Celebrity rescue dogs are coming to Wichita

Two rescue dogs with some celebrity status — having impersonated “America’s Got Talent” judges Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara on NBC’s competition show last year — are coming to Wichita with a pack of other adopted dogs to dance, dive and jump during a series of shows June 16-19.

The Canine Stars will perform 13 shows at Exploration Place’s Festival Plaza, an outdoor space adjacent to the science center. Each show will last about 30 minutes, followed by a 15-minute or so meet-and-greet. Tickets are $8, with discounts available.

The shows are part of Exploration Place’s focus on dogs this summer, with the traveling exhibition “Dogs! A Science Tale” and the IMAX film “Superpower Dogs.”

Opal, a pit bull mix who appeared as Bow Wowie Mandel on the team’s two appearances on “American’s Got Talent,” is The Canine Stars’ most famous entertainer, said Kera Caraher, who co-founded the Fort Collins, Colorado-based dog entertainment company with partner Ethan Wilhelm in 2012.

Opal has also appeared on Nickelodeon’s “Unleashed,” another reality competition, where she won top honors.

Besides the 12 dogs owned and trained by Caraher and Wilhelm, The Canine Stars include nearly 30 trainers and their dogs from across the country who tour as part of three show teams. The team Caraher leads, for example, will have been in Pennsylvania for a weeklong training camp before it comes to Wichita and then heads on to Los Angeles for a major dog festival there.

Nearly all of the dogs are rescues, Caraher said.

“But it didn’t used to be that way,” she said.

Before Caraher and Wilhelm formed The Canine Stars, they had toured the country as part of competition teams, using dogs purchased from breeders.

“As we were competing, we learned … about how many homeless dogs are out there. And so we really wanted to help solve the problem of homeless dogs by adopting all of our feature dogs. When we perform with them, we definitely promote that they’ve been rescued to show everybody that, hey, you can get any stray dog off the street or from a shelter and figure out their potential to compete in dog sports and start training.”

Training is based on each dog’s personality, characteristics and motivations, Caraher said.

“We meet the dog, see what they like to do, encourage more of that and turn it into a trick,” she said. “Really bouncy dogs might be good for high jumping. Dogs who like toys might be better suited for Frisbee.”

When she rescued Opal, a stray that ended up in a Florida shelter, Caraher noticed she liked to do a pose called sit pretty. That’s when a dog sits upright on its back legs while its front legs are in a curled position. She was also very food-motivated, rather than toy-motivated. In the touring show, Opal does more of the dancing tricks and stunts.

One act that is a fan favorite is the dock diving. Think of it as a long jump for dogs but instead of jumping into a sand pit, they glide across and land in a 35,000-gallon pool of water. The roof of the team’s traveling trailer serves as the dock to give the dogs a running leap.

Student trainers, who have participated in the virtual dog training program offered by The Canine Stars, also get the chance to tour.

Megan Fox, a teenage student trainer from North Carolina whose “gorgeous boy” Sawyer appeared as Sofurry Vergara on the NBC show, is part of the team coming to Wichita, Caraher said.

The student training program, which includes participants from other countries, and the “America’s Got Talent” appearances were both motivated by the COVID pandemic and the group’s inability to tour, Caraher said.

Of the two videotaped proposals, AGT producers liked the idea of having the dogs impersonate the four judges.

“They really wanted something different than the usual dog tricks that have been on before.”

Using specially designed chairs to hide the human trainers who provided arm gestures, the dressed-up dog impersonators bantered and critiqued the performing trainers and dogs using voiceovers of the respective judges

The Canine Shows’ two appearances on AGT — a taped audition show broadcast in June 2021 and a live show two months later —have led to the busiest touring season ever for the dog entertainment company, Caraher said. It’s also led to the creation of more theatrical-type shows featuring storylines.

“I’m not going to be home again until December — and I left a month and a half ago,” Caraher said.

The Canine Stars entertainment shows

When: 10 a.m., 1 p.m. 3 p.m. daily Thursday, June 16-Sunday, June 19, with an additional 6 p.m. show June 16

Where: Exploration Place campus, 300 N. McLean

Admission: $8 ages 12-64, $7 ages 3-11 and 65+, $7 for Exploration Place members, free for ages 2 and under if sitting on an adult’s lap

More information: 316-660-0600 or exploration.org

This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 3:14 AM.