Bill Berloni and his Theatrical Animals

What do the lovable mutt Sandy from the Broadway musical Annie, the two greyhounds from the recent movie Charlie Wilson's War, and a Chihuahua from Legally Blonde The Musical have in common (besides being dogs, of course!)?

All of them were trained by famous animal trainer Bill Berloni.

Berloni has been training animal actors for theater, film and television for over 30 years. But he didn't originally intend to be an animal trainer. He started out as an actor, and when he was just 19, he got his big break on stage - except there was a catch. He had to find and train a dog to play Sandy in the production of Annie, all without spending any money. At the time, animals had never been trained for the stage. Berloni successfully found and trained a mutt to play Sandy, rescuing him from euthanasia, and the rest is history.

Since then, he has trained all sorts of animal stars. One of those stars will be coming to PawsAbilities - Chico, the Chihuahua actor from Legally Blonde The Musical. Chico and Berloni will present their experiences as a canine actor and an animal trainer on the stage. Berloni will also be signing copies of his recent book, Broadway Tails, about the dogs he rescued and trained for show business.

By preordering your copy of Broadway Tails, Susquehanna Service Dogs will give you $2 off the price of one admission ticket to PawsAbilities.

Visit http://www.theatricalanimals.com/ for more information about Bill Berloni and watch Berloni and Chico on the Today Show!