TALENTED CRITTERS EXCEL IN SHOW BIZ; VAL VERDE RANCH IS HOME TO ANIMAL STARS.

Byline: Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writer

This pup speaks fluent Spanish, stars in a major TV commercial and brings home lots of fat checks to her daddy.

The ever familiar wide-eyed Chihuahua from Taco Bell TV fame - ``Yo quiero Taco Bell'' - belongs to animal trainers Karin McElhatton and Paul Calabria, owners for the last 15 years of Studio Animal Services in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The tiny pooch, along with a menagerie of furry animals and their feathered friends, lives the good life in spacious cages at a Val Verde ranch where critters are trained to work in major motion pictures, TV and commercials.

Credits for the couple's furry actors include films ``Beethoven's 2nd,'' ``Interview with a Vampire'' and ``Michael'' and TV commercials for Post-it Notes, Honey Nut Cheerios and Petco.

Calabria and McElhatton have supplied major studios in the U.S., Canada and Japan with more than 120 studio-trained, well-mannered and healthy furry little critters from all breeds of dogs and cats, some hamsters, squirrels and a sprinkling of birds.

Top movie directors may request maze work - where an animal, usually a dog, walks through a maze to retrieve an object.

A recent client wanted squirrels for the job - to retrieve a Post-it Note in a commercial that is on the air now.

Dogs are much faster to train than pigeons, who are trainable but require more time to learn a pattern and repeat it over and over, she said. The training crew uses a system of positive-reinforcement conditioning - the dogs like hotdog snacks while cats prefer slivers of white chicken meat. Squirrels opt for chunks of peanut butter.

``None of the training is difficult, it just takes longer with some species to learn certain projects than others,'' McElhatton said. ``We really have to be patient.''

Training sessions are kept to just five to 15 minutes, ending when animals become distracted. Anything can set them off - a whiff of a cute little poodle, a noisy wind machine or a full tummy, McElhatton said.

Some actors love the animals.

``John Travolta and Andie MacDowell were wonderful to our dogs, the Jack Russell types, during the filming of `Michael,' '' McElhatton said.

But some of Hollywood's finest hate to have dogs jump on them or are afraid of being bitten. Knowing this, McElhatton hand picks her dogs for their good temperaments and reliability in working with both humans and other dogs.

``We use teams of animals that look similar,'' she said. ``Three dogs may play one part: One does the jock action, running and jumping; one will act more docile and lie quietly in an actor's arms; then the last member of the team will do all the barking (on cue). So it's really important for the team to work well together as a group and then with the human actors, as well,'' she said.

Food is the best reinforcement, but once an animal is full and wants no more snacks, training shuts down in a jiffy, she said.

``We like all breeds and mongrels - especially pound rescues - because that way we get some highly trainable animals and the animal gets another chance at a good productive life,'' McElhatton said.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Rocky the squirrel is one of the animals trained by Studio Animal Services in the Santa Clarita Valley. The talented critter was recently trained to grab a Post-it Note for a commercial that is now on the air.

(2--Color) Studio Animal Services owner Karin McElhatton holds Aladdin, the cat from the movie ``Enemy of the State,'' while Chewy from ``Dharma and Greg,'' left, and Rowdy from ``Providence'' lend their support.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News