Reese Witherspoon walks with Frank Sinatra and daughter Ava

Reese Witherspoon was seen walking the beaches with Frank Sinatra. That would be her dog, of course. Also along for the walk was 6-year-old future starlet Ava.

This picture comes from JustJared.com where they are much more concerned about whether Reese's loose frock is hiding some news. Will Ava have a new brother or sister soon? We'll leave that to other sites to worry about, so if you want to read more, visit JustJared.com.

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James out for a walk

No news here. Just a shot of Sandra Bullock and Jesse James out walking their chihuahua. Kind of amazing how absolutely normal they look, isn't it?

Aren't celebs supposed to be under-dressed, over-drunk, and glaring at the paparazzi? Someone tell Sandra to re-read her celebrity contract and stop looking like our next door neighbor!

This photo comes from Gabsmash.com.

Jessica Simpson Almost X-Rayed Her Dog

People said Jessica Simpson just "played" dumb on her show to add appeal to her TV character, and we tended to believe them. (Come on, Chicken of the Sea? Really?!?!) But, then again, who knows...

Egotastic reports that Jessica was seen trying to get her dog X-rayed at an airport security checkpoint. It seems hard to believe, although there is an incriminating photo.

Then again, maybe someone accused Daisy of being a Weapon of Mass Cuteness. I mean, just look at her!

You can read more here.

Jennifer Aniston cannot live without her dog

The Philippine Daily Inquirer has an interview with Jennifer Aniston in which she reveals she cannot live without her dog. We couldn't live without our pet, so we know how she feels!

Asked about the four things in life that she can’t live without, number one was her dog. Added to the list was water (always the practical girl, that Jen!), a zone bar, and her health. Then she added friends. Nowhere on the list was Vince Vaughn. We just had to point that out.

Also asked for her four deal-breakers, she said, "Someone who hates dogs."

Could Jen be more perfect? Okay, other than her desire to shake up her image by choosing icky roles in movies like Derailed, could she be more perfect?

You can read more of her interview here.

Paris Hilton's new pooch pad

The Luxist tells us that Paris Hilton recently went shopping for a new home, and of course her pets were a major consideration in her selection. She chose a modest three-bedroom fixer-upper on a half acre in Lawndale.

Just kidding! Paris reportedly purchased a three-million dollar mansion in the Hollywood Hills, complete with a gated living area for her pets. (Some people live in gated communities--Paris' home has a gated community within its compound!)

According to Britain's Hello magazine, there is a special living area inside the house for her dogs complete with iron gates branded with the family emblem. Inside the gated area, the pampered pooches will reportedly sit on plush pink cushions with the Hilton crest on them and drink from custom-made pink personalised bowls and each has a crown to wear.

If $3 million sounds like a lot for a woman who has House of Wax on her acting resume, don't you worry about Paris. She reportedly makes $20M per year on appearances and another $10M on fragrances and jewelry.

You can read more on Luxist.com and lse.co.uk.

How Lassie and other pet stars make it in Hollywood

Ran across an interesting article on AZCentral.com that you may find interesting--it's about how pets find their way in Hollywood. Mentioned are (of course) Lassie, but you'll also find some interesting trivia about other notable star pets as well:

• Casey, plucked from a litter of average pups, is now Felicity Huffman's co-star on Desperate Housewives.
• Tanner, the yellow Lab from Mission: Impossible III, who had "a resume of movie cameos and commercials" before upstaging Tom Cruise in M:I:III. (At least Tanner knows enough not to jump up and down on Oprah's couch!)
• Hey Hey, the collie who currently portrays Lassie on the big screen.
• Moose, the Jack Russell terrier that played Eddie on Frasier (and his son, Enzo, who later took over the same role.)

You'll also find out what it takes for a four-legged actor to become a star. "Being cute or playing dead in the living room doesn't cut it when you're on location with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts, and time is money."

