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Chrystal Inner circle Canada/France 1552 Posts |
Hi,
As an avid animal love (have 10 furkids which range from a Guinea pig to large dogs that weight more than I do). I generally use puppets in my shows in place of real animals. I'm glad that most that responded they first view their animals as pets first and not working props. I'm of the mindset that I'm not against the use of animals in a show (been training my dogs for some time now)and have used kitties on two occasions, but they should also not be used in ways that is very frightening to them or harms them in any way. The dog shown in my avatar was my working partner for three years in which we educated the public on dog behavior and how to be kind to your pets, on behalf of the Humane Education Society which we were under contract with. Glad to hear those that responded consider the animals well being to be primary! :O) Chrystal |
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Brian Lehr Inner circle Edmonton, Canada 1605 Posts |
I use one animal in my show, and it's a different one than any thus far mentioned. I use an 18-inch Bearded Dragon.
When my son was 15 (6 years ago), we bought him this bearded dragon for his birthday (maybe about two inches long at the time). My son is now in the military, and no longer has time to take care of Cosmo. So, I inherited him, and began to take care of him. He's a very docile creature, and loves to be handled (he even closes his eyes when you gently rub the top of his head!). I've always wanted to use a bunny in my show, but my wife is allergic to them. So I figured that if Cosmo was going to live with us, then he was going to earn his keep. So I added him to my show recently, and now promote him as part of my Deluxe Magic Show (as opposed to the basic one), as a Live Exotic Animal! Now, when parents call to inquire about shows, 80% of them book the deluxe show simply because of Cosmo. Not only are they thrilled that it's a lizard, but they are also relieved to know that no one at the party will be allergic to him. Because the party is in honor of the birthday child, only the birthday child gets to touch the back of the lizard, while mom takes a very memorable picture. You can see an example of this in the last picture on this page: http://www.brianlehr.ca/freereport.html I use an Elusive Bunny Box for the production (the birthday child actually does the magic). There are no springs, and plenty of room for Cosmo. I also don't do the balloon thingie (where you pop the balloon and the animal appears), as I think this is unhealthy on any animal's ears. Brian |
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Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
I started off using fish in my act. I can't remember if they were a real pleaser or not. I stopped using them because of my and their inconvience of traveling. Years later I tried a rabbit. It really wakes up a crowd. I added a dove next. The kids loved it. Later I tried a guinea pig, ferrot, chichilla, cat, rat and hamsters. I stopped using the hamsters because they would always jump to the floor. A lot of times they would play Houdini and escape out the play ball/cage. The rats were so messy, that is why I stopped using them. At times the ferrot would poop throughout the show leaving a big mess on the floor. My cat ran away from our new home. I'm not planning to use a cat again because it is hard to train one. I'm still using the other four. I recommend using them if you will show them your concern at home and during the show.
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Bob Sanders Grammar Supervisor Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama 20504 Posts |
Lucy and I assume that all of our shows will have live animals. (Of course, around food it is sometimes prohibited.) We use everything from horses and geese to doves and rabbits. Lucy's Star Dancer Castle shows have live unicorns! One of those is a circus trained horse with her own act. (All three are white with blue eyes.)
It's magic! Bob Sanders Magic By Sander |
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kris attard Elite user Malta 437 Posts |
As all these fine contributions seem to agree, I think whether you use animals or not depends on how you yourself feel about animals, and whether you intend to respect that animal or not. If your intention is for the animal to just be a prop, then I agree you should forget about the idea. The animal will be miserable, and wont work well with you.
I used a white albino dwarf rabbit in my children's act in Malta for several years, and because I loved him, so did the kids. Snowy became so popular (I think he was more popular than me, actually...) I had thought of opening a fan club for kids for him! I think it had all to do with how I used him. Firstly, I forfeited one of the old rules of putting together an act and produced him third trick from the start. Reason is that I performed a lot of my work in summer, when it's sweltering here in Malta and the heat goes close to 100 degrees. I would not dream of putting him into a production box and leaving him that long in there, so preferred to lose a climax to an act. But after I produced him, I placed him inside a box that had no top or bottom that rested in full view on my Su-Table. It was just high enough that you could barely see his ears. Once in a while he would pop up to peek and see whats going on, which obviously produced big laughs and I was always ready to use. I got to use it so smoothly that people thought the rabbit obeyed cues as to when to poke his head up. I had also trained him to do funny things like rise on his hind legs to sniff at my hand when I held it over the box (good running gag during other tricks) etc. At the end of the act, I allowed kids to come up and stroke him gently. Obviously keeping a watchful eye on the little Johnny who wants to grab him by the ears. It was a good way of educating kids about respecting animals, gave me a different 'closer' and left audiences and parents with a good feeling. Because Snowy was not just a prop, but a co-performer in the show. When I stopped performing for kids, my intention was to give him a well-deserved retirement as a pet, but he died a week later. It still pushes my button no end to see a magician produce an animal and treat it like a prop, discarding it roughly or carrying it around in a cramped container. |
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