Rescued dog has role in Virginia Beach school play

VIRGINIA BEACH

In three months, Sandy has made the leap from animal shelter castaway to the musical stage. The 2-year-old Lab mix landed a supporting role in the Kellam High School production of the Broadway classic "Annie."

Now, maybe a real-life Annie, or an Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks, will come forward and give her a permanent home - and her life story, like the one onstage, will have a happy ending.

Life wasn't always so heady for Sandy.

Several months ago, she was up for adoption at the Virginia Beach Animal Care and Adoption Center.

When Kellam drama teacher Tammy Smith announced that "Annie" would be the school's spring musical, Jon Joyce, a 1990 Kellam graduate who volunteers with the drama department, suggested adopting a dog from a local shelter to train for the play.

Smith liked the idea, and the search began in November.

Joyce, an animal trainer with Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, visited multiple shelters to look for a dog that was sandy-colored and could be trained quickly.

He stumbled upon Sandy while on the way to fill out adoption papers for another dog at the Virginia Beach adoption center. Like the dog Joyce was about to adopt, the Lab mix was the right color. But unlike the other dogs in the pound, she was calm- and a quick learner.

"I was able to teach her how to sit in 10 minutes," Joyce said.

Sandy had been picked up as a nameless stray in the Washington Square neighborhood in December, said a spokesman for the center, Wayne Gilbert.

Joyce adopted Sandy for the production in January. Choosing a name was easy.

It's uncommon to have an animal on stage, but often, that animal will be a shelter dog, Joyce said. The dog who starred as Annie's faithful sidekick in the musical's original Broadway production in the 1970s had been abused as a puppy and almost put to death at a pound before starring in the show, according to a New York Times obituary. 

Training Sandy has been a learning experience for Joyce and the four students involved.

Sandy was trained in a classroom at the school three hours a day, five days a week.

She was taught by using positive reinforcement. One of Sandy's trainers would tell her to come and ask her to sit or roll. After Sandy would comply, the trainer would say, "OK" to let her know that she had done something right. She would then be given a reward such as a treat or pats on the head.

Sandy's performance was solid during a Tuesday matinee for elementary students. They "awwed" as she ran from one side of the stage to the other. The attention didn't seem to faze her.

Joyce said Sandy knows there's an audience beyond the footlights but was trained to not let it excite her. For the past three weeks, the production team has sat in the auditorium and pretended to be an audience by laughing and cheering while Sandy performed.

"When she's onstage, she's in work mode," Joyce said.

During the performance, trainers were off-stage, in the wings,so Sandy could see their commands. And junior Madeline Melnyk, who plays Annie, slipped some dog food to Sandy as a reward for her exemplary performance. 

During her off time, Sandy relaxes in Joyce's Beach home with his other pets: another dog, a cat and seven rats.

Although he adopted and helped train Sandy for the stage, Joyce hopes someone will permanently adopt her. He doesn't have room in his house but will keep Sandy until she finds a home.

Several teachers and students at Kellam have expressed interest in adopting Sandy, but Joyce hasn't yet received any formal requests.

"That's how we want to complete this story: We want to get her adopted," he said. "We want for someone to make her a part of their family like Annie in the play."

Jennifer Jiggetts, (757) 222-5150, jennifer.jiggetts@pilotonline.com