This dog is a lot like you. He eats snacks, hangs out with friends, and commutes to work.

Pickle is an actor currently rehearsing for a production of "The Wonderful Winter of Oz," that's being presented by the Lythgoe Family Panto at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.  

But this pup wasn’t always a pro.

His rags to riches story began six years ago when Dee Dee Irwin went to the Burbank Animal Shelter. She wanted a dog that she planned to name Pickle and he walked right up to her.

“I said, 'Are you Pickle?'" she recalls, “And he was like, ‘Yeah.  Let’s go.'”

Dee Dee is not a professional animal trainer and the thought of having an actor in the family never crossed her mind.

“It actually never even occurred to me that I could put my dog in a play.” 

However as the marketing director of the Laguna Playhouse, she often brought her pet to work. So when the theater needed a dog for a Christmas show, the artistic director suggested Pickle.

“He loved it,” she beams. “He did a good job.”

"The Wonderful Winter of Oz" is his third professional gig – and his second time playing Toto. His first day with the cast, he was an instant hit with his co-star Mackenzie Ziegler.

“He’s doing great! He loves his treats,” she said.  

So what makes this former stray such a star? For one thing, he’s focused. Not so much on his role. More on his food.  

“He’s not easily thrown by noises or people moving,” Dee Dee says. “If there’s snacks to be had he’s pretty focused.”

His director Bonnie Lythgoe says he also has the IT factor. 

“Yeah, I think Pickle has got star quality,” said Lythgoe.

But family friend Lisa Field – a self-described Pickle fan -- says there is one thing that sets him apart. 

“He’s got very expressive ears,” says Field.

Rather than make the trek from Laguna every day, during the run of the show, Pickle and Dee Dee stay with Lisa and her rescue dog Annie in Beverly Hills.  Doting over their pups, the friends say this is what you get when you rescue an animal.

“You get family members,” says Dee Dee.

“The best,” Lisa adds.

It’s pretty clear that as much as Pickle loves the stage, for this former shelter dog, there’s no place like home.