Hot in Cleveland Inspired Dog Names

Dog lovers are plentiful among the cast of “Hot in Cleveland,” and all four of the actresses who play the main characters have been featured for their love of animals.

Valerie Bertinelli, who plays Melanie on the show, dedicated an episode of her cooking show “Valerie’s Home Cooking” to her rescue dog Luna, where she prepared a special meal to celebrate Luna’s birthday, which included a carrot coconut birthday cake with coconut cream frosting, a treat that was safe for both human and canine guests. Wendie Malick, known for her role as Victoria on the show, shares her life with three dogs, two horses, and a cat, as well as serving on the advisory board for The Humane Society of the United States, and Jane Leeves, who plays Joy Scruggs, shows her support for animals by attending events like Actors and Others for Animals and has worked alongside several dogs.

By far the most outspoken of the animal advocates on the cast is Betty White, who plays Elka Ostrosky, who has been offering her support for animals of all sorts for decades and has played the role of pet parent to countless canine companions. Her current canine companion is a Golden Retriever named Pontiac who was meant to be a guide dog but was cut from the program due to leg problems. Betty has served as an inspiration for many animal lovers, and there are more than a few pet parents who have honored her by naming their pooches after her. One such dog, a Grand Pyrenees in Isanti, Minnesota, who shared her name with Betty White, went missing in 2013. Her owner, Anna Welch, was giving her beloved dog a bath in the yard, to rid her of the smell of skunk. She went inside her home to get some supplies, and when she returned, the dog was simply gone. Welch was not the type to give up without a fight, however, and along with contacting the police and animal control, she knocked on doors, put out posters and even set up a facebook page called “Help Bring Home Betty White,” and kept up hope. She kept posting pictures to the site and encouraging anyone with information to call her; the information spread and over 11,000 people had viewed the Facebook page by March of 2014. Welch got several leads but was still unable to find her dog, until 2016, when someone alerted her to a dog that looked just like her beloved Great Pyrenees at the Lost Dogs Minnesota page. Her fur was matted, and she was around twenty pounds lighter, but sure enough, there was Betty White, just waiting to be brought home. Anna and Betty White were thrilled to be reunited, and Betty was further surprised to find out that one of the pups from a litter she had shortly before disappearing, a black and white dog named Bandit, was there to greet her as well.