Puppy Pals to Entertain the Whole Family at KU Feb. 2

Puppy Pals to Entertain the Whole Family at Kutztown University Feb. 2

January 23, 2025

By Susan L. Peña

KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Ringling Brothers headliner Wesley Williams, who gained fame by riding the world's tallest unicycle on America's Got Talent, is a consummate entertainer in his own right (not to mention a daredevil). But he has also channeled his passion for animals into what he calls "a super-high-energy comedic stunt dog show." Puppy Pals LIVE features Williams' meticulously trained rescue dogs in a series of tricks based on their own favorite moves. What started out as a six-minute show is now a full 90 minutes, featuring four dogs and a host/trainer team. They tour all over the United States and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, they will make a stop at Kutztown University's Schaeffer Auditorium as part of the KU Presents Family Series.

Tickets for Puppy Pals LIVE are $20 for all ages and can be purchased at the KU Presents website or by calling the KU Presents Box Office 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, at 610-683-4092. Established to be the center of cultural life at Kutztown University, KU Presents serves the campus and community by bringing world-class live arts that entertain, educate and enrich.

Born and raised in Miami, Fla., until he recently bought a house near Raleigh, N.C., Williams knew what he wanted to do with his life at age six, when he received a unicycle for Christmas. Once he figured out how to ride it, "I was knocking on doors in my neighborhood to get people to come see my show in my back yard," he said. "The neighborhood kids would do an opening number, and then I'd be the star."

By the time he was eight, he was performing at birthday parties for $75; 10 years later, he was touring the country in a truck and trailer on his own, performing in small circuses. While his family was supportive of his career choice, neither his parents and three siblings nor anyone else among family and friends had done anything like this, Williams said.

His love of animals also started early as he had a string of rescue dogs and bunnies as a child. He even tried to buy a petting zoo on Craig's List, but his gated community would have frowned on this (his mother also nixed the chickens he begged for).

In 2017, while he was on the road and needing some canine company, he adopted his first future star, Cash, a toy poodle, and began teaching the puppy some tricks. He started attracting some people with his talented dog and his gift for patter and soon he acquired Rudy, a red Standard poodle.

"They were my companions on the road, and they still are," Williams said. "They still sleep in my bed. And Cash, now eight years old, is still part of the act."

More invitations to perform began coming their way. And then, in 2020, they appeared on America's Got Talent and the exposure helped in launching Puppy Pals.

"We train them using positive reinforcement," he said. "They get a lot of treats, love and patience. We show how we train dogs, so everyone sees how much our dogs are loved and how happy they are to do this."

He pointed out that the show has something for every age, including some comedic bits, and at the end, audience members can have their photos taken with the dogs for a $10 charge, which is given to shelters.

Meanwhile, Williams' reputation as a "One-Wheel Wonder" was growing and one day he received a call from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, asking him to be a headliner for their two-year tour. As a huge fan of this circus from his childhood, Williams naturally accepted the offer and now spends every Friday through Sunday performing on the tour.

As Puppy Pals keeps up a busy schedule of touring two to four cities each week, Williams has hired hosts and trainers for each unit of the tour. At KU, the audience will see Cash, Rudy, Gizmo (a poodle mix) and the newest dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Chip, along with their humans, Renaldo Calienes and Dylan Biedrcycai.

Williams, who owns the company, still trains the dogs, puts the show together, works on the props and routines and often flies out to see the show and make sure everything is running smoothly.

"It's a challenge to find new dogs to put into the show," he said. "With a rescue dog, it takes months to a year to get it to trust people again. Then we train them to do the tricks they like; we play to their strengths. Gizmo, our back-flipping dog, was the first to walk the high wire. Cash likes jumping off things and climbing ladders, and Rudy is a big jumper - very athletic."

He said that while every kind of dog is trainable, he gravitates to poodles and other hypoallergenic dogs because he is - somewhat ironically - allergic to dog hair. And if, after working with a dog for a while, it doesn't work out as a performer, he places it in a home with folks who are delighted to have an already-trained pet.

"I didn't set out to conquer the world with a dog show," he said. "But it kind of happened, and I love it!"