Glenn Close is not the maniacal dog hating Cruella De Vil of 101 (and 102) Dalmatians, she just played her in the movie. Yet the five-time Oscar nominee and Emmy, Golden Globe and three-time Tony award winning actress is willing to admit that in the past she has “played some characters who have not always treated animals – especially dogs–kindly.” On-screen, one must remember, she plays characters. Off-screen Glenn Close embodies the absolute essence of an animal lover, telling Animal Fair, “My love and attachment to dogs is totally authentic. I have always had at least one dog. In fact my family’s entire history could be recorded as to what dogs were alive at what time.” Because of this, we tribute all of Close’s pets as our Most Eligible which comes to no surprise due to her rich history of raising truly spectacular pets who are all eligible in their own rights.
Close, who can be seen in the new FX drama Damages, has now teamed up with her pups Jake and Bill as well as FetchDog.com to start a blog called LIVELY LICKS: Profiles of Dogs and their People. The blog boasts, well just what the title states, and recent Q & A guests have included couple Ted Danson (her Damages co-star) and Mary Steenbugen. “My favorite thing about doing LIVELY LICKS is hearing all the wonderful and funny things people have to say about their dogs. Real dog lovers talk endlessly about their pets and are deeply amused by them. I find it very entertaining. The Q & A is designed to be spontaneously funny and authentic. It also, upon occasion, can be profound; because anyone who has ever loved a dog knows how deeply affecting that relationship can be.” Close is able to give back with LIVELY LICKS by having her featured guests choose a charity that FetchDog will donate a portion of sales to. One charity Close chose was Puppies Behind Bars, a group that has prison inmates train puppies to be service dogs for the community. “I had heard, from the inmates, about how effective the program is, it gives them a chance to give back to society. Dogs that are socialized by carefully chosen inmates, over sixteen months, go on to be trained to be dogs for the disabled, guide dogs for the blind and explosive detecting dogs for law enforcement agencies. The dogs who have been prepared by people who have been shut away from society go on to literally save lives,” Close told us. Another charity she will feature is Broadway Barks, originally founded by Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters. Close also told us how impressed she was with the Animal Care and Control facility in New York’s Upper East Side. “It is a place full of compassionate, dedicated people who sincerely care about what happens to all the animals they are mandated to accept. We are thrilled to be establishing an affiliation with them and hope to help focus on their adoption and educational programs. Our visit shattered any preconceived ideas I had about a city pound.” FetchDog.com offers a unique social shopping program that is continually donating to various charities in need. Every purchase made off their website results in a donation to one or more of the charities feature on their site.
LIVELY LICKS states that it is “a tribute to all the fabulous dogs who trot and wag their way through our lives and to the people who they have so successfully trained.” When we asked her about some of those dogs, she profiled her life dog by dog. Her first dog was a “beautiful, tri-colored collie called Merry-Mark-of-Mooreland, who [she] called Docus.” Close would sport Docus’s collar as a belt, and fondly remembers: “he was my pal.” She also spoke of her “fabulously classy little mutt” Penny, who came from a Tennessee farm and would become the mascot at the William & Mary Theatre Department because she went to every course with Close. There was also her Coton de Tulear, Gabby, and her “unforgettable Scottish Border Terrier called Belle” who both “had their names on the door of [her] dressing room during the Broadway run of Sunset Boulevard; down low, at dog-level.” So while any naive movie goer may have preconceived notions about this actress, the truth is with the dogs. Real life Glenn Close is anti-De Vil. Glenn Close is the epitome of an animal lover, and for that, her true motives towards dogs, and her animal history, her pets are our Most Eligible. Close’s idea of perfect happiness would be “to be under the shade of a beautiful tree, on a breezy, high-summer day, with a good book, a dog at my feet and the people I love most within sight.” After all, well- loved pets are eligible pets.
You can find LIVELY LICKS at: FetchDog.com. For more information on the mentioned charities visit: Dogs BehindBars.com, BroadwayBarks.com and nycacc.org for Animal Care and Control of New York City.
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