Olate Dogs

Olate Dogs was a dog group act from Season 7 of America's Got Talent. It was the winner of the competition, winning $1,000,000 and the headlining of a show at The Palazzo.

Background
The Olate Dogs is a high-energy, fast-paced dog act filled with impressive pet tricks led by Richard Olate, 55, and his son Nicholas Olate, 19. Richard grew up in South America in a poor family. A third generation circus performer, Richard has performed since he was 12, and through hard work and constant struggle, he made it to the United States at the age of 33. His dream is to have his own dog variety show, and he currently has four completely different dog acts. Most of Richard's dogs are rescues from shelters. 1

Audition
The Olate Dogs' audition consisted of labradoodles hopping over metal poles, standing and rotating on their hind legs, standing on their fore legs, forming a conga line, jump-roping, and performing backflips." Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne, Howie Mandel all voted "Yes," sending the act to the Vegas Round.



Vegas Round
Olate Dogs was one of only three acts (the other two being David "The Bullet" Smith and William Close) to advance straight to the Quarterfinals without auditioning in Las Vegas.



Quarterfinals
Olate Dogs's Quarterfinals performance consisted of dogs spinning in circles, hopping over small obstacles, balancing on a hollow cylinder being rolled by another dog, sliding down a slide, walking up and down stairs, running and rolling over quickly, and performing backflips. It received enough votes to be sent to the Semifinals instead of David "The Bullet" Smith and Ulysses.



Semifinals
Olate Dogs' Semifinals performance consisted of dogs leaping over metal poles, jump roping, spinning, forming a conga line, riding a scooter, performing back flips, and participating in a cycle of rolling and hopping with the two human trainers of the group. The group received enough votes to be revealed as one of the Top 4 of the second Semifinal round instead of All Wheel Sports and Clint Carvalho & His Extreme Parrots. Olate Dogs was later revealed to be one of the Top 2 of the second Semifinal round, immediately sending it to the Finals.



Finals
The Olate Dogs' Finals performance consisted of a dog riding in a small car, a dog hopping, a dog spinning in circles, a dog rolling over, a dog hopping over obstacles, and a dog rolling on a hollow cylinder, and finally two dogs walking over the judges' desk together. Olate Dogs was revealed to have finished in first place in the competition the following night, over Tom Cotter, William Close, David Garibaldi and His CMYK's, Joe Castillo, and The Untouchables, winning one million dollars and a headline show in Las Vegas.

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Trivia

 * Olate Dogs is the first animal act in the history of America's Got Talent to reach the Finals, and also the first to win America's Got Talent.
 * Since the show has started using the present Vegas Round format, Olate Dogs are the first winning act to have automatically proceeded to the live shows without having to audition in Vegas.
 * Olate Dogs are the first non-solo act to win America's Got Talent.