[birds chirping]
- Sharon Page: Who wants to play Frisbees?
[Dash barks in response]
- Go, [snaps fingers] take it!
- Angela Fitzgerald: Sharon Page's love for dogs
started at a young age.
- Sharon: Good boy.
We got our first family dog when I was just two.
[Dash whimpers excitedly]
Even before that,
my first word had been ?doggy.?
I said ?doggy? before I said ?mama.?
[Sharon laughs and claps] Come on, Dash!
I was absolutely enthralled by dogs my entire life.
[Sharon snaps fingers, Dash barks]
- It was that early enthusiasm
that led Sharon down a tricky path.
- Nice catch. [snaps fingers, applauds]
- She decided she wanted to become
an official circus trick dog trainer,
and at the age of twelve, got her first dog.
- The first tricks that I ever taught
were tricks I would never ever recommend anybody teach.
Remember that I was twelve.
[flipping page]
I taught my first dog, a Springer Spaniel,
to jump up and grab cigarettes out of people's mouths
because I really hated smoking.
And I taught him to jump up and bite my wrist
so that I would drop a toy gun.
I thought he'd be great at disarming a criminal someday
[laughs] if I needed him to do that.
I don't recommend that you teach dogs
[laughing] to bite or jump up into people's faces
for their, for their tricks.
- Sharon's dogs have won 113 titles, certificates,
and versatility awards.
She's lived and worked all over the world.
She even competed on the reality show, Turkey's Got Talent.
- We auditioned and got onto season one.
Of the thirty acts that were on for our week,
we won the phone vote
with over a million people called in to vote for us
and went straight to the semi-finals,
where we performed a pirate routine.
- Although Sharon might be the ringmaster,
it's her four-legged stars that steal the show.
[opening doors]
- Sharon: Okay, Dash.
- Meet Dash,
an enthusiastic papillon who loves to entertain.
- Go in your suitcase. [Dash whimpers]
He is the Energizer Bunny of dogs.
Lie down.
Doughnut.
Doughnut, doughnut, doughnut. doughnut, doughnut.
I could literally train him for hours
and he would never give up interest or get bored.
That's all he wants to do is work.
Good boy!
Play the basketball again.
Good boy.
Come on.
Get the phone.
- Dash is one of Sharon's most honored dogs.
- Good hold.
He has the highest titles
in the two governing bodies for the sport of trick dog.
He has a "Trick Dog Champion" title,
and then, he has the "Trick Dog Elite Performer" title.
He's one of only 150 dogs to have the second title
and that's from all of the US and Canada.
- Not to be undone,
Copper joined the act in 2017.
- Copper, jump up.
- Having been rescued from a local shelter in Wisconsin.
- Ready?
Push.
Good girl, push.
She had about a 10-second attention span
and then she was done.
It's okay, come on.
Good girl, come on.
Luckily, she's also the fastest learning dog
I've ever had in my life
and she's also very unusual for a dog.
She can learn to do tricks by watching another dog do them.
- Copper, like Dash, is also a "Trick Dog Elite Performer."
- Copper four in, stay.
- The highest title you can get from the American Kennel Club.
- Copper, jump up.
She's just spectacular.
- Although Sharon, Dash, and Copper
continue to compete at national competitions,
some of their favorite shows
are actually booked a little closer to home.
[applause]
- Who's ready to meet the first dog?
Alright.
- Bringing their circus to local libraries.
[child squeals in delight] - Sharon: They are a blast.
Yes, attaboy.
I grew up in libraries.
So, being able to go do a library show
and get kids enthusiastic about reading
is totally up my alley.
[circus music]
- They even add some theatrics to the tricks.
- So, we did his skit called "Circus Story,"
which is about
a dog that was too little to join the circus.
He applied for a job and they said he was too small.
So, he decided that he would have to work out
and prove to the circus that he was worthy of joining them.
And then, in the end, he becomes a tight rope walker.
Yay! [applause]
- When she started doing these shows,
Sharon didn't know exactly what to expect at first.
- Oops! [laughing]
I thought I was gonna be having to corral toddlers
all the time
and the parents, the librarians,
and the kids themselves
are just so well-mannered
and eager to make the experience fun for everyone.
I can't imagine anything not to like about doing a library show.
And that is the end of our program.
Thank you, guys, for coming.
- For Sharon, dogs have had a huge impact on her life.
Even pushing her to learn a few new tricks of her own.
- Because of dogs,
I've learned how to do so many different things.
I was interested in dog behavior
so I even went back to graduate school to study animal behavior.
- And along the way, forming bonds and relationships
that you just can't teach otherwise.
- No matter how friendly and wonderful
the other people in your life are,
there's something so accepting about a dog.
They're so non-judgmental,
always happy to see you.
[playful music]