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Issue Date: June 16, 2002
Special Pets Report
Busy people, needy pets
Think your schedule's hectic? Some of the rich and famous share pet-care advice for those on the run.
By Patty Rhule
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Chely Wright and Miss Minnie
The singer's 3.2-pound Yorkshire goes just about everywhere with her, even on planes -- depending on the airline.
Justin Berfield and Wiz
The blue-point Siamese cat is one of the "Malcolm in the Middle" actor's 15 animal companions. His advice for others who want lots of pets? "Always take your back yard size into account. Too small a yard means unhappy animals."
Jenna Von Oy and Bruiser
A volunteer at an animal shelter, the star of The Parkers waited until her show was on hiatus to get her pug from a breeder.
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All that keeps country singer Chely Wright from always having her favorite traveling companion by her side is a wet nose, fur and a wagging tail.
"Darn that Southwest Airlines. They don't let you fly with animals," says Wright, who spends about 200 days a year on the road. As often as possible, her companion is her tiny Yorkshire, Miss Minnie.
Named after Wright's mentor and friend Minnie Pearl, who died six years ago, Miss Minnie travels in Wright's purse. "When no one's looking," she says, "I sneak her out."
But when Wright visits Switzerland in September to promote her CD "Never Love You Enough", Miss Minnie won't be there; to protect her pet's health, Wright doesn't take her overseas. Within the USA, "she's a great little bus dog," trained to use a scented "pee pad" when the bus is rolling and nature calls.
America's celebrities may live lives that are more glamorous than those of the rest of us, but they are no less busy and hectic, and many have figured out practical -- and sometimes humorous -- solutions for the care and feeding of their four-legged family members.
And although stars such as Jay Leno and Regis Philbin favor cats, in dog-eat-dog Hollywood, canines rule. "Malcolm in the Middle" actor Justin Berfield, 16, straddles both worlds: His menagerie includes three pugs, one boxer and two cats, as well as nine desert tortoises.
Smokey, a Persian cat, requires a fair amount of grooming and is more friendly and comical than Wiz, a blue-point Siamese who is pretty laid back. Berfield says cats are easy. "They're not pigs; you just put out a [dispenser] that automatically drops food down," and cats are content.
His high-maintenance pet is Diva, a year-old boxer. Like many Americans, Berfield puts his pooches in doggie day care while he's at work. He says the key is to start earlier than he did with Diva. She was already 5 months old when he first left her at Beverly Oaks Pet Resort, and she was fearful at first -- but now she loves it, he says.
June 21 is Take Your Dog to Work Day, but Diva needs no official holiday to make herself at home on the set of Fox's "Malcolm", where Berfield plays dim older brother Reese. She occasionally takes over his trailer, watching the news and cable's Animal Planet. "She gets sad when there are animal rescues; she doesn't like to see kittens and puppies in danger," Berfield says facetiously.
Diva won't eat unless VitaGravy, a sort of steak sauce for pets, is squirted onto her food. When Berfield's family goes out to dinner, Diva gets a hollow bone stuffed with peanut butter that she's content to lick for hours.
Keeping family members happy is hard enough these days, and most people think of their pets as part of the family. As with child rearing, even people with the best intentions make mistakes, celebrities included, says Keith Benson, senior vice president at Triple Crown Dog Academy outside Austin, Texas, where "Men in Black II" star Tommy Lee Jones had his dogs trained.
Benson's training philosophy is positive reinforcement. Too often, he says, people call dogs to reprimand them. What did the dog learn? "When I come back to you, I'm going to get scolded." Benson focuses on rewarding appropriate behaviors (such as coming when called) with praise or treats rather than punishing bad behavior.
There's endless debate over whether cats are trainable or whether they train their humans. Regis Philbin admits cats seem "impervious to you and their surroundings. [But] cat lovers understand what it's all about." Philbin says his Himalayan, Ashley, is "one of the few 'people' in this world who is crazy about me." Named after "Gone With the Wind:'s Ashley Wilkes (another cat, Scarlett, died a few years back), Ashley is blind in one eye and loves to have his ears rubbed. Because of his advanced age -- 18 -- Philbin has to watch Ashley's diet. Rice and turkey are current faves.
