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World dog-walking record could fall tomorrow in Pa.

Mr. O - Joe Orsino Jr. - says he has a gift from God for making dogs behave.

Joe Orsino Jr. claims to have an uncanny talent for making dogs behave.
Joe Orsino Jr. claims to have an uncanny talent for making dogs behave.Read more

Mr. O - Joe Orsino Jr. - says he has a gift from God for making dogs behave.

On Saturday, he expects to get 35 dogs, ranging from a 5-pound Yorkie to a 180-pound Great Dane to move along and get along as he tries to set the world record for dog walking.

Actually, the Pittsburgh-area trainer says, he and clients' canines, representing at least 20 breeds, already set it last Saturday during a rehearsal outside a restaurant.

But for an official Guinness mark, some i's need dotting and some t's need crossing - like having an official survey of the course, lots of witnesses, and video of the accomplishment complete with time and date stamping.

That will all be taken care of at a public park near Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, part of the Lupus Loop, a morning fund- and awareness-raiser where folks will run and skate as well as walk - even with their dogs.

He'll hold just three leashes, one linked to 10 dogs on his right, another to 10 on his left, and finally to 15 trailing behind him.

He calls it "an airplane-type formation."

The current mark for "most dogs walked simultaneously by an individual" is 27 by Melissa Crispin Piche in September 2008 at a park in Alberta, Canada, according to a Guinness spokeswoman. That walk lasted 43 minutes and 17 seconds.

Next year, Orsino hopes to establish a new kind of record - most dogs walked by a dog. He sent along a photo of his German shepherd Gracie, wearing sunglasses, and holding a leash connected to about a dozen dogs.

Orsino is full of faith on Saturday neither growling nor sniffing will stop these giant schnauzers, dobermans and English bulldogs from making their appointed rounds.

"It's called good training," he explains. "Better training, better dogs, Mr. O."

"It's like Papa John's without the pepperoni," he adds.

"These are all dogs that I've trained in my one-day training program," he says.

About four days a week for the past 15 years, he's been dedicating a whole day to a different dog, dropped off at his business, Mr. O's, The Dog Training Place, in Lower Burrell, the same town where he lives, north of Pittsburgh.

To hear him tell it, a single one-day session with these pets can "not only rehabilitate personality issues but calm them for the rest of their life."

If only he could do this with people.

Actually, he says, at the end of the day, he also spends time with the owners, to help them adjust their behaviors with the dog.

No strict drill sergeant, Pavlov or B.F. Skinner, he comes across as more of a Dog-ter Phil. He had lots of dogs as a kid, and started training as a high school junior, when he won a sled dog championship, he says.

"I think it's a gift that I have from the Lord, and he helps me everyday with that," he said. "Not to sound like a religious fanatic, but it is what it is."

He expects onlookers to be impressed.

"When they see all the dogs walking it's an amazing thing," he said.

"It's just a supernatural event."