How Batman's Burt Ward Went from Boy Wonder to a Canine Crusader with 50 Dogs at Home (Exclusive)

Robin is focused on helping dogs, not bats, these days.

In 1965, Burt Ward landed a principal role in a primetime television series with his first audition. The series was Batman, based on the classic comic book of the same name. Ward played Robin, The Boy Wonder, the short-caped protégé of Adam West's Batman.

As a young child, Ward read comic books – mostly Superman but never Batman, which he had never heard of.

"I knew nothing about Batman or Robin," Ward, 77, tells PEOPLE of his boyhood.

Like Ward's love for superheroes, his love for dogs began at an early age, thanks to a string of friendly family pets.

But before Ward devoted his life to dogs, he spent 120 episodes from 1966 to 68, being one half of the dynamic duo.

Ward met West on the day of his successful audition and immediately hit it off with his costar.

"We started talking. Within five minutes, the two of us were laughing. We got along so incredibly, and we never stopped laughing for more than 55 years," Ward says of West, who died in 2017.

While working on Batman has left Ward with countless beautiful memories — some of which he recounts in his 1995 memoir, Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights — the show's wardrobe isn't among them.

"Every single thing itched, or pulled, or pinched, or rubbed, or poked. It was horrible," Ward recalls of the tights, mask, and other costume pieces he wore for the Robin role.

"The cape was double-thick, bridal satin. Weighed 15 pounds. Was pulling my head back. I had to literally consciously lean forward to counteract the constant pull of the cape," he adds.

These days Ward no longer fights crime in Gotham City and, more recently, has pivoted to saving real-world lives.

In 1994, Ward and his wife, Tracy, started Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions, a nonprofit that has found forever homes for over 15,500 dogs. 

The Wards always have about 50 dogs at home ready for adoption. They live well outside of Los Angeles, in what Ward calls "an animal-friendly community," which allows them to keep numerous rescue pooches in their house.

Actresses Vanessa Williams and America Ferrera have adopted dogs from the Wards, as well as Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons.

Ward and his wife's rescue work inspired them to find other ways to improve the life of pets. In 2005 the couple launched Gentle Giant Products, which provides natural pet food designed to extend the life expectancy of dogs and cats. 

The pet food line was born from emotion. "We couldn't stand to see our dogs dying so young," says Ward. "When we would lose one, my wife Tracy and I would sob."

The venture has been moving for Ward, who has seen his efforts help animals enjoy "a wonderful quality of life." 

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The Wards don't pay themselves a salary for their work, which keeps prices down. 

While Ward occupies a small spot in television history and pop culture, the differences he has made for pets might matter to him most because he'd like to be remembered "as a person that left this planet better off than I found it."

Perhaps if the pets whose lives he's enriched could talk, they'd say, "Holy achievement, Batman!"