Some celebrities like to keep their dogs by their side. Actress Ashley Judd even took one of her cockapoos, Buttermilk, on the "Today" show.
Sigourney Weaver prefers the stability of keeping her pets at home while she travels. And while many celebrities have the means to indulge their pets in all manner of luxury, Weaver isn't one to fuss over her miniature greyhounds, Baci and Petals. They don't require much grooming -- she tried it once, but "I couldn't really tell the difference" -- and they rarely indulge in treats.
She's more concerned about equal treatment. Having two dogs requires special effort on the part of the pet parent, the actress says: "We're very conscious of the rivalry for affection. You have to pet everyone equally."
Jenna Von Oy knew having a puppy was like having a baby, so she waited until her hiatus from shooting UPN's "The Parkers" to get her pug, Bruiser. A volunteer at a shelter for abandoned dogs, she wanted to adopt, but most shelters won't allow it if you have an unfenced pool, as Von Oy does. She got Bruiser from a breeder and never leaves him in the yard alone.
Von Oy, 25, considers herself a big-dog person, but "with traveling a lot, you can't bring a big dog with you. I would be beside myself if I had to leave my dog home [alone] or at a breeder during the week." That's why she chose a small dog. Her boyfriend, sister and brother watch Bruiser while she's working, and every so often, he'll visit her on the set.
At 13 weeks, Bruiser was housebroken and knew the "sit" command. Von Oy decided to crate-train him to ease travel later. (Training a dog to stay in a metal crate for hours at a time also helps housebreak him and gives him a denlike area to hang out in.) "The first couple of nights, he cried," she says, "and that broke my heart."
CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo got her Maltese, Ella Bella Jazz, a year ago from a breeder; she's had dogs all her life and knew the breed's smart, loving temperament. The only puppy proofing Bartiromo had to do was to put toilet paper out of reach. "My girlfriend calls her part of the Enron scandal -- she shreds paper," Bartiromo jokes. She says training dogs is a cinch, "as long as you take them out fairly regularly." When you first start walking your dog, make it a familiar route so he can get to know the smells, she suggests. And "make sure you know what he's capable of. You don't want a dog that will snap at other dogs."
Actress Weaver is pet product manufacturer Merial's spokeswoman for finding a reliable vet for your dog. "It's sort of like having a good pediatrician or internist," she says. "Dogs can communicate in a lot of ways, but they can't tell you they found a candy bar under your child's bed and that's why they're not well."
Weaver has seen the magical bond that can form between owner and pet and says portraying Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist" altered her view of animals: "[Fossey] really considered animals her equal. I saw a letter she wrote to her dog, Cindy. It was written with a great deal of respect to the dog and the dog's right to an existence that was the same quality as her own."
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Puppy love, indeed!
Two years ago, actress Sigourney Weaver decided to breed Petals, her female miniature greyhound, and soon found Mr. Right: "His name was Jimmy. He lived around the corner." But Weaver's then-10-year-old daughter wasn't satisfied. "Charlotte said, 'If they're going to have babies, they should get married.' " So Weaver put on the dog. The bride wore white and was attended by bridesmaids; the groom had a best man. A ceremony was written ("Bark now or forever hold your peace"). A lawyer friend offered a "prepuptial" agreement. Three months later, Petals had three pups; the tiniest was Baci, above. The family kept Baci (Italian for "kisses") and gave away the other two. Jimmy, who tended to be territorial, is now out of the picture. "Charlotte said recently they ought to get a divorce, but I said, 'Well, they're busy with their own lives,' " Weaver says, laughing. Petals is holding up well: "I don't see her mooning around."
Photos by NANCY LEE ANDREWS for USA WEEKEND (Chely White); DALE BERMAN for USA WEEKEND (Justin Berfield)
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