Austin Dog Boarding

SPRING/SUMMER 2010

Training a Dog for Stage

Sandy’s story began  a few weeks before she was rescued and found a safe haven with Joyce who was her foster/trainer and it did not take long for Sandy to steal her foster mom/trainers heart!  Sandy was found sleeping on a front porch early one morning in February in a small town north of Austin.  The resident of the home asked around the neighborhood to see where she might belong.  Everyone said they hadn’t seen her before and didn’t know who she belong to.  Soon the decision was made to take her to the local shelter in hopes her family would find her.  Weeks passed and no one came.

In early April, I contacted several shelters I work with as the Executive Director of Austin Dog Rescue telling them I was looking for a very special dog and gave them a brief description of what I was looking for.  As you all know, the shelters are overrun with dogs needing a home, but the dog I was looking for not only had to look a certain way but also have a great temperament as well.

One shelter contacted me and said they thought they had the perfect dog.  I made arrangements to go meet and evaluate this dog and was excited at the prospect.  It was a dog that would be considered a “senior dog” at the age of 8 and could not think of a better way to let people see that the older dogs still have so much to offer a family.  

Though the dog was adorable and would have looked the part, after spending some time with him, it became clear that he was not the dog I was looking for.  As I was sitting and observing him, I kept hearing a noise like gravel being ran on and a dog barking in the background.  Going to shelters all the time I was use to that and for the longest time ignored it.  But finally I thought to myself “what is the deal with that dog!” I turned around to see this big, gangly, fuzzy faced dog barking and litterally jumping and dancing in the air as if saying  “me.. me… look at me! what about ME!”  I turned to the shelter employee and said… “That’s the dog I want!”  Sandy made her stage debut in the summer of 2010 in Ziliker's Hillside Theater play “Annie” and was featured in Haute Dog Magazine..  When she came from the shelter she had no idea what she was in for but as a rescuer and trainer, I knew it was something a lot better than where she came from.

I worked with Sandy every day, seven days a week, three  times a day from April through August, to prepared her for her nightly performance as "Sandy" the homeless dog"  It wasn't such a stretch knowing her humble beginnings.She also had plenty of time off to play with my dogs and just be a dog!  Her other foster mom Susan would take her on outings on the weekends to make sure she was highly socialized and had time to relax.

Sandy learned several commands and a lot of hand cues because all of her work on stage involved following direction from "Annie" while on stage and from me off stage.  The biggest challenge training a dog for stage work is working with the high destractions that are everywhere.  She had rehearsal several time a week for three weeks and then was on stage 4 nights a week for six weeks.  She truly enjoyed the attention from the actors during her downtime and the photo ops and pettting she recieved from the audience each night. She made it through the entire 6 weeks of the play without missing a cue or being distracted... that is until the next to the last show... she decided to run off stage and visit with the front row of the audience!  But I nor anyone else could fault her because she had been picture perfect in all of her scenes and after all... she was a happy dog that loved everybody and just wanted to add a little excitement to the play!

Sandy found a wonderful forever home after the play was over and I get frequent updates and photos from her family.

Rehearsal                                                               On Stage with "Annie"

Sandy taking her nightly bow