Hero, the dog that thrilled TV viewers, makes a run at stock show audiences

There will be dogs aplenty performing and competing at the National Western Stock Show this year, but even in a field where smart animals are routine, 6-yearold Hero is a showstopper.

A border collie who can walk on his front legs, jump rope and dance, Hero is a dervish on stage spinning and jumping on command, landing on trainer Sara Carson’s back and balancing on the bottom of the trainer’s upturned feet.

Hero has been featured in commercials for Petco, the Pet Network, and this year he and Carson placed fifth in “America’s Got Talent’s” 12th season.

He is one of four border collies in Carson’s Super Collies act. He will be the only one of the four to appear at the Stock Show.

Carson, 23, and Hero will perform in the stock show’s Xtreme Dog Show, a familyfriendly event that features dogs doing tricks, aerial stunts and comedy antics. The show is at 3 p.m. on Jan. 15, and again at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 16.

But they won’t be the only dogs appearing at the show. Stock dog trials, featuring dogs that herd cattle and sheep, are scheduled from Jan. 18 through Jan. 21.

Most of those about 100 or so dogs are border collies, as well, said Bob Wagner, stock show dog superintendent.

They are motivated by the same drive to work that makes Carson’s collies eager to learn and go through their paces. But, Wagner said, “that’s kind of a different skill set.”

Speaking in a telephone interview from Reno, Nev., where she and her dogs were appearing at the Eldorado Theater’s Christmas Extravaganza, Carson said she and the dogs get a lot of attention.

“We drive around and Hero and I are on the side of the bus and we’re on signs all over the mall. It is a very cool feeling,” she said.

Carson grew up in Ontario. She trained her first dog, a cocker spaniel named Maple, when she was 13.

She learned the basics of dog training by watching YouTube videos, she said.

“I started pretty simple and then fell into the dog sport world and did agility dog training,” she said.

Carson got her first border collie while she was studying at Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario.

“They are working dogs, so they love to have a job,” Carson said of her animals, Hero, Marvel, 2, Loki, 1, and Stark, 4 months, who is not yet part of the act.

All of her dogs except Hero are rescue animals that she got from owners who couldn’t control them.

“Right now, I’m getting dogs that are too crazy to be living in a family home. People see videos like mine and think, ‘I want a border collie.’ They’re so smart, they’re so cute, they do tricks. And then they find out they are a full-time job.”

Carson said she only trains her crew about 5 to 10 minutes a day.

The dogs can usually learn a trick within a week. But it can take a year for them to master something like a walking handstand.

Training to the level reached by her Super Collies is difficult — even for Carson.

“They continue to challenge me,” she said. “I’m not an expert in all training fields. Nobody can be a true professional in everything.”