Pets of Broadway aims to highlight Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional productions while inspiring audiences through positive tales of pet owners in the business. We’ll be sharing the brand’s stories every other Thursday, so check back to read more about your favorite actors and actresses and their amazing animals!
I was doing a show in Texas and Shea was coming to visit me from Los Angeles but we were in a fight. So out of nowhere she showed up with Peanut on her shoulder. Peanut was so small and she was on her shoulder the whole time. She brought her to the cast party and I was like what are you doing? You can’t just spring a dog on me! So I called her monster for the first three months that we were getting to know each other. Then I got really mad because Shea wouldn’t train her so I trained her and became her second mother so now she knows all the tricks and she knows how to behave so that’s the story of peanut. She does jumping through my arms, walk walk walk, lay down and stay. I taught her all the tricks.
The worst part was after me and peanut bonded, Shea told me that they found her in the garbage with her brother and sister. That face! Just image that face but even smaller, in the garbage. Who does that? So she sprung a child on us from the garbage. There were three siblings, no mom, just the puppies. Who would do that? Look at that face!” Shea was window shopping. She wasn’t supposed to get anything. We think that one day we’ll have her genetics done but not right now. She’s like a mix of a terrier. She has hair instead of fur which was a blessing. No shedding. People who are allergic to dogs aren’t as allergic to her.
We travel a lot doing shows but Shea watches her when i’m away and I watch her when she’s away. We did do a show together in Hilton Head last year and she came with us. She’s remarkably quiet until I’m singing something excruciating and then she gets a little nervous. She loves the Blues. Whenever I’m improving at home and screw around with the Blues, she loves it and sits on my lap the whole time. Sometimes when I have guest artists in my shows I’ll have people come over to rehearse. I have a cute picture of Bonnie Mulligan with Peanut on her shoulder while she’s rehearsing. She likes to be involved. She should be a show dog! I couldn’t teach her to stay in the basket. She’d jump out.
Shea’s tap mentor used to call her Peanut all the time so now she put the label on my dog. She is a monster. Especially when she was a kid, she would go in everything, she ran around and went on puppy raids. She’s going to be seven soon. We play all the time so she acts like a puppy still. She pees with her leg up even though she’s a girl but we read somewhere that it’s because she has a lot of confidence. We call her a tomboy a lot. People think she’s a boy.
If Shea is gone and i’m alone with her, we communicate in a weird way that i’m afraid makes me a crazy dog lady. I know how she likes me, what she wants, honestly. I think we speak the same language. Sometimes she’ll come over to me and lick me and I’m like “go see Shea, she’ll take you out!’ and she goes to see Shea.
When she gets scared about the thunder I wish I could explain to her that it’s ok and when I say I’ll be right back I wish she understood that I will be back. I think she has separation anxiety. Sometimes she’ll really cry if one of us is gone. I didn’t want to be a crazy dog lady but I am.
We keep thinking that we’ll bring her to RRRED but we haven’t done that yet. She can be the special guest one night.
Read more Pets of Broadway here!
Become an Insider
