Watch: The rags to riches story of Dizzy the rescue dog now touring with hit musical Annie

We are standing on the stage at the Edinburgh Playhouse, where Dizzy the dog has been performing for the past week. Not only Dizzy, of course, she has many co-stars, most notably in the form of Claire Sweeney from Steps, who has taken on the role of the formidable Miss Hannigan in the touring performance of musical Annie.

Ms Dew is demonstrating one of the tricks performed by Dizzy in the show, when she runs to centre stage and stops dead - and another when she dances around Annie while she is performing the musical’s most famous song, Tomorrow.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, I’m giving away too many spoilers, but the stage crew drop a treat onto this mark when they are removing the beds [from the orphanage scene],” Ms Dews admits, pointing out a small yellow cross on the stage. The treat instructs the cockapoo to stop after Ms Dew sends her running across the stage.

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“I give her a command and she knows to run onto that mark and eat it and then wait for Annie.

“If you see the show, you’ll notice that she’s trying to sneak treats from Annie’s pockets quite often, because every trick she does is based on treats. She’s quite greedy and quite food motivated, so that helps train her. She loves the cast, she is so good with kids, she loves all of the attention.”

In the show, Dizzy’s name is Sandy, but we are told not to call her that in case it confuses her. Instead, “Sandy” is taught as more of a command, when Annie calls her pet’s name and the dog runs across the stage for the pair to be reunited.

“She’ll go for certain commands, such as when Annie says ‘Sandy’, she will run to her,” explains Ms Dew. “In the show, she plays Annie’s companion, she’s a stray.

Dizzy has only been in training for the role - her first stage performance - since October.

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“She’s a young one,” says Ms Dew. “It’s a slow, gradual process of building her up to some of the bigger scenes. There has been a lot of practice, where we’ve treated her when she’s sat. But she knows her cues really well, she almost guides Annie sometimes.”

A rescue dog herself, 19-month-old Dizzy shares an owner and trainer - Cindy Sharville - with veteran canine Amber, who has appeared in many stage shows, but is becoming too elderly to sustain a long tour run. She is, however, the understudy dog, travelling on tour with Dizzy.

“She has an owner and a trainer and her sister is a standby dog who has done previous tours,” says Ms Dew. “But she is getting on a bit now and couldn’t really do a full tour, so Dizzy was got specifically for the tour. She’s really fitting for Annie, because she’s actually a rescue dog, so she is basically Annie the orphan, she’s gone from rags to riches too.”

Ms Dew only took up dog handling last year after leaving her career in IT.

“This is my first tour,” she says. “I worked in a corporate environment before, but I volunteered for local youth theatre groups. I was looking to leave my job and I was hoping to work with animals, so when this came up, it was perfect. Dizzy and I have bonded, so it’s worked really well.”

Annie is on at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen from 3 to 8 November and at Glasgow’s King’s Theatre from 2 to 7 March, 2027.