Leah Remini has welcomed a new member to her family. The Emmy-winning star of A&E’s Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath took to Instagram to introduce fans to her family’s new pet, a dog named Louie. In the caption to a series of photos from her family’s Labor Day weekend festivities, Remini admitted that while she had previously vowed never to get another dog following the heartbreaking passing of her beloved dog, Blue, four years ago, she opened her home to the new pet, who was left to die with his mother and brother before they were rescued.
Remini tagged the post at Luna Siberian Husky Rescue, a rescue, shelter, and rehab center for unwanted Siberian Huskies and Northern Breeds in Southern California.
While the story of Louie’s origins is somber, Leah managed to bring some levity to his arrival. The King of Queens star revealed that her husband, Angelo Pagan, “may or may not” have urinated in the couple’s backyard in an attempt to potty train the new pup. The former CBS star cracked that she was having a hard time getting the image of her husband’s antics out of her head. As a side note, Louie was already potty trained before Remini and her husband adopted him.
You can see Leah Remini’s photos of her new dog below.
Longtime fans of Remini may be surprised by her decision to take in another dog. In 2015, viewers of the star’s reality TV show Leah Remini: It’s All Relative watched as she mourned the loss of her 15-year-old husky, Blue. According to Daily Mail , Remini and her family held a memorial service for their beloved dog. After the gut-wrenching ceremony, the actress also tearfully insisted she never wanted another pet.
“I don’t want to go through this ever again,” she said.
Still, now that she has opened her home and her heart to another pet, it’s not a total shock that she chose a large breed. In 2003, Remini spoke to Los Angeles’ Pet Press about her then-two-year-old Siberian husky, Blue. While she did not grow up with dogs (her mom, Vicki Marshall, was a cat person), Remini said from the moment she rescued Blue she became “a dog person.”
“I know it sounds crazy but Blue is like my child,” Leah said at the time. “I just love him to death. … When I walk in the door the first thing I do is drop to the floor and have my dog kiss me. I don’t care what I’m wearing or what happened that day, I’m getting pure love from my animal. And that’s it. They enrich your life with pure affection. That kind of unconditional love is just amazing!”