Speaking of money, what does a pet make for a day's work in Hollywood? Unlike human stars, it seems dogs can rake in more bucks on TV than in films: Movie animals are hired at $300 to $450 a day, but an animal appearing frequently in a successful television series might make $10,000 a week. (We were about to get depressed about the fact Moose on Frazier probably made more in a couple seasons than we're likely to see in our lives, remember then we remembered he's cute and can hit a mark better than we can.)

Read more on AZCentral.com.

Famke Janssen picks her pet over her agent

According to a small blurb in the Monterey Herald, the fabulous Famke Janssen wasn't allowed to bring her dog, Licorice, into her agent's offices, so she left rather than take her meeting. This may be more fiction than fact, though--Famke is repped by CAA and the story claims she was trying to visit the William Morris Agency.

You can see Famke in the soon-to-be-huge X-Men: The Last Stand.

You can read the article for yourself on montereyherald.com. Or, enjoy a cute story about how Licorice got a shiny cape custom made by the X2's costume designer.

Knots Landing star now helping animals

Teri Austin, one-time star of Knots Landing and Maniac Mansion, has dedicated herself to a higher calling: helping animals in L.A.

Teri's in charge of the state's most successful mobile spay-neuter program, which is run by The Amanda Foundation. The program gives free spay-neuter services to pets whose owners can't afford them.

Teri also saves animals from certain death, taking them from our local shelters to be adopted from The Amanda Foundation's No Kill Facility in Beverly Hills. One dog she saved is now roommates with newly unemployed Mischa Barton. (I hope now that she's not among the OC cast that she can still afford dog food!)

"It's not work when you love it, you know, and I do," Teri says.

You can read more about Teri and her work on 13abc.com.

Lassie and Morris the Cat receive StarPet Awards

We're not sure if this news or just cheap publicity, but either way you may enjoy knowing that Lassie and Morris the Cat were honored with StarPet Awards. What's a StarPet award, you may ask? Those are awards given by animal behaviorist Bash Dibra who just happens to have a book called... care to guess... you'll be surprised... StarPet. (You weren't surprised, were you?)

Lassie and Morris appeared in person to accept their awards at a Bide-A-Wee Gala in May during National Pet Month. (No word on how Lassie and Morris got along. Rumor has it they've had a long-standing feud ever since they arrived to the Westminster show wearing the same outfit.)

You can read more about Bash and StarPets at http://www.starpet.com/.

Evel Knievel and his pooch

Evel Knievel sure has led one hell of a life. But, mortality is catching up with the 67-year-old daredevil. Once he flew through the air on his bike, but now he has trouble walking from his condo to his pool. Some of those famous flights ended in equally famous crash landings, and his body is now paying the price.

At least Evel has the love of a dog! The article on Yahoo News is accompanied by a shot of Evel, his long-time partner, and their dog. Care to guess the dog's name? The Rocket Man has a dog named Rocket!

Read more about Evel on Yahoo News.

Rachel Bilson has a morbid fear of beagles

Now that Rachel Bilson doesn't have to worry about Mischa stealing her scenes next year, she's turned her psychic energy in a different direction. We already know that Rachel enjoys dogs (here and here) but it turns out she not only doesn't like all dogs, she actually hates one breed in particular!

According to Socialite Life, Rachel hates Beagles. "I hate them (beagles) and I'm not afraid to say the word 'hate.'"

Why would the actress hate such a cute and cuddly breed? Apparently they aren't too cute and cuddly to her. One of the dogs tried to rip her face off when she was a child. The actress, 24, has a scar on her upper lip to remind her of her encounter with the savage mutt when she was just three.

Oddly enough, while she hates beagles, she owns a pit bull! "Last year Adam showed up with this big pit bull and said, 'Happy birthday! Here's your dog! Her name is Penny!' I was, like, 'Let me get this straight. You picked out my dog. It's a pit bull.'"

I guess if a beagle attempts to get to Rachel, he'll have to get through a pit bull to get to her!

