Dom Rodriguez's documentary Fursonas has been released as of May 10, and you can view it online. It gives the viewer a look behind the mask and shows fun, friendship, and yes, struggle in the Furry community, but it's more than that. Here's the summary from the iTunes page:

"Approaching a community filled with so many rumors and
misconceptions is no easy task. ... Fursonas is a whistleblower
film that oscillates between the fantastic and the unusual,
with moments of awe and wonder slapped against harsh
reality. The audience can delight in infiltrating the fun and
sometimes-dark secrets of an escapist group. ... "


Actors:
Boomer The Dog
Freya
Kato
Grix
Diezel Raccoon
Bandit
Skye
Chew Fox
Tom Cat
Varka


Director
Dominic Rodriguez ..."


Official site:

http://www.fursonasdoc.com/


Furry news site Flayrah posted an interview with director Dom, Furry name: Video:

https://www.flayrah.com/6560/interv.....uez-video-wolf


A slick and thorough review of the movie (Not Safe At Work, or for the pups probably):

https://www.inverse.com/article/152.....-furry-culture


"More of an armchair look" says a friend:

http://nypost.com/2016/05/06/inside.....fe-of-a-furry/


iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/f.....s/id1100053923

Might also be available from other distributors if you're not on iTunes.


Youtube review (Tigger warning, Boomer fandom and some negative Uncle Kage sentiment):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws9b6UILXoI

Hope you enjoy, it was fun to be involved in this!

Boomer

My breed that is, Pyrenean Shepherd.

I added some pictures from this past Anthrocon, featuring Tycho and JJ Puppy, and here's a video too, if you don't mind going to Ytube. I don't mind going to YT, except they're a harder to post to than FA. Like a circus Dog, you have to jump through hoops to get things done there. I'm not a movie studio here homie.. ;)

http://youtu.be/67MA-Tq27AA

It's 5 second clips making a 10 minute film, from videos taken over the weekend, showing more of the chaos and it's bristling with the high Fur density that was maintained for that few days, all set to a hard rockin' soundtrack by local Pittsburgh band, RadioActive (Rocks)! RadioActive was recorded last week live by my friend Bruce in the West End at an attention-raiser to save the Historic building, the Old Stone Tavern.

The sountrack was added because the video was mostly car, street and crowd noise, and also I like the band.

Boomer

You've already heard the rumors, and it's true, I'll be on the show, the topic is Animal Obsessed. I guess I'll have to admit it, I am, and others have said so too, which is why I guess it came to the attention of the Doc.

I've posted an article about the animal show and links to find out more about it and what time it will air where you are.

http://boomerthedog.net/blogdog/

I drew a picture of the iconic Hollywood sign on the computer and posted it there too.


Doggy Radio's podcast where Boomer and Ric bark about the Dr. Phil show coming up, hear it right from the muzzle of a Pyrenean Shepherd.

http://boomerthedog.net/radio/

Ric Sheepy's journal about this topic:

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/...../#cid:39312574

Good rundown of today's Dr. Phil show with more details (thanks Zach)

http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/2191




PUPDATE:

---

Dr. Phil has posted the full episode himself now, in case you missed it or want to see it again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU8OxO21fKo

---

Boomer

http://boomerthedog.net/

I like to transform into a Dog, it's one of my passions in life, and since I haven't been able to physically to do it yet, one of the things I do is get into a Dog costume, code named Papey, to at least look like a Dog and get closer. I'm pretty outgoing about it, everyone around me knows me as Boomer The Dog, which helps when I bark at something, then they're not so surprised. This came to the attention of Daniel Tosh, who does a show on Comedy Central, Tosh.0, that features prank videos and takes a laugh at funny things.

