Have you ever been to a theatre to watch a musical? These places are filled with fantastic music, talent, and art. They are also known to have many rules in terms of proper behavior.

Theatre etiquette needs to be observed whenever you are in one.

Loud voices or devices, constant disruptive manner, and being too busy other than watching the musical is considered a no-no in a theatre. Some humans may struggle on this assignment, but one crew of service dogs has shown that pups can also watch a musical the right way.

The Stratford Festival Live Theatre is used to having cheers and applause whenever a musical is conducted in it. But, when the dog crew from K-9 Country Inn Working Service Dogs graced the show “Billy Elliot: The Musical”, the theatre was met with silence.

A group of future service dogs currently trained by Laura MacKenzie showed how dogs should behave in theatres.

As dogs who are trained to assist disabled people, these dogs are expected to stay quiet and silent while sitting beside their owners. As part of their training, Laura brought the dogs to the Stratford Festival Live Theatre to test their abilities.

The musical they attended was run for a total of 162 minutes. For regular dogs, staying still within this length of time is already a huge undertaking. Knowing the nature of dogs, staying still for almost three hours is nearly impossible.

The dogs from the K-9 Country Inn Working Service Dogs are not like any other dogs.

Staying inside a huge theatre with nothing to do but to keep quiet was quite easy for the crowd of service dogs. They all passed the test made by Laura with flying colors.

In their seats, the dogs stayed as silent as possible, listened to the entire musical unfold before their eyes, and gave no reactions to the actors and the loud sounds. They were calm and focused on fulfilling their future roles.

The well-behaved pups had to undergo this training to prepare them fully when they meet their needs and assist their owners.

The live musical show they attended was made particularly for people with special needs because the sounds were not as loud as regular musicals and the lights were also more subtle than usual.

If dogs were to attend this kind of event with their owners, they should be able to adapt and stay behaved for the entirety of the show.

Their silence did not mean they were not having a great time.

Seeing the dogs in the audience kind of caught the actors off guard, but they did a great job, and the doggos are obviously having a great time.

“Everybody in the audience was really interested,” Laura said. “The theatre staff told us at first that even the stage people, the actors were kind of shocked when they saw the dogs. But, you know, the show must go on.”

Laura is quite astonished at the behavior of her trainees. The dogs were all well-behaved.

“We were pleasantly surprised that all of our dogs did great. We had no problems. No barking, no restlessness; they did their jobs, so it made us feel great.”

These dogs are also trained to be in public and crowded areas.

Laura shared further that these dogs are not only taken to the theatre but to other places, too, such as subways, zoos, crowded plazas or fairs, and busy streets. These experiences will increase the skills of future service dogs and will add more confidence and peace of mind to their future owners.

The world is lucky to have dogs. They are not just loyal friends to mankind but also great assistants so that we can all live life to the fullest, with or without disability.

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Source: Facebook – K-9 Country Inn Working Service Dogs, My Positive Outlooks