kind of surreal to see that precious face again, painting in my kitchen....in a documentary! I'm so proud to be her Mom and I miss her so much every day. I really thought she would be with me forever because I couldn't imagine life without her. I think she sent me a naughty funny puppy to keep distracted on.  I was incredibly blessed to be Hallie's Mom during her time here and I feel incredibly blessed to now be Sophie's also. Although if Sophie gets into the news it would likely be a mug shot LOL!!!

Here is one of the articles from the paper, it seems like yesterday. Several TV shows came and filmed her in the kitchen there. She loved showing off for people! Such a precious girl. Sophie didn't get her picture in although they asked for some but she got a mention! I told her next time!

Here is the latest clip on Animal Planet.

This Dog Can Paint | The Million Dollar Duck | Animal Planet


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## Chi-Chi's Mom (Dec 10, 2015)

Dee Dee all I can say is wow. You may feel as if you've been unlucky with your dogs, but you have been a blessing to them and hopefully to others who find themselves in situations they did not expect. Where others may have given up on Hallie and let her lay around and do nothing, you saw a way to bring her some joy, made her feel useful AND help other dogs in the process. Bravo, Girl! 

P.S. Sophie's mug shot will be the cutest ever, though!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I'm SO glad to read that it's available on Amazon...We're heading off to a multi-day dog show tomorrow, and was KICKING myself that we wouldn't be able to see it!!!


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

THank you yes it's available on Amazon and can be streamed now but I'm not bright enough to know how lol, I need a 5 yr old kid to teach me these things.  Good luck at the shows Karen report back!

What a nice thing to say Chi-Chi's mom thank you. I had that same thought often when Hallie and I were out doing demos etc and also doing nosework trials (when she got her NW1 title she came in 8th out of 33 sighted dogs!) She had a ball in life a lot once we both got over the devastation of her being blind. She taught me so much and I keep trying to put those lessons into use during hard times with Sophie's health etc. (although right know you would not know Sophie had ever been sick. She's is feeling incredible!!!!!!! It' been wonderful and that is even with weaning off the Tylan and having had a few...er....food whoopsie doodle indiscretions. I'm absolutely loving it! )  It does break my heart to think of how many dogs end up with a "disability" and owners either don't want to deal with it or think they are protecting them by leaving them home all the time. That is the worst thing you can do, in most cases. It took weeks of patience and hard work to rebuild her trust in the world but Hallie came back to life once we were out doing things again and I am so grateful she had 2 things where she was still the one in charge, could control and make all of the decisions. Well three really....painting, nosework and posing for photos. There were times when I'd try to help or guide her to do something and she would practically push me out of the way as if to say move Mom! I can do this you are messing me up! <3 

That whole spirit and determination is the basis of all the childrens books I'm working on about her. Adventures of blind Hallie and what she can do. (also working on her first book which is her bio). The book I'm working on right now is the only one not about her although she and Sophie both have cameos. (Hallie is a Mystic and Sophie is her army of little fuzzy hummingbird type of creatures that flit around and bother people). These aren't finished by any stretch but an example of the illustration style I'm doing, all photos, photoshopped and also painted over.


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## MarinaGirl (Mar 25, 2012)

I just purchased the documentary on Amazon!! Can't wait to watch it after work!!


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## Layla's Mom (Feb 1, 2016)

Dee Dee I want to echo Chi-Chi Mom's post...it brought tears to my eyes seeing the way Hallie took the brush and painted. So touching! Whoever said animals don't have feelings, was full of doodoo! You could just see her joy, as you encouraged her to keep going. The love you both shared was so apparent! She was blessed to have you for a mom! Way to go, Girl :grin2:


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## PaulineMi (Feb 5, 2016)

Awwww Dee Dee. I'm so glad that you and Sophie and Hallie-in-spirit are part of the Havanese Forum family. 

My DVR is set.


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## Zoe093014 (Jan 27, 2015)

Dee Dee,
I'd love to buy some of your children's books for my 16 mo. granddaughter. Please let me know how I can do this. 
Thanks, BTW, the pictures are wonderful and I love your message!

Linda


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## MarinaGirl (Mar 25, 2012)

Dee Dee - I just finished watching your documentary. Loved it!!!


