Live on the Plaza at Rockefeller Center Research Associate's Dog Vies for Talented-Pet Honors

By: Jamie Creamer

On a list of dog breeds that are most amenable to training, the
Irish terrier ranks low.
Fifty-third, in fact.

But Anne Wiley has defied the odds. The research associate in the College of Agriculture's Department of Animal Sciences has trained her two Irish terriers–Guinness, 6, and Murphy, 3–to perform an amazing repertoire of tricks, from playing dead to dunking baskets to perhaps their most advanced trick: stacking, in order, the colored rings on a Fisher Price classic ring stacker toy for toddlers.

That's the feat that so caught the attention of NBC's Today Show producers, they chose Murphy as one of only six finalists in the show's first "America's Most Talented Pet" contest and flew Murphy and her owner/trainer to New York in late March to compete before a live television audience.

Unfortunately, the distractions on the plaza at Rockefeller Center–distractions that included a loud and boisterous crowd, a plethora of camera operators and crew members darting all around and a rambunctious horse that was a fellow finalist in the contest–got the best of Murphy. She was too wound up to even think about performing.

In the end, another canine contestant–one that did acrobatic tricks–claimed the coveted "Most Talented" title.

"The experience was absolutely wonderful, though," says Wiley of her first-ever visit to New York. "The people were all fantastic, and to see what all goes into that kind of production seven days a week was amazing."

Wiley probably would not have considered entering the Today Show contest had she not heard about it shortly after learning that Animal Planet's Funniest Animals show planned to air a video recording Wiley had sent in of Guinness doing the ring-stacking thing.

When a friend told her about the "America's Most Talented Pet" contest, Wiley figured, hey, what the heck, and sent in a video of a ring-stacking Murphy, along with a required 25-words-or-less entry stating why Murphy deserved to be a finalist for that title.

"My special Murphy spins, flips, plays dead, weaves, scratches, dunks," Wiley's entry read. "But best of all, she saved Guinness's life when he was bitten by a rattlesnake."

That last line's what clinched Murphy a spot as a finalist.

Murphy was just a pup when the snakebite incident occurred, Wiley says. The two dogs were out in the back yard one day when Wiley and her husband, AU animal sciences professor Skip Bartol, suddenly realized that Murphy was out there barking incessantly–a shrill, urgent little bark–and that Guinness was strangely silent. Wiley and Bartol ran outside, where they found a highly agitated Murphy running circles around an alarmingly still Guinness. Then they heard that distinct, bone-chilling rattle of the snake.

They raced Guinness to the AU College of Veterinary Medicine, where emergency personnel sprang into action and pulled Guinness through.

"But five more minutes, and he wouldn't have made it," Wiley says. "Murphy saved his life."

Here in the U.S., Irish terriers are an uncommon breed. In fact, Bartol says, there are fewer than a thousand of them. Wiley got Guinness and Murphy from a Canadian breeder. The two have the same grandfather.

Given the breed's resistance to training, Wiley has worked wonders with her two terriers.

"These dogs are highly intelligent, but they were bred to be extremely independent, and it takes an unbelievable amount of time and energy to train them," says Wiley, who works intently with Guinness and Murphy every single day. "It's like they're always asking, ‘What's in this for me? If I do what you want me to do, what am I going to get out of it?'"

The Today Show says it's going to make the competition an annual event, but Wiley says she has no plans to enter her dogs again.

"I wouldn't take anything in the world for the experience," she says, "but things there were just too busy, and too noisy–and there was far too much concrete."

That latter was a problem because Murphy will only "do her business" on grass. By the time the show was over, the little dog's bladder was about to burst.

"They had a limo to take us back to the hotel, but the nearest grass was at Central Park," Bartol says. "So here we were, in a limo, making a pit stop at Central Park so our dog could pee."

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