By Patricia Platt

If your idea of a celebrity sighting is petting Toto (The Wiz), Sandy (Annie) or Bruiser (Legally Blonde)—or if you’re simply interested in how dogs are trained to act in Broadway shows—head to the Norfolk Music Festival’s open house at the Art Barn on Sunday, Aug. 6, at 3 p.m., for “Broadway Tails.”Tony Award winner Bill Berloni, Broadway’s leading animal trainer, will bring several dogs and share stories about how he finds rescue dogs and turns them into canine super stars by using positive training.

Sandy, the first dog to play a character in a live theatrical event on Broadway, did it successfully for seven years and never missed a performance, said Berloni. In fact, the only time he went off-cue was when a guest conductor used a white-tipped baton, which Sandy apparently found odd. At first, recounted Berloni, the dog just stared at the baton, which the audience found funny. Then, he quietly barked to each beat while Annie sang “Tomorrow.” By the end of the song, the audience was cheering. That situation was never repeated, but Sandy did correctly follow 13 cues in each performance that included staying with Annie, standing up on hind legs to put his feet on her shoulders and stopping in the middle of the stage during certain dialog. As Berloni explained, “The whole secret was in making him so happy to do his actions that he didn’t get distracted by the audience. He was focused on the affection of his main actor, getting secret treats and repeating behaviors that quickly became familiar patterns.”

Berloni is an advocate for animal welfare and is affiliated with the Humane Society of New York, where his Sandy Fund has raised donations for many years. He still finds all his dogs at animal shelters. “The sad thing,” he said, “is that we never have a hard time finding dogs there.” He promotes rescuing animals and loves to tell about his own rescues, including the 20 dogs, three cats, two donkeys, two geese, one horse and a pig that live at his farm in central Connecticut. Berloni added, “If a six- or seven-year-old child sits through my presentation and, at the end, gets to pet Sandy and says, ‘I want a dog like that,’ then I’ve achieved my goal.”