Lifestyles of 5 Rich and Famous Shelter Dogs

By Langley Cornwell

Bradley Cooper with Charlotte

How does this sound… one day you’re sitting in a cold, damp shelter eyeballing everybody that walks by. Wondering with each passing visitor if the next one will be ‘your’ person, the one to take you home and give you a place to feel warm and secure. Days pass slowly. Then one fine day, someone spends extra time in front of your cage. You are escorted into a ‘get acquainted room’ with that person and notice they smell really good. It’s nice the way they scratch behind your ears and call you ‘buddy’. After a short time, you’re escorted into a long black car and whisked away with the guy who smelled so good. Next thing you know, you’re eating a premium quality dog food like CANIDAE and sleeping in a deluxe bed. Suddenly, you find yourself in the lap of luxury!

That very thing happened to these lucky dogs when their paths crossed with these celebrities.      

Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper may be People magazine’s 2011 Sexiest Man Alive because of his blue eyes and his mischievous grin, but he’s tops on my list because of his love of rescue animals. In a 2009 interview, Cooper was more interested in talking about his shelter dogs than promoting his upcoming movie. At the time, Samson and Charlotte were his cherished companions. Samson was around fourteen years old and Charlotte was 6 or 7. Cooper talked about falling in love with each of them immediately, and referred to the dogs as his kids. Since then, Samson has crossed over the Rainbow Bridge but Charlotte is still right by his side, living the high life and even accompanying him onto movie sets. When it comes to women, one of the most important characteristics Cooper looks for is a love of animals. He claims that for a girl to stand a chance, she’s got to like his dogs. He staunchly declares that he and his dogs are a package deal.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez

Teen sweethearts Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were in Canada recently for Gomez’s tour. While there, they took a break from work and visited the D’Arcy’s A.R.C. animal shelter to snuggle with some puppies. Gomez already has 5 rescue dogs and uses her high profile to advocate for animal rescue. A sucker for a sweet face, Gomez fell for a young husky mix on sight, and decided to add one more dog to her pack. Even though everybody at the shelter knew who Bieber and Gomez were, they still had to go through the standard adoption and vetting process. Of course it went smoothly. They named the pup Baylor and took him from the shelter and into their privileged lives. Baylor is living large.    

Robert Pattinson

Star of the Twilight movies and British hunk Robert Pattison visited a kill shelter outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana recently and fell in love. Bear was on his sixth of seven days when Pattison happened upon him and adopted him immediately. Now the two are inseparable. On a segment of Live! with Regis and Kelly to promote The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1, Pattison said he had to take a private jet three days after rescuing Bear, so of course the dog went along. Flying in comfort, the pup had a seat all to himself on the plane. In three short days, Bear went from an animal shelter to a private jet. Not bad for a shelter pooch! Now, Pattison doesn’t go anywhere without his trusty companion. Bear has already traveled to California, Toronto and other exciting locations, and has many happy, comfortable days ahead.

Boo Boo Stewart

Another Twilight star, Boo Boo Stewart, is a shelter dog advocate. In fact, Stewart feels so strongly about dog adoption that he uses his fame to spread the word. Recently, Stewart and his rescued dog Pookie filmed a video for the ‘Adopt, Don’t Buy’ campaign. In the video, Stewart urges people to adopt from an animal shelter. Pookie lives the good life.

Joey Lawrence

While filming in Australia, the Melissa and Joey actor visited a local shelter and was captivated by a black Labrador-Australian heeler mix. Even though he was out of the country, he just couldn’t leave without the precious pup. A big price tag and complicated logistics for getting her back to the States didn’t deter the star from going forward with the adoption. Now named Tiffany, the shelter dog is living it up with the Lawrence family’s other dog, Dakota.

These dogs went from one extreme to the other but really, all that shelter dogs are looking for is a forever home where they can give and receive love.

Read more articles by Langley Cornwell