Tom Allen's canine co-star banned

Comic Tom Allen’s canine co-star has been banned from appearing in his Edinburgh show, because of the Dangerous Dogs Act.

The stand-up had been previewing his show with a Rottweiler called Maggie as his on-stage partner. But after complaints from audiences, Maggie has been banned from performing at the Gilded Balloon.

Allen said: ‘It;s discrimination really. If Maggie had been a small terrier, she’d just be considered cute. This huge furore is just because she’s big and black – when really she’s a sweet dog who spends most of the performance staring at me with her big brown eyes and panting at my feet.

‘You only have to spend five minutes with her to know she hasn’t the killer instinct in her. She loves an audience.

His agent Rob Sandy, of Richard Bucknall Management, added: ‘All flyers and adverts have been printed way in advance promoting Maggie and Tom together. Audiences will be disappointed.’

He further claimed: ‘We could be seriously out of pocket as a result – not to mention the advert is now unrepresentative and may be pulled by the Advertising Standards Committee’… which presupposes audiences are naïve enough to expect everything in a Edinburgh show poster to be in the actual shows.

The Gilded Balloon would not comment on whether the dog had been banned but said: ‘We have loads of experience with performing animals. Tony Law had two dogs onstage a couple of years ago and more recently Ally Cook performed with a dove, two ducks, a chicken and a goldfish.

‘It’s sad to hear that Tom might not be able to bring Maggie to Edinburgh, hopefully Tom will be able to find a solution.’

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act, pet owners, or those in charge of the dog at the time, can be prosecuted if the animal is out of control, or there is ‘reasonable apprehension’ that it could injure someone on private premises where it is not permitted to be.

Published: 23 Jul 2010