‘America’s Got Talent’s 18-Year-Old Dog Trainer Teases Surprise Upgrade for Live Shows (Exclusive)

The America’s Got Talent Live Shows begin tonight with eleven of the acts that auditioned and received at least three yeses from judges Simon Cowell, Mel B, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara performing tonight for America’s vote.

The eleven acts performing are Ashford Sanders, Brook Lynn, Cris Sosa, Hundred Fingers, James & Marina, Jesse White Tumbling Team, Luke Taleno, Royal Lasers, Sando, The CommUNITY ATL Choir, and dog trainer Olivia Befus.

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We last saw the 18-year-old from Michigan and three of her dogs when she performed for Sofia at the judge’s home in Beverly Hills during the Judges Callbacks portion of the show, hoping to be picked for the Live Shows.

“The nerves were so high at the Judges Callbacks,” Olivia admits to Parade in this exclusive interview. “The format of that whole entire round was like nothing we’d ever done before, including performing outside. I think that having it be so intimate with the judges and other contestants for so many days there, the nerves were definitely extremely high.”

That said, nerves didn’t keep Olivia from landing one of the few remaining spots in the Live Shows, and she says part of that was due to the multiple encouraging talks she received from Sofia.

“She was so encouraging to keep going no matter what happens and just try to make every routine bigger than the last one,” Olivia recalls. “The whole goal of the Judges Callbacks was trying to really up your routine since your auditions.”

And that is advice that Olivia will take to heart for her performance tonight as she shares that there may be a surprise dog or two as she actually has five dogs that she’s trained.

“Since our last performance, we’ve trained a lot of new tricks and we are already working on training a lot more new ones,” she shares, adding that depending on the dog and the trick, it can take anywhere from a week to a couple months to perfect.

“So, we’re definitely packing a lot in really quickly.”

Related: AGT Comedian Cris Sosa Shares Howie Mandel’s Secret Advice for Cracking the Live Shows (Exclusive)

Here’s more of our interview with Olivia who shares her tips for getting the dogs ready for the AGT stage, how she got into dog training in the first place, and her plans for the $1 million if she should win.

How do you keep the dogs calm enough to perform in front of a huge crowd? There’s so many times when people bring their dogs to do an act and then they won’t do it in front of the audience.
I would say as soon as I have gotten dogs, I start training them on confidence and making sure that whatever they’re doing they can do it in any environment. I think a huge, huge part of it is that it definitely takes a unique dog to be able to come and perform on a stage in front of thousands of people. Some dogs may never be able to do that.

How do you find those dogs?
Zeek was my first dog. Actually, when I got him, he was absolutely terrified of everything, so he’s come a super long way. Then when it comes to my other dogs, a lot of them are rescues and as I train them and I take them to new environments, if they do well in it, then we keep bringing them and doing it more. If they’re a little bit scared, then we take a step back and I just keep building their confidence until they’re able to come into an environment like this.

So, you do perform in other places, not just AGT.
AGT is definitely the biggest show we’ve ever done. We’ve only ever done some smaller events, nothing like this for sure.

How did you get into dog training in the first place?
Back when I was about 6, I had watched AGT and I saw a dog act and I just immediately fell in love with it. I started telling my parents, “I have to do that. That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” And I started asking for a dog of my own to train and, of course, they were like, “Absolutely not. You’re only 6 years old.” So, I started training our house pet dogs. They were a little bit older, and I also had some Guinea pigs and hamsters, so I started training them and I just fell in love with training animals. Then as I got older, I got more passionate about it and my parents agreed to getting a first dog. Then it all took off when I got Zeek.

So, you see this as your long-term career?
Yes, definitely.

Will the $1 million prize help you? Do you know how you will spend that if you win it?
I would definitely spend it on starting our own traveling show. Also I would love to have our own training courses and facility to train in.

Have you graduated school? How do you juggle the two things?
I have another year of high school, my senior year. And I’m home schooled, so that makes all of this possible, being able to travel and then also be doing school.

You’re from Michigan, so how did you transport the dogs? If they fly, are they safe, or did you drive them? How did you bring the dogs to California?
Me and my mom, we drove. It was a 36-hour drive. It took like five days. We stopped all along the whole entire drive. We walked and we stopped in some National Parks, so we made it into a super fun trip.

America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Streams next day on Peacock.

Next, Simon Cowell Opens Up About Historic ‘AGT’ Format Shake-Up: ‘It Was Better Than I Thought’ (Exclusive)