They had me on to bark about being a Dog, because some folks cut it down on line, and he wanted to set the record straight in a segment called Web Redemption. Here's the segment recorded from TV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZiQcd2nYhc

A longer and uncensored version of the interview itself:

http://tosh.comedycentral.com/video.....e---uncensored

I promoted the appearance on my AM radio station, 690, in the local area, and held a sign up for passing cars. When they tuned in they heard a looped promotional announcement for the show. Here's a video of Boomer doing that, like Bob Dylan with a sign, that's what I felt like as I did it.. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=890gGb_xAwU

I stood at the main crossroads close to my house, and did see people tuning in. One guy in a Jeep asked 'Why should I tune it in?' All I could do was bark.. :) I get the idea that some might have felt it was a promotion for the radio station itself, or something commercial having to do with a store and items for sale, since people more commonly hold signs up for things like that.

Cujos for those who got it, it was a promo for the actual Dog who was holding the sign, What Boomer was up to! The loop was 30 seconds of me barking about the appearance, and 30 seconds of my friend DJ Beta promoting it too, it sounded better to have more voices I thought.

My site is http://boomerthedog.net

Chow for now and have a Great Dane!

Boomer

I'm going to be appearing on Tosh.0 later today!

Tosh is a real net-head who shows his favorite funny videos, and has internet celebrities come on the show for a 'web redemption' to explain themselves to fans and have a little fun. This should be a more lighthearted take on my story compared to some of the documentaries that have been done, so if you like comedy, check it out.

Tosh is on Comedy Central at 10 pm Tuesdays, and here's a preview of my segment:

http://tosh.comedycentral.com/video.....boomer-the-dog

Hope you watch, and let me know how you like it!

Boomer

Animal Radio did an interview with me about being a Dog! It's a pet show, covering all kinds of different things in the world of animals each week. They have a podcast, and the other thing that's cool to me is they have a network of terrierestrial radio stations on AM and FM too that carry the show.

http://animalradio.com/

More in depth details on the show:

http://animalradio.com/122113.html

If you're looking at this post after one week, then the story will be archived at the second page.

Here's a list of local stations, see if your city is covered, and listen on classic, real radio! If not, I believe that all countries can hear the podcast, 32k talk quality mp3.

http://animalradio.com/stations.html

I get a kick out of how they write 'MARKeting your territory', I've been writing like that for years, and Furries do it all the time, like adding 'fur-' to words. It's fursploitation, I bark to you!.. :)

---

From their page

---

About Animal Radio®

Animal Radio® is America's "most-listened-to" pet show. Over a
350,000 pet-lovers tune-in weekly on 108 AM-FM radio stations
and XM Satellite Radio.

The two-hour celebration of our pets is hosted by veteran
air-talent Hal Abrams and Judy Francis.

The Animal Radio® Family includes Dog Trainer Alan Kabel,
Veterinarian Dr. Debbie, News Director Stacey Cohen, Groomer
Joey Villani, Animal Communicator Joy Turner, Travel Reporter
Susan Sims and a cast of hundreds. Frequent guest-hosts include
the likes of Jenna Fischer (The Office), Glenn Close (Damages)
and Cesar Millan.

Through education and awareness, together we're helping animals
live healthy, happier lives.

---

Boomer

Film students at Point Park College here in Pittsburgh have been working to document the Fur scene, leaning toward the fursuiting end of it, trying to find out what Furries are about behind the masks. Domenic and crew have had the short edit of their film out for a while now, and they are working with the Sprout Fund to take it to the next level and get the full film completed.

"Every summer, Pittsburgh hosts the largest furry convention in the world, known as Anthrocon. Locals are familiar with the display of hundreds of furries in the street, but seldom do they look past their preconceived notions about the fandom. Other documentaries about furries focus on providing an easy answer for the phenomenon. But, Fursonas is more interested in taking a humanistic approach, allowing the subjects to speak for themselves, and the audience to decide for themselves."

I have to agree, that's a refreshing direction, after seeing 'Furries: An Inside Look' documentary recently. It was okay, but just talked to acknowledged Furry leadership, who admittedly do know a lot about the fandom's history, but I thought it told a story along party lines, and didn't capture the excitement of this fuzzy social world we have. Granted, Furries: An Inside Look was recorded at Midwest Furfest, apparently under strict media control, so I guess they did the best with what they had.

