I’d like to think my dog can sit-and-stay with the best of them, but when you compare my somewhat talented golden retriever to the stars of “Puppy Pals Live” — a dog stunt show playing at the Norris Theater on April 18 and 19 — he’s not even warm-up act material.
An unfalteringly adorable spectacle that made it to the quarter-finals of “America’s Got Talent” in 2020, the 90-minute “Puppy Pals Live” stars a sextet of rescue dogs doing a whole doggie kaboodle of tricks. We’re talking everything from backflips and climbing ladders to jumping rope and driving cars.
Bet your dog can’t do that.
The show is hosted by Wesley Williams, a record-setting unicycler (he just finished a tour with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus) and longtime dog trainer who created the show in 2018 and has been running “Puppy Pals Live” tours across the country ever since.
Naturally, I had questions (like, could my dog do any of that??), so I sat down with Williams by phone. Here’s what he said:
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One of the dogs who stars in the show “Puppy Pals Live” jumps through the air. (Courtesy photo)
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One of the dogs who stars in the show “Puppy Pals Live” jumps through the air. (Courtesy photo)
Q: It’s been a year since “Puppy Pals Live” performed in Palos Verdes Peninsula. Is there anything different about the show this year?
A: Yes, absolutely — we’re always evolving. The show has changed a little bit and there are some new acts. We also have a new dog; his name is Chip. He’s a terrier, and he’s a little spitfire. And we’ll have another new dog, Dolly, making her debut during this show. She’s a mini Australian shepherd. And possibly a little dog named Oscar, who’s a schnauzer.
Q: Are all the dogs rescues?
A: Yes, they all are rescues. What’s cool about the show is that they come from all over: Dolly’s from Tennessee, Gizmo is from California, Rudy is from Wisconsin, Cash is from Colorado and Oscar is from Florida.
Q: Did you get them all as puppies?
A: Not every single one of them.
Q: So you can teach an old dog new tricks?
A: Absolutely. I mean, you can teach any dog a trick. You just have to find what motivates them and what makes them excited. I think that’s what makes our show different from others– our dogs are all super happy and love what they do.
Q: How can you tell which dogs are going to be a good fit for the show?
A: Believe it or not, the troublemakers always make great shows. They’re a little bit smarter than the rest because they think about things more. I love a good troublemaker.
Q: How do the dogs travel?
A: We travel with a truck and trailer. Half of it is built out for them in the front, kind of like a mobile green room. They travel like stars — they jump right up in the truck. They know what’s going on.
Q: That must be interesting when you check into a hotel.
A: It’s definitely mayhem all the time. If the hotel takes them, they go in the hotel with us. That’s one reason we keep the number of dogs in the show kind of low instead of having, like, 14 dogs. If the hotel doesn’t allow pets, the trailer is built for them. We have mobile power that we can just switch on a button, and they have air conditioning, lights, everything. We’re kind of built for whatever life throws at us.
Q: Are they all your dogs?
A: They’re all mine. I just bought my first house, and my most important requirement was that there be a huge backyard.
Q: What happens if a dog isn’t in the mood to do tricks on show night?
A: If a dog isn’t feeling right, or for instance, he has a nail that’s pulled and it’s bleeding or something, the dog just doesn’t do the show. We adjust the show.
Q: What’s the most off-task thing a dog has done during a show?
A: We have a dog named Spark. He doesn’t travel on the road with us. We were doing a part where we talk about the dogs and their stories, and suddenly Spark just turned around and walked off the stage. He came back with the entire bag of dog treats in his mouth and proceeded to shake it all over the place, all over the stage. The audience loved it.
Q: I guess that’s live theater.
A: That’s the fun thing about working with dogs. These dogs know the show so well, so they’re pretty on-task, but you never know what’s going to happen.
Q: Who’s harder to train: the dogs or the people who work with the dogs?
A: The people, 100%. People are 10 times more difficult to deal with. Dogs are always happy. They bring so much joy; they love what they do. Any day is a great day for a dog.
Q: What’s your favorite part of the show?
A: I love when Gizmo drives the car. It’s one of my favorite parts because he actually knows how to drive it, which is really funny. Everybody expects when they come to a dog show to see the dog jump through a hoop, but I think it’s cool to show them all the other cool things that the dogs can do.
Q: With the dogs’ unpredictability, the show must be a surprise to you every night, right?
A: Yeah, working with dogs, no two shows are the same. I love it. I’ve worked on my own as a performer, I’ve worked in a duo and I’ve worked with dogs — and working with dogs is, by far, the most fun. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the world; they’re just excited to do the show. I think that it inspires everyone to be a little bit more like that
Puppy Pals Live!
When: 7 p.m. April 18, and 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. April 19.
Where: The Norris Theatre, 27570 Norris Center Drive, Rolling Hills Estates.
Tickets: $25 and up.
Information: palosverdesperformingarts.com.
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