ALTAMONT — Gail Mirabella has 19 traveling partners that have gone with her across the country in her van and attached trailer. Those companions include Australian shepherds, border collies, and rat terriers; her 19 fellow travelers are her dogs.

Mirabell owns and performs in the act “Dynamo Dogs,” in which her canine troupe catch frisbees, jump through hoops, and do high jumps and other tricks. Mirabella is performing in acts throughout the week of the Altamont Fair.

Mirabella, 48, originally worked as a quality-assurance representative in the pharmaceutical industry when she began competing in canine frisbee competitions with her dog 20 years ago in Colorado. She and her dog, Austin, would go on to be three-time world finalists, she said. In 2006, she then joined the Ringling Brothers Circus, then four years later started her own company.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Mirabella studied animal science in her home state. She said her interest in animals goes far back.

“My first word was ‘doggy,’” she said. She added that she started competing in dog competitions at the age of 7.

Mirabella now lives in North Carolina, but nine months out of the year she is on the road, traveling to fairs and other events with her dogs as far as Houston and St. Louis, where she participates in Purina’s Pro-Plan performance.

“I have a lot of friends all over the place,” said Mirabella, explaining she often parks in their yards or, if needed, in Wal-Mart parking lots.

“The big pain is walking them all, on a leash,” she said of her dogs, adding that she stops at least every four hours during a trip to walk them, sometimes more for older dogs on medication.

Most of her dogs were adopted from shelters, although a few are descendents of some of her first dogs.

Training a dog has ranged from a year to two weeks for a dog to be ready to perform.

The breeds include rat terriers, border collies, Australian shepherds, standard poodles, Dobermans, Chihuahua mixes, and a Chinese crested. The tricks performed differ for each dog, depending on their build or personality.

“I kind of just let them be dogs and see what they like to do,” said Mirabella, of explaining how she discovers a dog’s talent.

She has had dogs that haven’t wanted to perform, one which lived to be 14 in her care. Others she has fostered and has found owners who would do well with the dogs.

“Usually, if I adopt a dog, it stays with me forever,” she said.

A dozen of Mirabella’s dogs currently perform, with about seven or eight in a show at a time. In Altamont, Mirabella will join with Hayleigh Hyatt, a fellow dog trainer who has six of her own dogs, four of which will perform.

Mirabella met Hyatt at a frisbee competition and they later took a seminar together. Mirabella said that she still attends training classes when she can.

“Any dog can be trained to do something,” she said. Although, she added, “A basset hound is not going to catch frisbees,” referencing the laid-back, short-legged breed.

Mirabella will use either food or toys to train a dog; she said it depends on the breed and trick.

“You’ve got to be careful when you use food,” she said, of jumping through hoops. “There’s a timing issue...they just follow your hand.”

Sometimes audience members will approach Mirabella after a show to ask about teaching their dogs new tricks. She said she often encourages parents to have their children join a 4-H Club to learn about animal training, care and needs, and even husbandry, adding that involving the whole family in training is a good way to ensure the dog won’t be neglected.

“What you put into your dog, you’re going to get out,” she said.