Of Mice and Men and Dogs

Took advantage of the break today to watch the last half of the VA Tech win over Miami. Go Hokies!

Now we're back at the Opera House for the evening show in Lexington.

Want to take a minute to talk about the coolest and probably most well-loved member of the cast: Rocky. Pretty amazing story how Rocky made it to the stage.

Rocky is a Belgian malinois, a shepherd that was trained in Europe to be a drug dog and then brought to the US to work. After about 12 years (the higher end of the expected lifespan for the breed) the officer with whom he worked decided to put him to sleep, but a lady who worked with the department offered to take him rather than have him euthanized.

Unfortunately shortly after she took him, Rocky's new owner died suddenly. She had owned Rocky for such a short time that hardly anyone knew she owned him and he was left unattended in her apartment for ten days without food or water. When he was finally discovered he was suffering from malnutrition and subsequently put into foster care to be nursed back to health. That was about six months ago.

When Barter was looking for a dog to go on tour it was important to find one that was older and could play the part without being too overactive on stage. We went through a couple of possible candidates before Rocky was found at the last minute. After a little understandable excitement during rehearsals Rocky quickly got the idea. By the time we opened he was taking the stage like a seasoned pro.

Mollie Slattery is primarily responsible for wrangling Rocky, but the whole cast likes to give him a rub and a pat when we see him. Most of the time he rests in the green room but he does like to wander into the dressing rooms on occasion to be closer to us. He's practically deaf and suffers from arthritis but always seems to have the best disposition. Bottom line is that he seems to like being on tour just as much as we do.