Many people know Isabella Rossellini as a legendary model and actress, but some aren’t familiar with her second act as an animal behaviorist.
Rossellini, 72, appeared on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at the Museum of Science in Boston for a discussion with Dr. Brian Hare, author of Puppy Kindergarten: The New Science of Raising a Great Dog.
In the discussion, the Death Becomes Her actress spoke about her love for training service dogs and revealed the unexpected canine visitor she took in one Christmas while volunteering for the Guide Dog Foundation.
“Generally, they send me a dog that is pregnant two weeks before she has the puppies. Then she has the puppies, and I send everybody back to the Guide Dog Foundation when they are six weeks old [for training],” Rossellini explained to the crowd. “Two years ago, they called me on Christmas Day, and I’m Catholic. They said, ‘There’s a breeder dog that doesn’t have a 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 on adopting Rosie as her beloved pet once the pup retires from 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 always had dogs, cats, hamsters, and little birds,” Rossellini told PEOPLE. “As I grew older, and I was working less as a model and actress, I went back to university and finished my Masters in Ethology, which is the science of animal behavior.”
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For 20 years, Rossellini has volunteered to help raise future service dogs. The animals assist people ranging from veterans with PTSD to those living with a visual impairment. In addition to the dog Rossellini looks after for the Guide Dog Foundation, she owns two mixed-breed dogs: Darcy, who is trained as an acrobat, and Pinnochio, a rescue dog Rossellini found on the street.
While she’s not devoted to a specific breed, Rossellini said she would like to get a herding dog someday to assist with the sheep she raises on her farm, where she’s also joined by chickens, goats, and even bees. (“They’re not very friendly,” she notes.)
Regarding her expert tips for raising dogs, Rossellini recommends that people choose their future pup based on the canine’s temperament instead of its appearance.
“I think that there’s great ignorance about dogs, and we generally nowadays select them for looks, which is bad. Select for temperament rather than looks,” Rossellini shared. “We have created bulldogs, French bulldogs, and English bulldogs, but these dogs suffer tremendously because they cannot breathe. But we have bred them this way because we just like their looks, and the dog has tremendous difficulty.”
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Rossellini recommends those who adopt their next dog from a rescue discuss with the shelter what kind of pup would be a good fit for their family.
“If you adopt a dog, you can say, ‘I have children, I have cats,’ and they can find a dog that matches your lifestyle, rather than just choosing the dog that looks cute,” Rossellini noted.
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