HOWARD PEARL

Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:06

Howard Pearl got his first dog three years ago at the age of 65. He’s currently writing and composing an animated musical about his terrier. 

DDD: Tell us what made you decide to get your very first dog at the age of 65.

HP: My cat of sixteen years had died and I was living in a building that had a lot of dogs, and everyone told me when I lost Hannah that I should adopt a dog. And I really wasn’t ready to do that. I knew it was a lot of responsibility. But a year earlier I had written a children’s book [Spaghetti Journeys Home] about one of the dogs in my building and I spoke with someone and they said “Well we know about this television show that’s on CBS every Saturday morning called Lucky Dog and I know the casting director and this would be a great opportunity for you. So I called the casting director and she talked to me for about an hour and a half and then said I’m gonna pass your information on to one of the producers. Then the producer called me and talked to me for about another hour and then sent me this lengthy thing to fill out which took me about three hours. And when they got it back, she called me and said “We want you but CBS has to approve everything.” Then a couple of days later she called and said “Time to look for your dog.” Basically, it’s a show where you adopt an at-risk dog and as soon as you adopt it they take it to the Lucky Dog Ranch and train your dog and film your own episode. And that’s how I got Barnaby.

Did it make you nervous that somebody else was selecting your dog?

No, because I selected him. The assistant trainer looks for the perfect dog for you and you go see the dogs and even if it takes six months they’ll work with you cause they want your quality of life to be as good as the dog’s. So the first day she said “Well we have ten dogs to look at tomorrow and we went to the West LA Shelter. The first dog I looked at, I said “We’re done. That’s my dog.” And that was Barnaby.

What attracted you to Barnaby?

He walked over to me on his hind legs across the cage and looked at me and there was an instant connection.

On his hind legs? You mean not using his upper paws at all?

Right. He just kinda walked over on his hind legs. He was so cute.

Where did the name Barnaby come from?

Well they told me on the show about two days later we need a name for him because we want to train him with a name. So I started thinking about it and asking everybody. And amazingly my sister and I both came up with Barnaby independent of each other so I knew that was the name. And I told them “You can start calling him Barnaby.”

Is he named after the hockey player Matthew Barnaby?

No. I don’t know Matthew Barnaby.

 So it’s a name you just made up.

He’s a character in Hello Dolly. And I also looked at lists of names, like hundreds of names for dogs, and that one just jumped out at me. He looked like a Barnaby to me.

You said you had a cat for 18 years. What’s the biggest difference? Did you go into a little bit of animal shock when you first took Barnaby home because you’ve never had a dog?

I was thoroughly scared. We finished shooting the episode and they said “Okay, take him home.” And here I am going home with a dog. I live in a high-rise apartment so I can’t just open the door and let him out. So that was a big, big change. We had to go down the elevator and walk him right on the beachwalk, which is loaded with people and other dogs and it was kind of a shock. I mean, he had to engage with every dog. He had to protect me. So that was a shock. And the fact that he was a two-year-old terrier mix who wanted to play every minute. I mean, Hannah, my cat, would just go under the bed for half the day. So that was really hard getting used to. I had to play fetch in my apartment when I was trying to work. Barnaby is very high energy.

What’s the thing you like most about Barnaby and the thing you like least about him?  

What I like most about Barnaby is that we’ve bonded. We’re best friends. And he is so affectionate towards me and I can’t even imagine going through the day without him here. What I like least about him is that I haven’t been able to break him about getting up at five o’clock in the morning and pressuring me to go out for a walk, which is horrible. But I still do it and I’m trying to change the culture here but that’s the hardest thing.

I’m a fan of the Lucky Dog show and I actually saw your episode and was amazed because I’ve probably seen 20 episodes of the show and I was blown away by how bright Barnaby was on it. Tell us some of the things he was able to do on the show.

Well, Brandon McMillan is the star of the show and the trainer. And he just saw that Barnaby learned all the regular commands in about an hour. And if Barnaby were given 20 commands, he’d learn them in a day. Then he saw Barnaby jump up on a really narrow balance beam in the training yard and and Brandon said, “Okay this guy’s a trickster.” So he taught him to jump through hoops, walk on a balance beam, crawl on his stomach, just do a lot of different things. And when I went there to shoot my episode he said “Your dog is a genius.” And he said he can’t say that on the screen because everyone else will think their dog’s not smart, but Barnaby really is a genius.

Do you know any of Barnaby’s back-story from the shelter?

The only backstory I know is he was up for adoption when I went in, which meant he had been in the shelter for a week because you have to keep them in case someone wants to claim them. I knew he wasn’t a wild street dog because he had some social skills. But that’s all anybody knows about him.

I can’t even imagine coming home and him not being in here. And he’s right at the door, runs right to me. This little guy would do anything for me.

What’s your favorite thing to do with Barnaby?

That’s a tough one. I like almost everything that I do with him. I think just being out there with him. We go to this little park right down the boardwalk and we play fetch. He runs after the ball, catches it in the air and runs back. Just seeing him so happy to be working and doing that makes me happy.

Here is the entire episode if you want to see it. And actually here it is even if you don’t want to see it. But you really should.

 http://www.tv.com/shows/lucky-dog/barnaby-3028113/