Drew Lachey is the all-time quadruple threat: singer, actor, dancer, and animal lover. Today, the former 98 Degrees boy-bander turned Dancing With The Stars champ continues to hone in on all his crafts, having starred in the Broadway musical Rent, hosting Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann and continually helping animal charities. But when the Ohio native heartthrob isn’t charming audiences or serenading his wife and daughter, he spends all his time with his best friend, Luka.
Luka is the Lachey’s German Shepherd who is named after an iconic cinematic figure from the movie The Godfather. “My wife and I are both big fans of The Godfather, and Luca Brasi was the faithful, loyal protector and that’s what Luka is for us. He lets us know if there’s anything wrong in the house. I’d be scared to see what he’d do to somebody who tries to hurt our family.” Although Luka may have a hard demeanor on the outside, the truth is, inside he’s quite puppyish and mellow. “He’s a great dog, everybody loves him. Once he mellows out and lays down, you could have 100 kids crawling around him and he wouldn’t care,” Lachey told Animal Fair, also commenting on Luka’s age. “He’s going grey like me … he thinks he’s still a puppy, but we don’t have the heart to tell him he’s an old man now.”
Typically, owners and their dogs tend to develop similar personalities. Unfortunately, they do not develop similar talents. While Lachey is a sublime singer and recording artist, Luka lacks the gusto when it comes to music. “Luka’s not much of a singer, he makes this Chewbacca noise when he gets excited … that’s the only singing he does … I think he’s tone deaf actually.” Luka also strays away from the dance floor, even when his two-stepping dad is tapping away. “He tends to be pretty much a klutz, so he’s not the most graceful of dancers,” says Lachey, adding, “He doesn’t realize how big he is.” Lachey couldn’t care less about his dog’s performing abilities; the bottom line is there is a loving, unbreakable bond between the two.
Lachey and Luka are now finding ways to give back to the canine community. Most recently, they teamed up with Purina Dog Chow for the “Picture Your Dog in Times Square” competition. Lachey, Luka and Purina joined forces to gather dog pictures from people all across the country, building the country’s largest virtual dog park. All valid photos that were submitted were featured on the Reuters NASDAQ Digital Tower Billboard in Times Square. In addition, Luka and Lachey raised over $40,000 to help fund dog parks and off-leash areas nationwide as part of Purina’s Grant Program.
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