Oprah’s O Magazine cover story about her puppies doesn’t really have any new information. She talks about how her 11-week-old puppies Ivan and Sadie both came down with the parvo virus, and how distraught she was when Ivan died. The only interesting thing I found out was that Oprah met Sadie when she was doing this cover photo for the June issue, “The Animals Issue”. Oprah is pictured with several of the cutest puppies she could find from Chicago shelters, including Sadie. Oprah says that Sadie was the puppy she felt an immediate connection with. Of course, Oprah. You love cocker spaniels, of course you’re going to gravitate towards the cocker puppy. It’s not rocket science.

It’s a puppy party!

Oprah Winfrey poses with her new rescue puppy, Sadie (top left), and a pack of four-legged friends for the June cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, on newsstands May 19. The shot was taken at the PAWS no-kill Chicago shelter, where Winfrey found Sadie. Themed “The Animals Issue,” the June magazine examines the bonds owners share with their animals.

Winfrey knows first-hand about the human-animal bond. A lifelong pet owner, she adopted Sadie after the photo shoot, saying, “Out of all the pups in that picture, Sadie was the one I felt an instant connection with.” (The four remaining pooches in the photo were eventually adopted, too.) Days later, she adopted Sadie’s brother Ivan, but then tragedy struck: After a few weeks at home, both pups were diagnosed with the deadly parvo virus.

Winfrey retold the story on the March 20 episode of her show, and shares her experiences in her June “What I Know for Sure” column. She writes, “I’d been through parvo 13 years before, with my brown cocker, Solomon. It nearly killed him. He stayed in the hospital for 20 days. He was over a year old when he got it. Ivan was only 11 weeks. His young immune system wasn’t strong enough to overcome it. Four days after we took Ivan to the emergency clinic, he died.”

She says of Sadie’s own experience with the parvovirus, “The first four days, she got increasingly worse. At one point I told her doctor, ‘I’m prepared to let her go. She shouldn’t have to fight this hard.’ ” But the next day, Sadie started to improve and happily, she is now fully recovered.

[From People Magazine]

It’s very sad. Oprah was obviously devastated to lose Ivan, as she was with every dog she’s lost over the years. It really is devastating to lose an animal that seems like a member of the family, I know from experience. So I don’t blame Oprah for talking about it so much. But still… puppies! Look at the little puppies. I want the brown sleepy-looking one!

Thanks to Oprah.com for these photos