ARUN RATH, HOST:
It's not just big production companies making nature documentaries these days. For years now, people equipped with durable GoPro cameras have been shooting videos from the front of a surfboard or the tip of a ski and posting them online. And starting this week, GoPro made it even easier to attach the camera to your pet. NPR's Tom Dreisbach has the story.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Dude.
TOM DREISBACH, BYLINE: Here's a typical mega-popular YouTube video shot with Go-Pro cameras - guys climbing a desert cliff.
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MAN #1: This is scary man.
DREISBACH: Guy sees precarious looking zip line hundreds of feet above a canyon floor.
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MAN #1: This looks so damn scary.
DREISBACH: But this guy is not going to let this line go unzipped.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Ready?
MAN #1: Yeah, buddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Ready, steady, spaghetti.
DREISBACH: And with the vicarious thrill of YouTube, we can all fly above the canyon together.
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MAN #1: Yeah. That was so scary.
DREISBACH: This type of video is GoPro's bread and butter. From extreme sports like dirt biking -
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Oh my God.
DREISBACH: - To backcountry skiing or urban kayaking.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Woah. That was so rowdy.
DREISBACH: What makes these videos possible are the highly durable, waterproof HD cameras and the mounts which allow people to attach those cameras to a helmet, a ski, a surfboard or a dog.
DREISBACH: The latest mount released this week is called the GoPro Fetch and it was designed by this guy.
JOSH DRUKER: My name is Josh Druker. I'm manager of the advanced mounts group here at GoPro.
DREISBACH: In fact, Druker leads a five person team with basically one job - create cool new ways to attach GoPro cameras to different stuff.
DRUKER: Yes, I have one of the best jobs in the world.
DREISBACH: The idea for a dog mount actually came from GoPro users, who were finding all sorts of ways to record a dog's eye view. So, Druker says the company did a lot of field testing to create an official harness that would fit all shapes and sizes.
DRUKER: It's not just size testing that you're looking for, it's kind of the skeletal structure underneath. Like Dobermans are very angular and narrow, whereas you take something like a Newfoundland and it's very broad and hairy.
DREISBACH: Now Josh Druker is himself not a dog owner.
DRUKER: I am not a dog owner. But I have two kids. I won't say that I put the harness on them.
DREISBACH: But you're not not saying it.
DRUKER: Yeah. There may be some therapy later where this comes up.
DREISBACH: So, kids, dogs, a really friendly cat - this new harness could fit a lot of different stuff - even a pig that surfs.
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KAI HOLT: What's your favorite surf spot? Sandy Beach?
DREISBACH: That's one of GoPro's proudest users, Kai Holt and his surfing pig, Kama.
HOLT: He doesn't even know. (Laughter).
DREISBACH: And while you might not believe there's really a pig that can stand on a surfboard in the Pacific, there it is caught on camera. Tom Dreisbach, NPR News.
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