My Pet World: Dogs have a big-hearted friend in Joan Rivers
She's hollering at a group of motorcycle riders passing by. One of the many stunts she's tried with her often reluctant daughter, Melissa, on their reality show was riding a motorcycle last season.
"It will never happen again," Joan says. "Do you really want me going through traffic on a motorcycle? I don't think so. In a car, I'm that old woman staring through the center of the steering wheel with the turn signal on, though I have no intent to turn."
Her newest canine addition is a Japanese Chin named Teegan. Rivers laughs, as she often does when relaying something funny; she can barely get out the words.
"It would only happen to me," she says. "I get this deformed and confused, cross-eyed dog. No wonder. Teegan is a Japanese male dog with an Irish woman's name."
Rivers' other dog is a 6-year-old Havanese. She's aware that the breed was originally bred to perform circus tricks.
"Are you kidding? All she knows is come and get it," Rivers notes.
And yes, the comic concedes, "I am now that horrible little old lady walking in the park with two dogs dressed alike; the coats and leashes all match. After all, I do represent fashion," she says, referring to her role on "The Fashion Police."
Rivers appeared on several TV shows, including the "The Tonight Show," with a Yorkshire Terrier named Spike. She traveled the country with him, and Spike even made (with Joan) the cover of People magazine.
"To this day, people without a clue say, 'Hey, Joan, where's Spike?'" she says. "You're kidding? Spike would be 40 now. He's a dog; he's in dog heaven, or wherever souls go. I hope when I go that's the direction I go in -- where the dogs are."
Rivers' career began well before "The Tonight Show," but after dozens of guest appearances, she was personally tabbed by Johnny Carson as the show's permanent guest host, and arguably catapulted to super-star status. When she accepted an offer in 1986 to host her own talk show -- the first woman to do so -- Carson famously banned her from "The Tonight Show," presumably holding a grudge because Rivers jumped ship.
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