Wesley Williams’ dogs know how to do those simple tricks — sit, rollover, stay, as well as do a backflip and walk a high wire.
That’s just a glimpse of what the audience will see when the Park City Institute and Nuzzles & Co. present The Puppy Pals on Saturday at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts.
The three furry performers of the night will be a toy poodle named Cash, a standard poodle who goes by the name of Rudy and a poodle mix known as Gizmo, said Williams, the show’s founder and dog trainer.
“Cash was our first puppy,” said Williams, who started his show business career as a unicyclist. “He came along when I wanted a friend while I was doing my own shows across the country.”
Williams noticed Cash’s knack for tricks while doing some basic dog training during downtime while on the road.
“In my free time, I worked with him in training, and people said I should do something more with him,” he said.
While Williams contemplated how he could incorporate Cash into his show, another friend told him about Rudy.
“You can probably guess what happened next,” Williams said with a laugh. “I got him and started training him as well.”
Gizmo came to Williams a few years later.
“He is a rescue dog from Movaje, California,” he said. “He was aggressive, and no one really wanted him. But we worked with him and found he has great drive and learned he is not scared of anything.”
The Puppy Pals currently has three productions — two permanent ones in Wisconsin and Florida, and the touring show, which will come to Park City.
Training the dogs for the stage takes a lot of care, consideration and love, Williams said.
“People think they can teach their dogs a couple of tricks and then roll out on stage, but it takes us about a year to create a relationship with the dog and train the dog,” he said. “Then it will take another six months just for them to get used to the environments they are in because what we do is not normal for a dog. They go into a theater with sometimes 1,800 to 3,200 screaming people. And there’s music and lights. So it’s a lot.”
When Williams acquires a new dog, he and his staff usually start with the basics — sit and roll over — before going onto bigger stunts.
A few years ago Williams came across a quote that said, “It doesn’t matter what the dog does. It matters how much the dog loves it,” and he has adhered to that piece of advice ever since.
“I always make sure that I don’t do anything that the dogs don’t want to do,” he said. “You have to see what their talents are, and you build a show around them.”
That’s how Gizmo got his spotlight time walking across the highwire, according to Williams.’
“He’s fearless and loves to do backflips, so I decided to see what he would do on a highwire,” he said. “I put him up there, and said, ‘Come on,’ and he walked across it with no problem. And he did it again and again. Now, he knows when it’s time to get up there, and he’s always ready.”
Although Williams won’t be part of the Park City show, due to his commitment as the lead unicyclist with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, he has entrusted his best friend, Kenny Mikey, to host the show.
“Kenny is a longtime friend of mine, and I’ve known him since we were 6 years old,” he said.
“Believe it or not, they both are Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College graduates. They are two great guys who take good care of the dogs, and they will show the audience that the dogs are the real stars of the show.”
The origin of The Puppy Pals reaches back to Williams’ childhood.
“When I was growing up, I was always trying to buy some kind of animal on Craig’s List and things like that,” he said. “We had every animal I could get my hands on, including bunnies and rescue dogs. So, I’ve always had a knack for loving animals.”
As Williams began making it in the business as the rider of the tallest unicycle, a feat recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records, he found he wanted a companion. And that’s when Cash came into his life.
“I just wanted a friend,” he said. “I mean all the dogs we have in the show were just pets.”
The Puppy Pals’ big break came on an episode of America’s Got Talent.
“The producers had scouted me out for my unicycle act, and I was first on the show in 2015,” Williams said. “They asked me to come back in 2020, and I said I would love to have the dogs on the show.”
At first the producers didn’t listen, but after thinking about things, they told Williams the dogs would be great on the show.
“By the end of the competition, I was chopped liver, and the dogs were the stars,” he said with a laugh.
Unlike other similar productions, The Puppy Pals keeps the cast small, which makes it easy for the audience to get to know the performing canines, said Williams.
“We don’t travel with 13 dogs,” he said. “I don’t like that because when you see a show like that, you don’t know which dog did this and which one did that. So, at our show, you will want to meet these dogs after the show because you’ll know their personalities. You will know which one goofed off here and which one goofed off there.”
Williams also knows it’s important to make sure the show doesn’t exploit the dogs.
“At the end of the day we’re just a small family business, and these are just our pets who have special talents,” he said. “I think you will see that in our show because we show only what they want to do. You will also see how much these dogs are loved and how much these dogs like to do these tricks.”