Published: July 25, 2008 11:07 pm      

PEOPLE PROFILE: Man shows off best friend

Randy Wheeler’s dog is unique for much more than the fact he was born on March 3, 2003 — 3/3/03.

Cisco Kid, a 5-year-old brittney spaniel, can fetch work boots, go into the bedroom and retrieve a pillow and, yes, he can even reach a paw into the fridge and snag a beer.

Talk about man’s best friend.

Cisco Kid will be putting his intelligence on display at 6:30 p.m. at the City of Tonawanda Senior Center, 35 Main St. Senior Center, where he’ll be performing for approximately 80 people. Senior Center Director Doreen Harris said Wheeler came in one day to talk about his show and she was able to find a date and a time for the unique pair to perform.

Harris said a few people at the Senior Center have seen Cisco Kid perform at other venues.

“They say he’s a very talented dog,” she said.

Wheeler and his wife Denise bought Cisco Kid as a puppy. Wheeler discovered his dog’s impressive intelligence early on. When Cisco Kid was just 8 weeks old, Wheeler tied a bell to some string and hung it from the back door. He took the dog’s paw and swatted the bell with it once, explaining to Cisco Kid that he was to hit the bell when he had to do his business outside.

According to Wheeler, he needed to show Cisco Kid to hit the bell only once before he started doing it whenever he needed to be let out.

Shortly after that, Wheeler, as a joke, showed Cisco Kid a bottle of beer in the refrigerator. “I said, ‘Go get daddy’s beer.’ He went right over, hit it with his paw and snatched it with his mouth,” Wheeler said.

In a demonstration Friday, Wheeler opened the fridge and sure enough, Cisco Kid swatted a bottle of iced tea to the floor, picked it up with his mouth and brought it over. Wheeler said he is not going to show his dog how to open the fridge. Next, Wheeler told Cisco Kid to “bring daddy his boots,” and the auburn-and-white pooch ran off into the kitchen to fetch them.

Cisco Kid’s shining moment came last August when the Wheelers had a dozen people over to celebrate Denise’s mother’s birthday. Everyone was gathered downstairs, so Wheeler told them to watch what his dog was going to do. Wheeler put a rose on the carpet upstairs and told the dog to fetch it.

“I’m like a proud father at this point,” Wheeler explained. “I look up the stairs and here he comes with the rose. I said, ‘Yes! That’s my buddy.’ My heart was pounding. It was like my son graduated from Harvard.”

Wheeler has sent tapes of Cisco Kid doing tricks to the ABC show “America’s Funniest Videos” and to producers with Animal Planet. After initial conversations with representatives from both, Wheeler hasn’t heard back about getting his dog on TV.

In the meantime, Wheeler schedules Cisco Kid for periodic performances in the community. The last one was in October for the Senior Men’s Club in the City of Tonawanda.

The folks at the Senior Center on Monday are sure to be as thrilled to see Cisco Kid in action as Wheeler is talking about him.

But they just might not want to say the word walk.

“He knows everything I say,” Wheeler said. “Sometimes we have to spell so he doesn’t get excited.”

Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.