SuperDogs show off athletic prowess
Friday, November 24, 2006

By JAMES REANEY

The John Labatt Centre is going to the dogs tomorrow afternoon -- and the man called Chase couldn't be happier.

"We're a cross between Disney on Ice and the Harlem Globetrotters," says Chase, the Montreal promoter who is bringing the SuperDogs to the downtown London arena.

"Our whole show is based on running, jumping and retrieving, which is what dogs do," he says.
Helping the canines are a team of 18 people, who bring two or three dogs each. Chase works as emcee, encouraging the performers, their owners and the crowd.

This touring show is Latin-flavoured, called El Festiva. Other shows have placed the dogs in disco and 1950s' rock 'n' roll settings.

Chase describes his stars as performing "athletics, not tricks."

Trained to run and retrieve at top speeds and jump way up, the dogs have become regular attractions at such events as Toronto's Royal Winter Fair.

A TSN show on Dec. 5 shows off their skills, strength and prowess, Chase says. Some 'Dogs also starred in the movie Daniel and the SuperDogs. (Czechoslovakian-born Canadian actor and singer Jan Rubes is also in the cast as a character called the Colonel).

Before the SuperDogs came to fetch him, Chase was running a chain of waterbed stores in Montreal and was known as Mr. Bon Nuit for the character he played in the chain's TV commercials. In 1991, promoter Herb Williams, who had founded SuperDogs, and Chase joined forces. "Cirque du Soleil was coming out, I'd always liked dogs and I thought we could do something new," Chase said. "At first, no one took us seriously as first-class entertainment. Then, after four years, we got our first reviews in the papers and on television and the rest is history."

Now, the 'Dogs entertain one million fans a year with their canine spectacle. On previous trips to London, SuperDogs have played a variety of venues, but this is their first gig at the arena.

Chase was known as Leonard Chase back in the 1960s when he was a top competitive swimmer for Canada and knew London's Kennedy clan of swimmers. He's dropped the Leonard and goes by his surname only these days.