Next time your dog is doing something goofy, grab your camera.  It might be worth $2000.

This turned out to be the case for VHS math teacher  Danielle Mutovic, who recently won third  place on an episode of Americas Funniest Home Videos after sending  in a humorous video  of her dog, Betty.   America’s Funniest Home Videos, known to many as AFV, is a reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to submit humorous homemade video with the possibility of winning prizes.

“I would’ve liked to get first place, but I understand,” Mrs. Mutovic said as she shared her thoughts on coming in third place.

It all began when she saw Betty trying to eat the tokens that were displayed on the television during a video game.  Mrs. Mutovic had never seen her dog do this before, and after about thirty seconds of this action, she began to record it.  Her first thought was to send it to her sister, who she knew would find it funny, but when her sister saw the video she thought of an idea.

In February 2011 Mrs. Mutovic’s sister went on the AFV website and uploaded the video. This site is open to anyone who feels as though their video is funny enough to be featured on AFV.  In April of 2011, they received a response, along with contracts requiring the signatures of which Mrs. Mutovic and her sister. They sent them back and  awaited a second response, which wouldn’t come  until September of 2013.

In September 2013 Mrs. Mutovic’s sister received an e-mail from AFV asking to feature their video.  At first, Mrs. Mutovic believed that they would simply just show the video, but shortly after they responded she received a call from AFV requesting them to fly to Los Angeles to be in the show. Their video had been chosen for the top three most humorous videos for that episode.  Although this was not her first trip to L.A., Mrs. Mutovic was thrilled to go to L.A. with someone else paying for it.  She and her sister’s trip was all-inclusive.  The show paid for flight expenses, hotel, and even gave them some extra spending money for food.

She was told by the show’s producers to dress in business casual clothes, but also to bring a backup dress in case the colors did not work with the camera. Mrs. Mutovic shared that the show was completely in the moment and nothing was staged.  She was told when to wave to the camera, but other than that, the reaction of people to the videos and to the contest results were all real.  She said there was only one take of the whole episode, which appeared on television a month later.

Mrs. Mutovic concludes that “it was such an exciting experience and I can’t wait to spend all my money on Christmas shopping.”