A four-legged YouTube star

Have you seen the YouTube videos of Ginger, the Golden Retriever who appears to eat with her “hands”? If so, you’re not alone. The four videos of Ginger—enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the video above, enjoying happy hour, eating some sushi and indulging in a late-night snack—have together drawn millions of hits on YouTube, not to mention a recent shout-out on Jay Leno’s late-night show.

But what you may not know is that Ginger’s videos are filmed not in Hollywood by professionals, but in southeastern Michigan by her family: Scott and Barb Withers and their three sons. Scott is a marketing and communications specialist at an architectural design firm; Barb is a project manager at General Electric; and the three boys are aged 9 through 15. Ginger is a four-year-old Golden whom Barb Withers says “actually isn’t well trained.” (We think she's better trained than Barb realizes.)

The entire family participates in the filming. “I’m Ginger’s hands,” says Barb. “Scott films, our sons are set assistants and extras. Scott does the post editing [and] music selection and [I] critique him!”

The first and most-viewed video—“Breakfast with Ginger," as seen above—took less than an hour from initial concept to YouTube upload. “We had seen a very funny similar video on YouTube and I joked with our 9-year-old son that we should try to do one with Ginger,” says Barb. “We grabbed a few items, threw my robe on Ginger and gave it a try. The whole filming took about 30 minutes. Scott edited it using iMovie … [and] we filmed it with a flip video camera. The editing was very minor and really just consisted of adding the piano music from iMovie and a laugh track also from iMovie.”

If, as Barb says, Ginger’s not all that well trained, what accounts for her thespian talents? According to Barb, it’s all about food. “When we film the Ginger videos, I’m the hands and Ginger just patiently waits for me to feed her.”

Are more Ginger videos in the offing? According to Barb, the answer is a resounding yes. “We have ideas for several videos and have done some practice runs with Ginger. We are trying to have her do some things other than eating. We hope to have at least two new ones up by the end of August.” Stay tuned!

And meanwhile, if Ginger’s example makes you long for a Golden Retriever for yourself (we can attest personally to what great dogs they are), check out the website for Golden Retriever Rescue, Education and Training, otherwise known as GRREAT. This hard-working group of volunteers rescues and rehabilitates Golden Retrievers who’ve lost their homes and adopts them out to loving families in the greater DC area, including northern Virginia. Check out their adoption page, where you could well find your new best friend.