Fursonas gets away from the conventions and talks to real Furries one on one in our homes and communities, and that personal approach is really what makes it stand out from the others. Take a look at the pitch film here on their site and see if it's worthy of your vote.

http://video.sproutfund.org/fursonas/

Boomer

A heads up for my buddies who are following my name change and media sightings, there are a couple of new articles just out, from the Daily Mail and
Huffington post.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art.....essed-dog.html

They have it that I roam through Pittsburgh, and it's true, I like to explore the woods and have hiked all over the place, though it's mostly the streets in my
costume. I was cracking up over the comments, funnier than other sites, more clever than Youtube posts tend to be.

This one seems to be a spawn of the Daily Mail article, and the author has expanded on a few things. There's Papey, my costume, some of my plush Dogs, Dog
house and drawings.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/.....n_4151944.html

Boomer

Woof woof, I'm so excited! I took part in a segment for the National Geographic documentary series Taboo about Secret Passions, and how I'm a Dog.

http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.c.....oomer-the-dog/

The first airing was last week, but some Furs have said they missed it. The good news is the episode appears to be scheduled again tonight Tuesday June 11 at 6 pm Eastern time in North America. If you miss it again, look for it on the schedule at NatGeo's site.

There's more background on the filming and my thoughts on it at my site http://boomerthedog.net , with links to the schedule for the show if you're interested..

Have fun watching, it was a lot of fun to do, and I hope that comes through, woof!

Boomer

Finally it's here, the appeal date on my name change, Wednesday the
30th. I had tried to change my given name to Boomer The Dog last August,
but the court denied the change, saying it would cause confusion in the
marketplace and with emergency services if I had that name. The court
also said that they didn't want the change because they think I'm not a
Dog.. ;)

I think that my arguments are solid, but this is court, so anything can
happen it seems. Hopefully this case will help any Furries who feel
passionate about their names and identities to become what they desire.

Yes, I do think that a name can be an important part of what you are. I
got a letter from someone local in Pittsburgh who hoped that I realized
that a name wasn't an identity. I barked that yeah, it isn't everything,
but it's a part of the whole picture, and with me it's a big part of my
personality too. Boomer The Dog is my calling card, a description, and
what I am to many others, as well as the identity I've grown into and
become.

I was Boomer The Dog on my radio show in high school, with all of my
friends and in the community. When I signed on the net for the first
time in 1997, it was the first and only name that I've gone by ever
since then on line, something I don't even have to think about. With
being Boomer so much, it got to the point that it was silly NOT to go to
court and ask for the change.

A Fur friend asked why I had to go to court, and why not just use my
Furry name when with Furries, and my given name in other places, 'like
the rest of us'. If someone has to ask that, they just don't understand
what this is about, and how deep the meaning is. It's about way more
than a Furry identity to me!

Boomer The Dog

Replying to posts on another of my journals here got me thinking about the kind of creatures I like now and how that's grown since I started to think about furry types.

I like the whole range of anthros, ones that are non anthro looking to ones that look all Human and act like animals. My tastes change with time too, like I'll see a new picture or a movie that inspires me and I'll be off in a new direction for a while.

I think the anthro and transformation for me is about the wonderful conflict in the mixing. You are animal and Human, with a totally different perspective on things.

My preference had always been the non-anthro in looks, looking like a full Dog, and no one could tell the difference, but having a mind like I do now. That idea probably came from The Shaggy DA, because that's the movie that started all of this for me.

Standard anthro creatures like puppy Furries are great, and Dog behavior in full Humans is good too, like in Dogmatic and Finn On The Fly, with the Border Collie who turned into a Human.

I've thought of cartoon anthros before, but not nearly as much as the real life ones. I'm really about more about that mix and what it could mean in real life.

Boomer

I don't think that anyone knows what Furry really is. Here's what I wrote on one of my bios today, "I'm in the Furry scene, which is a fandom for people who like animal characters." I think that's what we could do, instead of trying to explain it all and have it get fractally more complex, is go opposite and get really simple.

