Betting his bottom dollar

Mikey’s had a hard-knock life, but the sun has come out for him.

He began his life in a neglectful household. When he was 3, he was taken away from his home and put up for adoption. Upon being adopted, he had to be treated for a potentially fatal heart disease.

Today, at the ripe old age of 8, he’s starring in a Broadway-caliber show and has his own touring van, handler, understudy and dressing room. He’ll make his Orange County debut tonight, where he will star as Sandy the lovable stray dog in the 30th anniversary production of “Annie.”

The man who adopted and trained Mikey also put the first Sandy on a Broadway stage back in 1977. World-class animal trainer William Berloni’s mission is to use rescue dogs like Mikey to prove that any animal can be a star.

“Annie” will be performed five times this weekend before leaving for its next venue.

When it debuted in 1977, “Annie” took seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical — and ran for more than 2,300 performances. The current run is again directed by its lyricist, Martin Charnin, who was responsible for bringing the original production onstage.

In the show, Little Orphan Annie and her mutt Sandy look for a home amid a backdrop of Hoovervilles and desperation.

Sandy has always been portrayed on Broadway by a real, live dog, and the majority of the major productions of “Annie” around the country have used Berloni’s services.

“In 30 years, there has never been a time where I haven’t been paid by a big theater to do ‘Annie’ somewhere,” he said. “I think ‘Annie’ is one of the greatest American musicals ever written.”

An Unexpected Turn

The trainer got his start with the show’s world premiere at a Connecticut theater. The young would-be actor, who was painting sets and performing other tasks as a volunteer, agreed to find and train a Sandy for free — in exchange for an equity card.

“It wasn’t because I wanted to be a dog trainer,” he said. “It was because nobody else could be talked into doing it.”

A friend suggested Berloni look in area animal shelters and pounds for his pooch.

“I had never been to an animal shelter before,” Berloni said; his parents had always bought his dogs from pet stores. He said the experience profoundly affected him.

“I made a promise to myself that I would only get animals from shelters,” he said. “And I soon realized that I could use these dogs as role models.”

Berloni developed a method of training based on positive reinforcement, which was completely counter to the negative methods used at the time, he said.

“It was and sort of continues to be a novel approach,” he said.

Despite the production’s quick demise, it garnered Berloni a request to train Sandy when the show debuted on Broadway. The rest is history, Berloni said.

“It’s like your first love. I think the experience I had with Sandy was one of the best moments of my life,” he said.

Since then, Berloni has trained the canine stars of many musicals, including Toto from “The Wizard of Oz;” show-stealing Chihuahua Bruiser in “Legally Blonde,” which recently stopped at the Orange County Performing Arts Center; “Gypsy” with Bernadette Peters; and “Camelot” with Richard Burton.

His career also flourishes off the Great White Way; Berloni trains animals for the New York Shakespeare Festival, films like “Charlie Wilson’s War” and the last seven seasons of “Sesame Street,” among many others. His animals have appeared at the White House seven times for four presidents.

A Lifelong Love

Berloni said he’s lucky his career has afforded him the chance to buy a 90-acre farm in Connecticut, as he “discovers” all his starring animals himself at area animal shelters — then gives them a comfortable home on the farm when they retire from show business.

Today, he shares the farm with 15 dogs (including former Totos and Bruisers), four cats, three horses, a pony, two llamas and a miniature donkey — as well as his wife, Dorothy, and daughter, Jenna. An additional eight dogs are working in shows. When Mikey retires, he will have a home on the farm as well.

The love affair with dogs is lifelong and irreversible, Berloni said.

“As the story goes, when I was 2 years old, my mother asked me if I wanted a brother or a sister. I said I wanted a dog,” he said.

He doesn’t have a grandiose explanation of how he communicates so well with animals; rather, he said, it was a matter of necessity.

“Being on a farm, if I wasn’t nice to my animals, they probably wouldn’t have stuck around,” he said.

He used to drive all over the New York area seeking would-be stars, but said the job has gotten a lot easier with the advent of sites like petfinder.com.

He said there are three types of dogs at shelters: those barking wildly at the front of the cage, those cowering in the back, and those calmly watching what’s going on.

“I always choose the dogs that are just laying there hanging out,” he said. “It shows they handle stress well. If you can handle an animal shelter, you can handle being onstage.”

An Ardent Advocate

In his spare time, Berloni has written several books, including the recently released “Broadway Tails.” An ASPCA Humanitarian Award winner and director of Animal Behavior for the Humane Society of New York, Berloni is donating proceeds of “Broadway Tails” to the Sandy Fund and the Humane Society of New York.

He also will be the subject of an upcoming documentary called “Lucky Dog” by Albert Maysles.

But he’s most excited about a reality show in development that will focus on his rescue and training process. After 30 years backstage, he’s stepping out.

“It’s scary as hell,” he said. “But I never stop learning. I want to be better. And that’s what I want to help other people to do. … People should remember that animals are sentient beings. You can’t ‘own’ them, just as you can’t ‘own’ a slave. If a dog is barking, don’t ask how to make him stop barking. Ask, ‘What can I do to help them?’ This has changed from our parents’ generation. Because of the way I grew up, they were my companions, not my property.”

If You Go

What: “Annie”

When: Today through Sunday

Where: Segerstrom Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

Cost: $25 to $65

Information: ocpac.org