You can see more pictures of Rachel and her pooch on Socialite Life.

Orlando Bloom and Guero take a walk

JustJared.com has some nice shots of Orlando Bloom out for a walk with his dog. His pooch, Guero, was a stray Orlando adopted while filming Troy. (Is it just us, or does Orlando look like he got a wee bit too comfortable wearing a cape during the filming of LOTR?)

Nicole, Paris, and Scarlett on the Celebrity Dog Blog

Check out the Celebrity Dog Blog for the latest pix of Nicole Richie with her Shih tzu Honeychild, Paris Hilton with her four dogs, and Scarlett Johansson with her Chihuahua. They're all so darn cute! (The dogs, that is--don't get us started on Paris' oversized sunglasses! We were hoping that style would die before the Olsen twins infected others, but it appears awkwardly enormous glasses are hip now.)

Lou Carrol & Checkers: The dog that changed the course of history

Lou Carrol, who recently passed away, became famous for one simple act: He gave a politician the gift of a dog. Doesn't actually sound all that momentous, does it? Well this dog changed the course of US history.

Lou Carrol was a traveling salesman living in a small town in Texas in July 1952 when he stopped in a late-night diner and read a newspaper article in which then-Senator Richard Nixon's wife, Pat, expressed a desire to have a puppy for their two young daughters. He impulsively headed over to a nearby Western Union office and sent a telegram to Nixon's office in Washington. And the rest (as they say) is history.

That dog, named Checkers, saved Nixon's career when he became embroiled in a scandal about the use of campaign funds. Nixon was then a candidate for VP, but it was looking as if he would be dropped from the ticket because of the scandal. That was when Nixon gave the speech of his life--an address that would become one of the most famous speeches in the past century.

You must be of a certain age to remember the "Checkers Speech," and we're proud to report we're not old enough--but we certainly know about it! (Hey, you may have slept through history class, but we didn't!)

In a nationally-broadcast speech that saved Nixon's career, he said the
following:

One other thing I probably should tell you because if we don't they'll probably be saying this about me too, we did get something-a gift-after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog... It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas. Black and white spotted. And our little girl-Tricia, the 6-year old-named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it.

The speech saved Nixon's career (and we're not going to debate whether that's a good or bad thing here--this isn't a political blog!)

Carrol died of natural causes April 3 in Hoffman Estates, Ill., his family said. He was 83. He was always a bit surprised at the role he played in history: "I had no idea she'd be such a big deal," he said of Checkers the dog.

You can read more about Carrol, Nixon, and Checkers on LATimes.com. Or, you can read and hear parts of the famous Checker speech on Watergate.com.

Former San Antonio Spur does full court press for animals

Former San Antonio Spur Sean Elliott really loves animals. He's adopted strays and pets from the Humane Society, and he's so concerned about aging animals being overlooked for adoption that he's filmed a PSA on the benefits of adopting an older pet.

Sean and his wife Claudia were interviewed and spoke about their dog Gigi, an alumnae from the Humane Society. Sean also talked about his Akita, Mojo, and numerous other stray pets that he brought home as a child. "I think I drove my mom crazy bringing home animals," he said during the interview.

You can read more about Sean and Claudia on MySA.com.

Almost-Beastie walks beasties

Ricky Powell is known as a lot of things--renowned celeb photographer, sneaker artist, and the "Fourth Beastie Boy." He's also the dog walker to the stars--or at least to Sarah Jessica Parker and Sally Kellerman--but not a very courteous dog walker, it seems.

Ricky is opening a show in Toronto and is interviewed on Now Toronto. When asked what he does in his free time, Ricky says, "Dog walking. Sarah Jessica Parker is one of my clients. She has a poodle-chihuahua mix, and I also walk Sally Kellerman's great Dane, but that's it on the celebrity tip. The rest are old bohemians who don't want to go out in the daylight."

