Actress and animal behaviorist Isabella Rossellini reveals top dog tip

Many people know Isabella Rossellini as a legendary model and actress, but some don’t know her second act as an animal behaviorist.

Rossellini, 72, appeared at the Museum of Science in Boston on Tuesday, October 22, for a conversation with Dr. Brian Hare, author of Puppy Preschool: The New Science of Raising a Great Dog.

In the discussion the Death becomes her actress spoke about her love for training guide dogs and revealed the unexpected canine visitor she brought along one Christmas while volunteering for the Guide Dog Foundation.

“Generally, they send me a dog that’s pregnant two weeks before she gets the puppies. Then she gets the puppies and I send everyone back to the Guide Dog Foundation when they’re six weeks old (for training),” Rossellini explained. the crowd. “Two years ago they called me on Christmas Day and I’m Catholic. They said, ‘There’s a breeding dog that has no place to stay.’ I said, ‘Of course Rosie can come!'”

Rosie had 12 puppies in her first litter and 4 in her second. Rossellini plans to adopt Rosie as her beloved pet once the pup stops breeding future guide dogs through the Guide Dog Foundation.

The daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and filmmaker Robert Rossellini, the Conclave star says she was “never without a dog” in her life.

“I’ve always had dogs, cats, hamsters and small birds,” Rossellini told PEOPLE. “As I got older and worked less as a model and actress, I went back to college and completed my master’s degree in Ethology, the science of animal behavior.”

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For 20 years, Rossellini has volunteered to raise future service dogs. The animals help people ranging from veterans with PTSD to people with visual impairments. In addition to the dog that Rossellini cares for for the Guide Dog Foundation, she has two mixed-breed dogs: Darcy, who is trained as an acrobat, and Pinnochio, a rescue dog that Rossellini found on the street.

Although she is not committed to a specific breed, Rossellini said she would like to one day own a sheepdog to help with the sheep she raises on her farm, where she is also joined by chickens, goats and even bees. (“They’re not very friendly,” she notes.)

Regarding her expert dog parenting tips, Rossellini recommends that people choose their future pup based on the dog’s temperament rather than its appearance.

“I think there is a lot of ignorance about dogs, and nowadays we generally select them on appearance, which is bad. Select on temperament rather than appearance,” Rossellini said. “We’ve created bulldogs, French bulldogs and English bulldogs, but these dogs suffer tremendously because they can’t breathe. But we bred them this way because we just love the way they look, and the dog has tremendous difficulty with it.”

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Rossellini recommends that those adopting their next dog from a shelter discuss with the shelter what type of puppy would be a good fit for their family.

“When you adopt a dog, you can say, ‘I have kids, I have cats,’ and they can find a dog that fits your lifestyle, instead of just choosing the dog that looks cute,” Rossellini noted on.