The further one goes back in time, the more evident is the popularity of  “animal acts.”  Dog breeds that really “sparkled” in this role were the American Eskimo Dog and the Poodle.

With regards to the latter, Gypsies quickly latched onto the Poodle and taught the dogs elaborate tricks that earned coin from the public.  By the late 1600s, Poodles were spinning, boxing, playing cards, dancing, and balancing for audiences. From the Gypsy’s perspective, Poodles were idea in this capacity. They had easily styled hair, were charismatic performers, and tended to be non-reactive to crowds, noises, and other animals, an asset when traveling from town to town.

Early in the 18th century, a company of dancing dogs was introduced at Southwark Fair by a puppet showman named Crawley. He called this exhibition “The Ball of Little Dogs” and stated in the advertising bill that the troupe came from Louvain and had performed for Queen Anne by Her Majesty’s special request.  Of the act, Rawdon B. Lee wrote in, A History and Description of the Modern Dogs of Great Britain and Ireland: “These dogs danced, two of them, with the grandiloquent titles of Marquis of Gaillerdain and Madame de Poncette, showing extraordinary training by the manner in which their movements kept time and cadence with the music which accompanied them.”

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