Derek Hough Says His Dog Luna is ‘Everybody’s Support Animal’ on His Dance for the Holidays Tour (Exclusive)

Derek Hough isn’t lonely on the road during his latest tour — and it’s thanks, in part, to his dog Luna.

In an interview with PEOPLE, the Dancing with the Stars judge discussed his new partnership with Greenies and revealed that his canine joined him and his wife, Hayley Erbert, on his Dance for the Holidays tour. According to Hough, 39, Luna has brought joy to the tour’s audience, performers, and crew.

“She’s literally everybody’s support animal,” Hough says. 

“[There’s] big burly men with beards and tattoos and cigarettes, [and] we pull up and, they just turn into… these, like, little kids [when they see Luna],” he adds with a laugh.

The Emmy winner says Luna is one of five dogs traveling with the tour across “40 different cities” in the U.S. during the holiday season — and she has already become a fan favorite for some audiences.

“The other day, we were in the middle of a show, and we just finished the first act and came off the stage… I’m like, ‘Wait, where’s Luna?'” he recalls. 

“So we were looking for her, and we [went] out onto the stage, and she’s… on the edge of it, just like licking people’s faces in the front row,” he continues. “And literally 3,000 people are just watching this dog in the center of the stage, just saying ‘Hi’ to everybody. She’s wagging her tail. She’s all excited to see everybody.”

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“It was pretty funny,” he adds with a laugh. “The crowd … they absolutely loved that.”

Hough says the pup — a German shepherd/Chow Chow mix that he adopted in June 2020 — also helps the tour’s workers who “load out” and “tear down” the sets for the show with their duties by bringing plenty of smiles.

“It just brings them so much joy [to see Luna]. It really, really does,” he says.

The professional dancer, whose Dance for the Holidays tour ends on December 29 in Arizona, admits bringing a pet on the road isn’t always easy. So, he’s been working to maintain a consistent feeding routine for Luna, which includes Greenies Smart Essentials and Greenies Dental Dog treats.

“You know, dogs are like our little kids, so we wanna make sure we take care of ’em,” he explains.

And Hough says that star treatment doesn’t just extend to her food but her living arrangements on tour as well.

“She takes up the entire bed on the bus,” he jokes.

Even with Luna’s bed-hogging, Hough says, he and his wife can’t imagine doing the tour without Luna.

To learn more about the Dance for the Holidays tour, including where the show stops next, visit the Hough’s website.

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