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

Awesome thanks! I am glad we got to see it early, on Saturday I had plans to go to friends to watch it tonight but Sophie is sick today  I am a wreck when she is sick so wouldn't be fun to go anyway plus I worry the excitement of going would be even worse so just going to stay home with her. Have I mentioned enough how much I HATE these tummy issues??? 

edit: So was just out in the yard with the child and she dug a little hole, and came up with something in her mouth. Usually it's a rock so I always stop her from doing it but she did it really fast. So I walked her down, fished it out of her mouth...HUGE shard of glass.

REALLY??????? We don't have enough problems young lady??? Thank God (literally) she didn't get cut and neither did I. 

I told her if she feels good enough to do that she feels good enough to go to a party!


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## Layla's Mom (Feb 1, 2016)

Well, hope you have fun at the party! These fur kids are worse than people kids! Geez, you wonder what they're thinking? Layla's thing is mushrooms and that scares the crap outa me :frown2:


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## Molly120213 (Jan 22, 2014)

I really enjoyed the show tonight and I loved seeing Hallie.


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

Thank you! 
It was wonderful yet sad to see my Hallie again....I should be done crying around May! 
Of 2025!  
So blessed to have her in this with me though! Sophie watched with us tonight while chewing on her soft cooler.  Good little sister!

Linda I have a list for the books if you would like to send me an email to [email protected] I can add you to it.


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## PaulineMi (Feb 5, 2016)

Loved the show and the opportunity to see you and Hallie together. Enjoyed the whole duck stamp story but you two were the highlight of the show for us.


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## Zoe093014 (Jan 27, 2015)

OMG! YES... take her to party!!!!! :wink2:


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

I haven't seen it yet as I recorded it. The documentary got a real nice write up in our little local paper that does a daily review of what's going to be on TV. I can hardly wait to see it!


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## gelbergirl (Jun 9, 2007)

wow! The Duck Stamp! I'll be on the look out for this documentary.


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## Chi-Chi's Mom (Dec 10, 2015)

I have it in my Amazon watchlist for this weekend!


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

The video of Hallie and a bit of her going blind was heart touching. What a beautiful little girl, and what a wonderful mom you were for her! 

(I couldn't get the link to work and had to hunt on the internet to find the video, though.) I also haven't figured out how to find the Duck Stamp documentary since I only have local stations on my TV. Any suggestions? Although, I think I may have missed it while I was away from home for the past week.

Wonderful story, Dee Dee, and I'm glad you are with us now with Sophie.


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## DebW (Jun 11, 2013)

I also watched it - very entertaining. I got a bit teary watching Hallie, having heard the story. My beloved dog prior to getting a Havanese was also a long-haired dachshund. Love the breed - such a wonderful mix of affection and spunk. Mine couldn't paint, though; and neither can I. Wonder what it's like to have such talent?


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## RitaandRiley (Feb 27, 2012)

I just finished watching the show and I really enjoyed it, so much talent. That young girl has a great eye. Dee Dee, your paintings are beautiful! Something caught my husband's eye, he recently sold his 1996 red mercury villager. It had over 200,000 miles on it. He loved that car!


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Dee Dee - finally had time to watch the documentary. I had no idea how the duck stamp contest worked or the history behind it. It was so interesting! I knew it was a contest but it was fascinating getting actual insight from the artists. I loved seeing you and Hallie. It made me tear up as I understand how close you become to a furbaby when literally their life depends upon you. Do you enter the contest every year? I saw when you were taking pictures with that huge lens. How can you hold it steady without a tripod? I can't even hold binoculars steady! How did you get picked to be part of the documentary? I bet it was a lot of fun. I found the process of narrowing down the artwork and finally picking a winner was very interesting. It must be nerve wracking waiting to see how they judge your own picture. And next year the 3 brothers will all be competing! I hope you try again next year. How long does it actually take to do your painting? Sorry to pester you with so many questions!


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

Really nice of you guys to watch it, I still haven't seen it to the end except the first time. I do love they put her in the credits at the end as Hallie the Dog. 

Sheri it was on last Wednesday on regular TV it is now available on Amazon to stream or download or whatever the fancy technical method they came up with LOL (beyond me)   My cousin streamed it for us to watch.

How cool Deb I would love to hear about your baby and see pics! They are such wonderful little dogs. I love my Hallie SO much but was afraid to face those back problems again or would have gotten another longhair.

How interesting about the Villager, Rita! I loved mine too. We called it the "Hallie-mobile". Sounds like they last a long time mine lasted over 250,000 miles it was so sad when they hauled it off to the junkyard (I took all of the Hallie decals off first) !

