Broadway’s current revival of “Gypsy” breaks with tradition in its treatment of four-legged performers.

The first to appear on stage, in the arms of the show’s petite star Bernadette Peters (a.k.a. Momma Rose), is an equally petite black miniature poodle with long hair and silver markings – Rose’s pet, “Chowsie.” Ever since the show’s first production in 1959, Chowsie had been portrayed by a yorkie.

William Berloni, Broadway’s go-to trainer of animal talent, explains that “Gypsy” takes place during the Great Depression, when only the wealthy could afford purebreds.

“We worked hard to find a dog that passes as a mutt, yet is small enough for Bernadette to carry,” says Berloni, who has experience nurturing raw canine talent – 27 years ago he discovered the then-hard up Sandy, canine star of “Annie.”

As for Chowsie, “we learned of a poodle living outdoors in Alabama,” Berloni recalls. “She was in bad shape.”

Today, Chowsie – whose real name is Coco Chanel – enjoys such perks as weekly grooming sessions and a customized van with dog safety seats.

Lambs serenaded by the teenage Gypsy (Tammy Blanchard) in the “Little Lamb” number also lead a good life – which hadn’t always been the case. “One of the stage hands who’d worked on the original production told me they’d go to the meat market to get a lamb,” Berloni says, “and when it got too big, it got eaten.”

Berloni goes to the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in Old Chatham, N.Y. (blacksheep.com), where he gets a four-day old, seven-pound lamb. When it’s strong enough, it goes on stage. And when, three weeks later, it grows to about 18 pounds, it returns to the farm where it supplies wool, and milk for cheese. Berloni then selects another baby lamb.

“Those lambs will never be eaten,” Berloni promises.

Talk about a happy Broadway ending.