But the next time you step in dog poop, it may be the fault of a celebrity's dog walked by a celebrity: Ricky doesn't believe in picking up after his charges: "I don't pick up after them. While the dog is taking a dump, I just keep walking and smoke some weed. Hey, it's all organic."

Read more Ricky on NowToronto.com.

Pinks spends smelly nights with pooches

Maybe Pink should assess what she's feeding her dogs. One of them makes sleeping a little uncomfortable. "Elvis," says Pink (known as Alecia Moore to family and friends), "farts in my face all night."

But Pink doesn't mind, since her dogs make her "world go round." Pink gushed about her pets to the Daily Record, and she talked about why she kisses her dogs back. "With other dogs it's tongue - not mine, their tongue. But with bulldogs, their faces are smashed so you have to get right in there and they like pressure so you're just kissing them and they'll just eat your face - it's very nourishing for the soul."

You can read more about Pink, husband Carey, and their "babies" at dailyrecord.co.uk.

Allison Janney has the best dog on the planet

Allison Janney is incredibly talented, but one of her weaknesses is a lack of objectivity when it comes to her pet. Of course, none of us pet owners are very objective because we--like Allison--all think we have the world's greatest pet.

Allison was lucky to be part of a show that was--for several years--the greatest television program on TV. West Wing was moving, funny, intelligent, and everything a good drama should be. (And don't get us started on the phenomenal wordless scene featuring Allison and the beautiful music of Jeff Buckley singing Hallelujah--pure magic!)

Alas, the magic faded and the West Wing is now winding down, but Allison still has her talent--and her dog, about whom she holds a very high opinion. She tells the Washington Post that her rescued dog, Chauncy is "the best dog on the planet... Part retriever, part Great Dane. He's 130 pounds..." Allison enjoys having friends over to watch Chauncy run around their backyard.

You can read more about Allison's recollections including the untimely passing of the wonderful John Spencer and the time she and Monica Lewinsky padded together in a canoe on WashingtonPost.com.

LA Times says Chihuahas are cold and Pugs are hot

We object to pets being treated like purses and hair styles. Every animal is cool in our book. There are no trendy breeds around here!

But, that's not what the L.A. Times has to say. According to them, Chihuahas are yesterday's news and Pugs are the new black. "Sure, Chihuahuas like Paris Hilton's Tinkerbelle and Britney Spears' Bit-Bit have had the paparazzo pages all to themselves for a while, but now pugs, such as Tori Spelling's Mimi la Rue, are the new boldface dog."

The LAT says pugs can be seen in ads for Barneys New York, in the windows at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills, and as companions to celebs such as Jessica Alba, Balthazar Getty, Jenna Elfman, Paula Abdul, Mickey Rourke, Billy Joel and Chris Kirkpatrick of 'N Sync.

To read more about the pug trend, check out the LA Times.

Bruce Willis communes with animals

Bruce Willis knows animals--and not just the animated kind. He's the voice of R.J. in the upcoming animated movie Over the Hedge, and Bruce was able to draw from experience for his animal role. And based on the interview found on SciFiWire, you may not want to come back in a future life as Bruce's dog.

Bruce lived in Idaho for many years, and he says he "had every animal problem you could think of." Actually, to be more honest, his dog had every animal problem you could think of! One of his dogs bit into a porcupine and "got all those quills in her mouth and had to get them pulled out." And another one of his dogs, "almost got killed by a beaver... The beaver got a lucky bite in, and almost killed one of my dogs."

Bruce has other things to say about his years in Idaho with Demi Moore and about his role in Over the Hedge. Check out his interview on SciFiWire.

Stargate's Torri Higginson brings (and finds) comfort with dog

We all think LA is such a fun and glamorous place to be, but it also can be lonely place as well. Torri Higginson (Stargate's Dr. Elizabeth Weir) found a beneficial way to fight her California blues--she and her dog cheer up others.

Torri and her dog, who serves as a therapy pet, go to senior homes or abused children's' resource centers to make others happy. "It's something so simple, but the reaction that you get is extraordinary," she says.

