Jackie Ross, left, and Charlotte Laymon said they were surprised and embarrassed when Jada, in Ross’ lap, refused to twirl even once when the television cameras came on.

There's nothing better that Jada the Dancing Poodle likes to do than to put on her pink skirt and dance ballerina-style on her hind legs for admiring audiences.

That is until she got her chance for the big time on the "David Letterman Show" in front of a television audience in New York. To the astonishment and embarrassment of her proud owners, Dallas lesbian couple Jackie Ross and Charlotte Laymon, two-year-old Jada succumbed to stage fright and refused to take even the tiniest little step.

"I said, "'Oh, my God,'" Ross recalled of the Nov. 23 appearance. "This dog dances at the vet, she dances everywhere, and then she got up there. Bless her heart, she was just exhausted."

Jada, a gray phantom poodle, was invited by the producers of the Letterman show to appear on a "stupid pet tricks" segment after Ross and Laymon sent a video of Jada performing. On the command of "hit it,"

Jada pushes the button on her boom box to start the music of "Dancing Machine" and begins twirling on her hind legs.

"She stands on her back legs and twirls and can go the length of the room," Laymon said. She goes frontward and backwards and just keeps spinning."

Jada, who has been raised with a two-year-old American bobtail cat named China, exhibited her talent for dancing at an early age, Laymon said.

"She just kind of did it on her own, and we enhanced it from there," she said. "She's real smart."

Laymon said the excitement of flying to New York and spending the night at the Dream Hotel in Manhattan apparently had unnerved Jada. A rap group spending the night down the hall kept Jada disturbed all night long, she said.

"They were rapping into the night and carrying on down there," Laymon said. "She had never heard that much noise before. She was guarding the room all night."

Laymon said the day of Jada's big performance she was too tired to get out of bed and tried her best to sleep in.

"That morning she just wanted to lay and sleep," Laymon said. "We had to pick her up and carry her to Central Park."

Ross said the producers of the Letterman show kept their sense of humor about the incident, even though they were out plane fare and a hotel bill for Jada and her owners.

"They suggested they would like to have her back again, and they said they would bring her up early for an extra day to rest," Ross said.

Ross said she and Laymon also understood Jada just wasn't up to the task that day.

"They're like children," Ross said. "They're unpredictable. I thought, ok. It was a wonderful trip anyway."

If the Letterman producers call for Jada again, she will go and hopefully will feel inspired to dance, Ross said.

"Dear God, we hope so," Ross said.

e-mail webb@dallasvoice.com

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 13, 2006.