Forget Cats... the A-list love dogs as much as the rest of us
As Andrew Lloyd Webber says he has a ’therapy dog’, Kate Leaver reveals the secrets of celebrity owners
I’m crouching in the back corner of my garden, trying to record the sound of my dog barking. Feet covered in mud, I’m saying over and over to my barrelbodied little hound: “One more time, and a bit louder, Bert.” He howls compliantly.
This is when I think to myself: I’ve gone full crazy dog person now and there’s no turning back.
The comforting thing is that I’m not the only one. As I’ve discovered, when recording my new podcast Who’s a Good Dog? – celebrities, just like the rest of us, are potty about their pooches. From Sir Tony Robinson to author Jon Ronson, novelist and screenwriter Juno Dawson, actress Phoebe Tonkin and scientist Pragya Agarwal, it seems dogs are the great leveller and comforter. Indeed, this week Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed that such was the critical mauling of the 2019 film version of Cats, that he had gone out and bought a “therapy dog” to help him get through it.
As a nation, we rely on our dogs. Twenty-six per cent of Brits own one and 2.1 million of us acquired a “lockdown dog” to help us through those dark days, just like Lloyd Webber. It’s estimated that 9.6 million dogs are currently living as pets in the UK; enough dogs to fill Wembley stadium 107 times. It’s a lot of dogs, and also a lot of humans who care about them.
And however famous a person is, whatever professional success they’ve enjoyed, they are still susceptible to the charms of a four-legged companion. They’re every bit as likely to use a specific voice to speak to their dog, to imagine what they might say if they could talk, and to rescind every promise that pets are not allowed on the good velvet sofa.
They compare their dogs to human children, clean vomit from their carpets, spend mornings scrounging around for poo bags and tenderly retrieve fox droppings from their dog’s disgusting little mouth.
Almost all my guests let their dog sleep on their bed at night – Sir Tony Robinson’s darling Westie terrier, Holly Berry, slumbers on the just-wideenough-for-a-small-dog bedhead, snoring above Tony and his wife, Lou. Jon Ronson tries out skits at home, speaking on behalf of his dogs. The Vampire Diaries actress Phoebe Tonkin
borrowed the dog of a famous friend to help her get over a break-up (her own pooch was stuck back in Australia). And Pragya Agarwal’s elderly rescue dog, Taylor, scoffed a third of her mother-inlaw’s anniversary cake, but she styled it out by smoothing over the bite marks with icing and serving it anyway.
Beyond the indelicate logistics of living with an animal, there’s something transformative about loving a dog. It can soften even the most serious journalist, academic or documentarian. And, for me, recording a podcast is an excuse to talk about dogs more than it’s normally socially acceptable to do so. Anyone who listens to a “dogcast” is seeking what they don’t get from regular human conversation.
“We’ve seen hugely successful podcasts that cover supposedly “niche” topics,” says senior editor at Whistledown Productions, Kate Holland. “So it’s no surprise to me that people want to enjoy podcasts about pets – they’re a huge part of our lives, so why wouldn’t they be a part of our listening habits?”
There are 277 episodes of Can I Pet Your Dog, on which comedians Renee
Colvert and Alexis
Preston discuss the different dogs they meet each week. There’s one about behavioural science called Canine Nation. The Dog Trainer is for tips on how to bring your hound to heel. Dog Cast Radio covers dog news and interviews (not with dogs, though). There’s Oh My Dog, and Dog Save The People, hosted by New York fashion designer John Bartlett. Some are sentimental, others practical. Many have grown in popularity this year, when people had more time to listen and more cause to appreciate their emotional support animals.
“Since the start of the pandemic, people in the audio industry have been trying to work out what audiences need from us during this time. All along, I’ve been saying the answer is shows about animals. I think we need some lightness in our lives, and we definitely need animals,” says audio producer Arlie Adlington, who worked on my podcast. “We need wholesome fun, a source of joy, and comfort.”
It’s why the podcast industry has gone to the dogs. And who knows? Maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber’s next musical will, too.