Animal Attraction: “My dogs are all mutts. We have Ozzy, who is 13-ish, Bean, who is 8-ish, and Basil, who is about a year old.”
Have you always been an animal person? “Yes. I love animals and have always been an animal lover.”
Did you grow up with pets? “I did. My mom loved dogs — my dad was more … willing to put up with them. But yes, I had dogs around my whole life. We did have cats, too, at one point, but I was very allergic.”
How did Ozzy, Bean and Basil come to be a part of your household? “We’ve rescued all three dogs. Ozzy we literally rescued — [my husband] Dave and I were driving down the street and saw Ozzy — no tags, clearly a street dog — just trotting along. Traffic was trying to avoid him but it was getting scary. I jumped out of the car and managed to get Ozzy to come to me. He’s been with us ever since, which is seven or eight years now. He’s the best. Bean we picked out at a city shelter and Basil came to us from a great rescue called Rover’s Retreat. Basil was meant to just be a ‘foster dog’ but … we fell in love with her right away. We couldn’t give her up!”
How did you name them? “Ozzy we named for finding him on Osborne Street. Bean was a name we settled on as a family because she was such a jumping bean when we first got her; she could jump up on anything and it just stuck. Basil was named by the rescue and we kept it.”
Describe their personalities. “Ozzy is super-mellow. Also ’cause he’s older now. But he has always been very protective of us, he barks at anyone who walks by … he takes his responsibilities seriously. Bean is much more timid. She’s definitely tentative and scared of new people, but once she adapts to having someone around, she loves to be petted and will demand it if you get lazy and try to stop petting her before she’s ready. Basil is just the sweetest — she’s the first ‘puppy’ we’ve had in our house, because Ozzy and Bean were adult dogs when we rescued them. Basil is just so sweet and loving and she attached to [my daughter] Megan right away.”
How did Basil adjust to the household? Were you worried about bringing a third dog in? “We were worried at first, but we introduced them outside, away from their ‘territory’ so that hopefully it wouldn’t be such a big issue. And we made sure to give Ozzy and Bean lots of attention so they didn’t feel left out. Basil adjusted actually very easily. The only issue was at feeding time and we made sure to separate them until they adjusted to each other.”
How do the dogs get along? “The dogs get along well. Ozzy and Bean are a little older now, so when Basil tries to play with them, they kind of ignore her.”
Do members of your family have favorites, or do the dogs have favorites? “Ozzy is really Dave’s dog — Ozzy just sort of attached to Dave from the beginning. Wherever Dave is in the house, you can be sure Ozzy is in the same room. Bean really connected with [my son] Ben from the beginning. It’s sweet, she doesn’t really want to play with Basil but she does sometimes get the ‘zoomies’ and runs around the house chasing Ben. And as I mentioned, Basil is just totally attached to Megan. She wants to be wherever Megan is all the time.”
How you you divide the care of the dogs in your household? Who feeds them? “Ben and Megan share the daily responsibilities.”
What are your favorite things about your pups? “How do I even answer that? There are so many ‘favorite’ things … I love their personalities, their quirks. I love their energy and their unconditional love. And seeing them interact with the kids. That’s the best.”
What are your favorite activities to do with your dogs? “We like to take them for walks and hikes. We take them with us up to our cabin in the mountains and it’s so cute to see those L.A. dogs adapt to the snow [laughs]. If you aren’t careful, they’ll just turn right around and come inside if it’s too cold.”
How do you spoil your dogs? “We spoil them with affection. We have kind of a fancy fresh dog food we get. Some people — I won’t name names — give them table scraps, but I am very against that.”
What’s your favorite story about any of your dogs? “I suppose my favorite story is how we got Ozzy.”
Do your pets sleep with you? “Yes. We tried at first to crate-train Ozzy. That just didn’t work. Dave built a ramp so they could get up on the bed themselves.”
Do your pets travel with you? “To locations we know will be fun for them too, yes.”
Where do you stand on dressing your dog in human clothes? Have you ever dressed them up for Halloween? “We don’t really dress up the dogs for holidays. One time I got our old dog, Winky, who’s passed away, a Yoda costume which was hilarious. But that isn’t really our thing.”