Some things work woof better that way, like you know the retro TV show Six Million Dollar Man with Bionic Steve. He could run faster than a Cheetah, and yet on camera they used the simple trick of having him run in slow motion. Same with the movie Chomps where a robot Dog did it. It seems silly, but they could give the feeling of incredible speed that way.

Maybe some Furs feel left out if their interests aren't included in any description. That's a tough one, because most I guess want to put themselves out there, be who they are and connect with others like them, and show something new to others who don't share their interests, to broadcast and inform.

That's why I think a simple description of Furry is best. Tell what it is, then add a the description of what you are in Furry, kind of like the Fur codes that they used to have. Realize that anything after the simple description is totally individualistic. What Furry means to each Fur is such a personal thing, so it's probably better not to agree on much of anything except that we're here for the animal characters.

As for the site, I didn't join it earlier because I didn't know what it was at first. I had heard of it, but I thought it was just another Fur site starting up. That was confirmed when the first pictures I saw on it were phonographic.

What's the fascination here, I was thinking, haven't they already seen pictures like this when they found their dad's Hustler magazine under the car seat, and then got over it a couple of times later?

What is this thing, this penus? It's only a few square inches of meat that sticks out like a sore thumb, with a hole in it, what's so exciting about such a tiny little area, when we have bigger things like the chair you're sitting on, the room that you are in on that chair, the house that the room is in, the street that the house is on, the city that the street is on, the country that the city is in, the planet that the country is in, the solar system, the galaxy, the universe!

What is the big importance then, of this tiny little thing, this penus. Aren't Furries supposed to be close to Sci-Fi, thinking big, about new and different things, and here all it comes back to is this tiny little thing, with a hole.

Maybe that hole represents the unknown, and often the unknown is feared, and that's where the tension lies, and that makes it exciting.

What is this thing, this penus, tiny, sticking out and given such a high value for its size, like a diamond. Diamonds are just clear carbon, very common and yet people worship them, because we are taught that we should, right? Why worship a body part, or a diamond, both are interesting in perspective, and only a lifestyle to professionals, right, scientist is into the diamond, and a doctor likes the penus, right?

I must excuse myself, then, by barking, '..but to each their own.'

Boomer The Dog

When I was at conventions, I kept getting "What's your fur affinity?" and I'd bark, "Oh I like Dogs, tails that wag, and thick fur in a double coat with a lot of shagginess to it, and shaggy bangs around sparkling eyes, round wet nose in a heart shape, and a big happy fuzzy smile, with a tail that wags, poofy padded paws, that's what I like, and it's only a very small part of it.

I'm also a Dog, a Pyrenean Shepherd, like if you know the Here's Boomer show? I look just like that Dog. I watched that show.. and somehow that Dog became the hero for my life, and meant a lot.

Since I felt like the TV Boomer and as a tribute to his coolness I took the name Boomer The Dog. Now it's what I am, it has been for a long time, and now I have a Dog costume I wear, maybe you've seen me, the paper Dog? Well anyway I have that, and I wear this collar with a tag, see it says Boomer The Dog, and I wear puppy ears, and I carry Squeaky with me all the time.

Really it's the biggest part of my life, to be a Dog. People will say 'Why don't you go back and find yourself as a Human being again, have a family and realize that there are other perspectives in life?' Well, that's fine, but I think that I was just chosen to do something else, and I don't know why, just like I don't know why I'm a Dog exactly.".................

The explanation satisfies my convention friend every time, that's what my fur affinity is, because they have no more questions, and in fact the one who asked that question has disappeared. Another satisfied customer.

Boomer The Dog

I want to start with one of my favorite quotes from Jim Morrison, late vocalist and poet from The Doors, and also a philosopher. My friend Kim turned me on to Jim and The Doors when we rode the bus to school, and she was into everything about them. I would visit Kim and she'd play his albums and videos for us.

This quote wouldn't fit on my home page here, due to their Twitter-length text entry field, so here it is now, the opener.

"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first."
— Jim Morrison

Boomer The Dog