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While the internet's focus seems to be on one particularly adorable pup that's being dubbed a unicorn, we're turning our attention to some other dogs we can't get enough of, in particular: Oprah's.
Though you've likely already become acquainted with Oprah's fur family on her Instagram, we thought we'd take a moment to give them a proper introduction. After all, Lady O has said, "Nothing makes me happier than being with my dogs," and after one glimpse of these photos, you'll understand why.
Remind me, what are Oprah's dogs named?
Oprah has had over 20 dogs, many of whom she's sadly lost. Longtime fans will likely remember cocker spaniels Sophie, Solomon, and golden retriever Luke. But today, she has three cuddlers: springer spaniels Sunny and Lauren, and cocker spaniel Sadie.
"Over the years I have felt the truest, purest love—the love of God, really, I imagine that’s what God’s love feels like—is the love that comes from your dog,” Oprah said on a Super Soul Sunday episode in 2014.
Tell us more about Sadie, Oprah's beloved cocker spaniel.
Oprah adopted Sadie on February 29, 2009 from PAWS, a no-kill animal shelter in Chicago. She was visiting PAWS for a cover shoot when Sadie caught her eye...and ear.
"Right before we shot the photo...she had licked my ear and whispered, 'Please take me with you,'" Oprah wrote in the June 2009 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. "Out of all the pups in that picture, Sadie was the one I felt an instant connection with."
She added, "My heart spoke to Miss Sadie, the runt of the litter. I love making the underdog a winner."
Over the past decade, the two have clearly forged a special bond. Sadie can often be found cooing alongside Oprah at breakfast. Evidently she's also a fan of plant-based living.
And they enjoy a special Saturday bathtime ritual.
Of course, Sadie also adores reading, particularly when it's something her mom has written.
"Puppy love, there's nothing like it," Oprah's said.
Oprah used to call Lauren and Sunny her "little hellions."
Born on October 23 2009, Oprah also adopted springer spaniels Lauren and Sunny from PAWS Chicago in 2010, when they were just 14 weeks old. She treated herself to the irresistible rescues as a 56th birthday present to herself.
“They could have been euthanized if they weren’t adopted. Can you believe that?” she told her Oprah Winfrey show audience.
"I thought that I was going to name my next dog Lauren," she recalled. "So when I heard this dog was Lauren, I thought it was fate." Though like any impish pups, they initially gave her (and Stedman) some trouble, that's no longer the case.
“Sunny and Lauren—my little hellions, as I call them—aren’t so hellish anymore,” she said on the talk show years later.
But let's not forget the ones she's lost.
Oprah has had quite a few pets over the decades, including Solomon, Sophie, Gracie, and Luke, which as any dog mom knows, often comes with heartache.
When she lost Sophie in 2008 after being close for 13 years, she said in a taping of Lifeclass, "It wasn’t until she passed away that I really understood the depth of my love for her. Because I learned from a show we did many years ago with Gary Zukav that there are big souls and little souls. And Sophie was a little soul—just a little soul, but had a great impact on my life. And when I lost her is when I realized that nobody on earth had ever loved me like that little dog.”
Gracie, one of her golden retrievers, tragically died after choking to death on a plastic ball—which belonged to Sophie—in 2007, at just two years old. In that year's August issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, Oprah wrote that Gracie's death acted as sign that it was time for the media magnate to slow down. "I don’t believe in accidents,” Oprah mused. “I know for sure that everything in life happens to help us live." She added, "Thank you for being my saving Gracie. I now know for sure angels come in all forms."
In the last two years, she's also lost her golden retrievers Layla and Luke, whom she once referred to as "the most handsome dog in America." Oprah joked on an episode of Super Soul Sunday, "I tell him every morning, if it wasn't for Stedman, it would be you, Luke."
While there's no word yet on whether or not Oprah will be giving Sunny, Sadie, and Lauren a sibling anytime soon, it seems they're all enjoying spending quality family time together.
Here they are going for a stroll on a sunny Saturday afternoon at their home in Montecito, California, which Oprah calls "the Promised Land."
See, life's not so err, ruff when you've got such sweet pups to call your own.
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Brie Schwartz is an editor, writer, and content strategist. She’s covered beauty, fashion, relationships, health, travel, Disney, decorating, DIYs, food, booze, and everything in between. She was most recently the deputy editor of Oprah Daily, where she helped bring the mission of guiding readers to live their best life to the (virtual) pages. Her writing has appeared in Good Housekeeping, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Delish, Country Living, Esquire, Elle, Marie Claire, Seventeen, The Spruce, Woman’s Day, Women’s Health, and Men’s Health.