Thanks Jackie (no worries you are not asking too many questions!  )I do enter almost every year, only missed a couple when I had a sick pupper....I wasn't going to enter the year of the documentary because if you win you have to travel a lot the following year and I wouldn't have left Hallie. But then when I was asked to be part of the documentary I had to come up with one fast!

You are right with that big lens, it does have Image Stabilization and I try to get the shutter speed up as high as possible to eliminate camera shake and it does surprisingly well. I have 2 lenses about twice that size that I can hand hold for a few seconds at a time but use a monopod to help or a bean bag out the open car window for support.

When they were looking for people for the documentary, they wanted a well rounded group of characters with an interesting story to tell. They chose 6 and all of us said yes (we all had entered several times before and did well in the judging with our entries in the past) so they didn't have to keep searching. They had me billed as the "crazy dog lady" so they chose me partly for the story with Hallie, and also wanted to have one animal lover in there that would never consider to hunt a duck. Just to round out the group I guess. 
Here is the article from the Seattle Times last week that tells a little more.

How a ?crazy dog lady? in Centralia chased art-world fame and a ?Million Dollar Duck? | The Seattle Times

Many of the artists that enter and I get onto a private chat before and during judging (you can watch it live online) and it is painful to see how nervous and upset some of them get! I feel so bad for them. I have never gotten nervous at all and I'm never disappointed when I don't win. I figure it's just not my time and every year the judges do pick ones very worth of winning and although I've come close a few times, I think the winners were even better. And I try harder the next year. So for me it's not real stressful but some friends of mine have actually thrown up over it! (mostly guys LOL)

Yes I plan to enter again next year. I will spend about a month total this winter traveling and photographing ducks (with my havanese side kick!) it takes me between 100-200 hours to compose and paint my entry which is 7" x 10".

This years competition was just 2 weeks ago (mine did better than I expected, it was one of just a few that got an IN vote from all 5 judges but didn't win in the end which was fine). And 1st and 3rd place were both the Hautman brothers! People think it's rigged but honestly they are SO good they do deserve to win. Here is a photo of Joe Hautman holding Hallie at the judging one year (Hallie was the only dog to ever attend the judging). About 10 min after this it was announced that he had won!


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Thanks for all the details, Dee Dee! I love reading it all, and getting a bit of a taste of it. You are a super good sport, too, and so very honest and humble!

I don't have Amazon Prime, or know anything about streaming (or whatever,) either. I will just hope I come across it somehow, somewhere.

Hallie was a tiny little girl, wasn't she?!?!


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

I would love to watch the documentary. Hallie looks like a precious little girl.


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## katscleancutdogs (May 18, 2016)

I too am trying to figure out how to watch. I have a Roku and it has Amazon.. and then I am lost. I think I may need to pay something somehow  I will eventually figure it out. 
Hallie was a beautiful black and tan I love dachshunds but am very nervous about their backs, especially since I am entrusted with them only temporarily. They are so regal.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

I agree Kats that is the reason I didn't get another doxie, the back issues are so awful and so rampant! They say 25% of doxies will get disc issues but my experience with people I know it seems much higher. Both my Hallie and Jessie had back problems even though I was ridiculously careful with them. It's so sad for the poor dogs! Some neurology clinics 80% of their clients are dachshunds.  

Thanks Heather as we all do, it's still hard to believe she is gone especially after seeing the documentary again.

Sheri she looks small there doesn't she and she was but she was about 3 lbs heavier than Sophie (and she was thin) so not as small as she looks in this pic I don't think. My doxie before her, Jessie, was a standard and was 24 lbs slim. And then there was my Fred..who weighed 50 lbs more than I did lol. (Great Dane).


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## MarinaGirl (Mar 25, 2012)

You can rent ($4.99) or buy ($7.99) "The Million Dollar Duck" on Amazon Video (streaming online video).






Once you've made your purchase, you have a variety of options to stream/view the documentary; PC/Xbox, Mac, Tablet, Smartphone, Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, or TiVo. I purchased it and watched it on my iPhone and then watched it a second time on my TV with Amazon Fire Stick.

Compatible Apple mobile devices are iPad, iPhone, and iPod.

Enjoy!


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

JUST got around to watching the documentary On Demand and loved it! I had to giggle though...yours was the only familiar face I expected to see, but I also know Rob and was totally surprised to see him. We are regulars at the art museum he does security at, so I've seen his face many a time, since I was in grade school. Too funny.


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

Sophie that is nuts! What a small world!!!!! I love Rob he's a great guy.


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