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In last night's Over The Rainbow results show (Sunday 18 April) on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One, the specialist panel of dog experts – This Morning animal expert Sarah Fisher and Gerry Cott (biog details in Notes to Editors below) – led by previous winner of I'd Do Anything, host Jodie Prenger – chose their final 11 potential Totos.

They are:

Name: Eddie
Age: 1
Breed: Pug/Shi tzu
From: Brighton
Owner: Lucie
Special trick: "He can speak, he can go and get in his box and he can spin left and right. He can also wave."
Why should Eddie be Toto? Lucie: "Because he's confident, he loves attention, he's charming and quick to learn and everyone that meets him loves him."
Previous experience: None.

Name: Bertie (Bert the Flirt)
Age: 10
Breed: Yorkie/Daschund Cross
From: Kent
Owner: Sabre
Special trick: "Bert's claim to fame is that he is cute. He can also stand on his hind legs for ages."
Why should Bertie be Toto? "Because he is the most adorable doggie I have ever known in my lifetime and he would absolutely love to do it."
Previous experience: Bertie was on Animal Planet once and has appeared at Crufts.

Name: Dave
Age: 1
Breed: Mini Schnauzer
From: Lake District
Owner: Rachel
Special trick: "He can jump up and spin round, he can jump into my arms, he can 'stay' and he can roll over."
Why should Dave be Toto? "Dave is a farm dog, so being a farm dog makes him a perfect companion to Dorothy. He's loyal and full of fun."
Previous experience: None.

Name: Bumble
Age: 3yrs 11 mths
Breed: Labrador
From: Wolverhampton
Owner: Demi
Special trick: "She can do a high five with both paws or just one depending on how she feels."
Why should Bumble be Toto? "because she does everything for me on a daily basis and doesn't ask for anything back. I think it's her time to shine."
Previous experience: Entered Crufts for the last two years.

Name: Qannik
Age: 2.5 years
Breed: Samoyed
From: Essex
Owner: Hannah
Special trick: "He can speak, he can crawl and he can limp. Hannah is trying to get him to say 'sausages' but it's not working..."
Why should Qannik be Toto? "Hannah: "Because I think he's got charm, charisma and he has the Samoyed smile that is only typical to the breed."
Previous experience: He recently went for a photo-shoot and is currently on the cover of Dogs Today Magazine.

Name: Teasel and Spider
Age: 4 and 6 yrs respectively
Breed: Beagles
From: Staffordshire
Owner: Lucy
Special trick: "They both like to pretend to go for a wee on things and they both like to wave."
Why should Teasel and Spider be Toto? "Because they are outgoing confident dogs that really love performing. They are in it individually but I think they could both win as they both have different characters."
Previous experience: They've done some "heelwork to music" freestyle dancing and they've done some demonstrations of this to music at local shows and Crufts. They both got into the intermediate level in "heelwork to music."

Name: Dennis
Age: 4
Breed: Border Collie/Poodle
From: Suffolk
Owner: Maggie
Special trick: He skateboards he pushes pushchairs with dolls in. His latest trick is pushing me (Maggie) in a wheelchair."
Why should Dennis be Toto? "Denis should be Toto because he loves to work and he's a very very happy dog. He's got the looks of Toto and the personality of Toto. Most importantly, Dennis will work for anyone."
Previous experience: He won an agility competition last year and he was awarded first place. He did the course in 28.2 seconds. He has also won prizes for "best trick" at a few local dog shows.

Name: Strider
Age: 5
Breed: Great Dane
From: Nottingham
Owner: Shelley
Special trick: "He does a twirl and he can take a bow and he speaks".
Why should Strider be Toto? "Because we need to show the world what big dogs can do."
Previous Experience: He attends obedience competitions and agility for giant breeds – he has won a few rosettes.

Name: Troy
Age: 4.5 years
Breed: Mother English pointer type/Red Setter Retriever Cross Breed
From: Stratford upon Avon
Owner: Jackie
Special trick: "He's quite good at bowing. He can do a figure of eight. At the Toto auditions he had his dinner on a plate and then brought it to Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber to ask for more. I (Jackie) asked him to bow to Lord Lloyd Webber and he did."
Why should Troy be Toto? "Because he is what I think Dorothy would look for in a dog. He is gentle, he is kind, sensitive, and extremely loyal and all he ever wants to do is please. I think he's the type of dog Dorothy would want".
Previous experience: None.

Name: Missy
Age: 3
Breed: Bearded Collie cross Springer Spaniel
From: Stoke on Trent
Owner: Anna
Special trick: "She can speak on demand. She can also turn round in a circle on two or four legs."
Why should Missy be Toto? "Because she loves showing off and loves showing the world why she's the best thing ever and she can't understand if anybody doesn't love her."
Previous experience: Won her local dog show "best cross breed" twice.

These 11 finalists will then be invited to appear in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who will select five dogs to continue into the competition.

Viewers will then see the dogs in a series of tasks over the course of the next few weeks, and Andrew and the Toto panel will decide on the dog who will win the coveted place to appear on stage, in a one-off gala performance of The Wizard Of Oz in the West End next year.

The winning Toto will be announced in the final Over The Rainbow show.

Viewers can follow the progress of the dogs each week on Over The Rainbow.

Notes to Editors

Viewers will not be able to vote for a Toto. Andrew Lloyd Webber will work with a panel of experts – including Jodie Prenger – who will together decide on the winning Toto, based on the dogs performance throughout the series. The winning dog will be announced in the final show.

T&Cs available at bbc.co.uk/dorothy. Ten dogs will be selected from the two open audition days, and the dog panel will select five dogs to continue into the competition.

Panel Biographies:

Married to actor Anthony Head, Sarah Fisher trained with Linda Tellington Jones and her sister Robyn Hood in the US and is the UK's highest qualified Equine and Companion Animal Instructor.

Sarah runs the UK office for TTEAM & TTouch International from her farm near Bath, she is the leading practitioner in the Tellington TTouch.

Sarah has written four books – Know Your Horse Inside Out, Unlock Your Dog's Potential, '100 Ways to Train the Perfect Dog' and '100 Ways to Solve your Dog's Problems', the latter two being co-written.

She has made several television appearances including This Morning (ITV1) where she is a regular animal expert, Blue Peter (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1), The One Show (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1), Animal Rescue Live (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ), Only Fools on Horses (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1), Celebrity Dog School (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ) and Talking to Animals (ITV1 and National Geographic).

Gerry Cott, Dog Training Expert to the Film & Television Industries, virtuoso guitarist and co-founder of The Boomtown Rats has been involved with animals all his life. He was born into an Irish family with farming roots going back over 200 years and was given his first dog at four years of age!

Gerry gave up the life of a pop star and started a highly successful career as an animal behaviourist and animal-filming consultant to the Film, Television and Advertising Industries.

Since 1983 Gerry Cott has professionally trained thousands of dogs in the UK and across Europe to become TV and movie stars

Gerry's Clients include; Disney, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, ITV, Channel 4.

CS