Flying start for the dog lab

And, are you satisfied with the programme? ‘To be honest, I have not seen it yet. This past week has been rather busy. But the recording went without a hitch. Absolutely nothing was staged. There were no retakes; we got everything right first time.’ How did they end up getting in touch with you? ‘They wanted to portray the relationship between people and animals. That’s right up our street. We regularly invite people to bring their dogs and be observed. It fitted in nicely with a test we are currently doing in our new lab.’ So the programme showcased your work perfectly? ‘The dog lab itself is not new, but the space it occupies is. We now have a special facility on campus that’s equipped with cameras and everything we need to observe behaviour. Though actually they came a little bit early. We did the recording in June, before everything was sorted out.’ Is that why some of the material was shot at Rikilt, the Institute of Food Safety? ‘No, they organized the filming at Rikilt themselves. Evidently they thought that building made a more attractive setting. But it was all to the good. Wageningen UR is none too keen on Zodiac’s research facilities being filmed.’