"I first got involved in volunteer work when I moved to Los Angeles because it's a hard city to move to. It's very lonely... and I started feeling a little sorry for myself."

Torri decided helping others was the pick-up she needed, and it worked! "I think it's important for everyone to give back. There's no difference in human beings. We all need the same things."

Read more about Torri on NationalLedger.com, or learn more about her on Gateworld.net.

Jessica Alba thinks dogs make tomboys out of girls

It's no secret that Hollywood stars often say things that puzzle us. Jessica Alba is one of those stars, and this is one of those quotes:

"I'm a tomboy at heart. I'm a pretty traditional, domestic, boring person - I like to take my dog for walks. That's why I play dress-up for a living."

Since when does staying at home and walking the dog make you a tomboy? A homebody, sure; but not a tomboy. Until Jessica tells us how much she enjoys sports, gets into barfights, hates cosmetics, and loves Texas Hold 'Em, then we are not going to believe she is a tomboy.

You can read more about Jessica on FemaleFirst.co.uk.

Paris Hilton and Ellen DeGeneres meet Gibson, the world's tallest dog

Gibson is a dog. A big dog. The world's LARGEST dog. And on Monday Gibson was hanging with (and dwarfing) the stars.

Gibson is a 4-year-old harlequin Great Dane who stands about 42 and a half inches at the shoulders but when he really wants to get big he stands on his hind paws--7 feet, 6 inches tall!

Gibson got to talk (or bark) with Ellen DeGeneres and got a hug from Paris Hilton (who, of course, looks tiny in comparison.)

What was it like being top dog for a day? Sandy Hall, Gibson's human companion says, "We were treated very nicely. Top accommodations. Hotel, very nice. The cars, very nice. Gibson had his own dressing room. All the producers and writers came and introduced themselves. They had pictures taken with him."

You can read more about Paris, Ellen, and Gibson on TheUnion.com.

Tori Spelling, Dean McDermott, and Mimi do Silver Spoon dog and baby buffet

Who doesn't love babies and dogs? Lots of people, including Tori Spelling and main squeeze Dean McDermott. The two attended an LA event called Silver Spoon Dog and Baby Buffet, an event which seems to be designed to do two things--get stars pictures taken and give celebs swag.

Okay, I am just being crass and jealous. The event really went to benefit the Amanda Foundation, a nonprofit organization that rescues dogs and cats who are locked at City and County Shelters. The Foundation has Honorary Chairpeople such as Lisa Hartman Black, Clint Black, and Kevin Nealon.

According to edgy blog site PerezHilton.com, the true star of the day was Tori's pug and So noTORIous co-star Mimi LaRue, who got "very friendly" with quite a few dogs.

Read more on PerezHilton.

Tom Selleck, Hulk Hogan, Colin Powell, and Kevin Sorbo help the Dogs of Dover

Back in February we told you about a sad state of affairs in Dover, NJ. Two historic dog statues that flanked Dover's town hall had been vandalized. In need of $8,100 to restore the statues, which were a gift to the town in 1869, the residents decided to ask celebs for autographs they could auction to raise the funds.

We're happy to say that many caring celebrities stepped forward to aid Dover. While only one celebrity -- Federico Castelluccio, who played Furio Giunta on HBO's "The Sopranos"-- showed up to support the cause, about 175 Hollywood, television, sports and music and stars donated autographed items for a silent auction to raise money for the restoration of the "Dogs of Dover" and the September rededication ceremony.

Tom Selleck, Hulk Hogan, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Freddy Krueger and Kevin Sorbo pitched in, and the auction also included a large autographed framed poster of pre-"American Idol" Paula Abdul; a CD signed by Cyndi Lauper; a picture of former President Clinton press secretary George Stephanopoulos; and a Rolling Stones book signed by the Stones, themselves.

The Dogs of Dover will again stand proud thanks to the generosity of others. You can read more on DailyRecord.com.