Celebrities & Their Extra Special Dogs!

With the Academy Awards just around the corner, we decided to spotlight some celebrities with less than perfect pups. Surprisingly, not everyone in Hollywood has a designer dog!

Selma Blair is one actress who chose to adopt her best friend, rather than patronize a pet store or breeder. Although she's best known for her roles in the Hellboy films, Selma also has a passion for animal advocacy. She's a regular volunteer at the Lange Foundation in L.A. where she helps care for injured and disabled pups. She found her adorable one-eyed pooch, Wink, at the shelter, and expressed her admiration for the organization in an interview, stating "they have the most amazing misfit dogs in the world. You want a three-legged dog with a wheelchair or a dog that has no bowel control, that's the place to go. These are amazing dogs."

Sandra Bullock is another celebrity who has elected to adopt her dogs from rescue groups and shelters. Not only that, she and her husband, Jesse James, have deliberately selected special needs pups! Their brood includes Poppy, a tripod, and Ruby, a two-legged Chihuahua (both shown above). To mark their first wedding anniversary, Sandra and Jesse adopted another Chihuahua named Bebe from Best Buddies Rescue in Long Beach. "Too many people are always looking for the perfect pet, but they're the type who don't get caught up in how the dog looks," said a spokeswoman for the organization.

Matthew McConaughey makes no secret of his love for dogs, and he once had a tripod named Miss Hud. His beloved Lab / Chow mix was his constant companion for over a decade until she succumbed to cancer. Here is an excerpt from a 2006 interview he had with Oprah:

"Miss Hud, that’s a good woman there… I got her in a pound in Tucson, Arizona, 12 years ago and cancer got her. We went on a road trip from California to Florida and back. She got diagnosed with cancer in Louisiana on the way east. We got her leg amputated on the way back. We went for swims in the river… in Texas, and then we made it back, and the night she got me back home she fell off the bed and looked up and was like, ‘Hey man… I need a little help.’ I took her to the hospital that morning and her hind legs were paralysed… The doctor said, ‘We’ve amputated hind legs before but that’s with dogs who have two front legs.’ He and I looked at each other and I said, ‘Miss Hud, do you wanna be a one-legged dog?’ and she looks up and she says, ‘Let me move on, Pop,’ so we let her move on.”

Wynonna Judd shares her Nashville ranch with numerous dogs, including Pixie, a Rat Terrier who suffers from arthritis. Wynonna adopted Pixie from Animal Haven in New York City in May 2003 while she was helping promote National Arthritis Month. The country singer has several other arthritic dogs in addition to Pixie.

Back in California, Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood and The Today Show pampers her quadriplegic poodle Noelle. Although Noelle can't walk, she frequently accompanies Maria to animal advocacy events as an ambassador for rescued dogs. All of Maria's pups - a white German Shepherd, a standard Poodle, two Bichons, and Noelle the mini Poodle - were adopted from shelters, and she is a vocal advocate for rescue. When she interviewed Barack Obama and his family in July, she took the opportunity to tell the future first family about her dogs and "plug the virtues of pet adoption."

It's always fantastic when celebrities use their visibility to champion worthwhile causes, and I applaud those who bring attention to animal rescue and disabled dogs.