When animal trainer Joel Slaven first got asked to train dogs for the upcoming 101 Dalmatians musical, he refused, remembering the frenzy of people running out to buy a dalmatian following the release of the Disney movie, and the ensuing flood of dalmatians showing up in shelters. However, after talking to the producers about the sponsor, Purina Puppy Chow’s, desire to use rescue dogs, he changed his mind.
“We realized it was an opportunity to turn this thing around, and instead of promoting people going out and buying dalmatians for pets, we could actually educate the public on what they need to do if they’re going to get any dog for a pet,” says Slaven. (A note slipped into each Playbill distributed to audience members will explain the health-related issues, as well as the time, expense and space required to care for a dalmatian.)
Slaven and his team travelled the country visiting shelters to find the 15 perfect dogs to rescue and train to take stage at the end of Act 1 as well as during the show’s finale.
It seems like a neat production! All human characters on stage will be walking on 15 inch stilts and the set is designed to look like life would from a dog’s perspective.
Source: PeoplePets.com
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What happens to the dogs at the end of the play’s run????? They just get dumped back into shelters again??
Good question! Here is how the show producers answer it:
At the end of the tour, which is slated to run through at least June 2010, the 15 dogs will need to find permanent owners. But if that doesn’t happen, don’t worry: Slaven, who already has two yellow Labrador retrievers, will bring back any dogs who can’t find homes to his ranch.