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Interview

Pet Set: Cait Fairbanks (Tessa, Y&R)

Animal Attraction: “Even though Millie is a black Lab mix, she looks just like a full-blood Lab. I adopted her when she was 10 weeks old and tiny and she’s now 6 years old. She’s very sweet and very devoted.”

Were you always an animal lover? “Oh, yeah. My family were huge animal lovers and I grew up with practically a zoo. We had cats, dogs, turtles, reptiles and fish. At one point I had a crawfish that I brought home from school.”

How did Millie come into your life? “I was living in New York where I was performing in [the off-Broadway musical] Heathers. When we were done with rehearsals, I was only gone four hours at night to do the show, so I felt like I had enough free time during the day to have a dog. I was 20 and I was really ready for this. I was living with my brother and he was egging me on to get a dog. I saw one online that I really liked but when I got to the place, I was told she was adopted. I then turned around and Millie just came trotting in. She had a skinny little body with these big paws and I immediately said, ‘That’s my dog!’ While I was signing everything, she was sitting at my feet whining and I thought, ‘Wow, she’s already attached. This is exactly what I need.’ I need validation all of the time [laughs].”

How did you decide on her name? “I really wanted to name her Billie after Billie Holiday but I had a friend whose dog was named Billie. I had already tried a bunch different names and Billie was the only one she responded to, so I decided to go with something that sounded really close.”

Does Millie have any nicknames? “There are so many but I can only say the ones that are appropriate. We call her Miller Light sometimes as well as Princess and Honey Bear. She has short bowel syndrome from a tumor she had removed a couple of years ago. She did okay but I was a mess about it. It was the first time that something I’m taking care of was in a dangerous situation. She’s okay now, but since she had part of her colon missing, she doesn’t have as good of a filter. She has really smelly farts, so we’ll also call her Stinky.”

What are her personality traits? “Where do I start? She’s very smart and very emotional. She’s very aware, so if I’m upset, she always stays by me. She’s very patient and she’s also very sassy. If I’m not petting her enough, she’ll sit at my feet and bark. And she’s always looking up at me when I’m not feeding her.”

What kind of activities do you enjoy together? “She loves going on long walks and swimming in lakes and rivers. If I’m in the water, she’ll jump in and swim around me like she’s trying to save me. We haven’t taken her to a dog beach yet because I’m nervous about other dog owners not being able to control their dogs.”

How do you like to spoil Millie? “I’ll bake her treats, which she loves. She just looked up at me because I said ‘treats’ [laughs]. She likes to snuggle and I never had a dog who likes to snuggle as much as her. She waits by the bed and when I lay down, she spoons me. She’ll stay there until I start moving, which bothers her, so she’ll go to her own bed. She has a bed in every room. Oh, there’s another way she’s spoiled! She has beds all over my place.”

What is your favorite story about Millie? “Well, this is more of a memorable one. The first night I had her, she was in bed with me and slept a little at first but then she woke up and wanted to play. So, I took her out to the hallway to run her around a little bit to tire her out so she’d go back asleep. I was really sleepy and when I was running with her I slipped on something and landed on top of her. She was little and yelped and I thought, ‘Oh, my God. I’ve killed my dog.’ I was too scared to look and was crying when she walked up to me and I put my head on her little head. Then all of a sudden, I got a whiff of poop and it turned out that’s what I slipped on and I was just covered with it. But I held her and thought, ‘This is what taking care of something means.’ ”

Does she travel with you? “Every so often. We went to Lake Arrowhead and brought her. It was fun and she loved it. I try to bring her with me as much as possible but she really likes to just be home. She’ll get anxious sometimes when we go places because she’s such a homebody.”

How does Millie get along with your boyfriend, Zach [Tinker, ex-Fen]? “Millie definitely likes Zach. She’s very wary in general of people and it takes her a long time to feel comfortable with someone. But she loves him. They wrestle and play really well together.”

Where do you stand on dressing up dogs in human clothes? “Millie just doesn’t like clothes, I can’t even put a bandana on her. She doesn’t even like her collar. I’ve bought her Halloween costumes but she’ll only wear it long enough for a picture and then she pouts until I take it off.”

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