Diane Keaton has a nice interview in AARP. It’s mainly a reflection on her 50-year career. But she also talks about a few things she doesn’t usually bring up, like updating the public on what her kids are doing and speaking of her brother Randy who struggled with mental illness and substance abuse. She also spoke about her Golden Retriever Reggie, who was a gift from a friend when Diane became an empty nester. Reggie is a big part of Diane’s popular IG page. She’s usually featured destroying some piece of Diane’s clothing or tracking wet footprints all over Diane’s lovely home. But Diane adores her because as she says, “dogs are irresistible.”
On auditioning for The Godfather: “I didn’t even know what The Godfather was. Someone said to me, ‘You’ve got to go and audition for things,’ so I auditioned for the film, and I got the role of Kay Corleone.
On dating: I don’t date. Highly unlikely. I don’t remember anyone calling me, going, ‘This is So-and-So. I’d like to take you out.’ They don’t happen. Of course not.
On her kids: “They’re great,” she says simply. “They’re doing good.” Over the past few years, though, her nest has emptied — Dexter got married and Duke got his own place.
On Reggie: A friend of mine gave her to me. I didn’t even ask for her. He came to me and said, ‘I think you need this dog.’ I was like, ‘OK, I guess?’ Of course, now I just love her. Dogs are irresistible. They’re just idiots. Reggie is a big jerk, and she’s a great jerk, and she’s hilarious.
On her brother Randy’s death: “He passed relatively recently — it’s been a couple of years,” Keaton says, with a catch in her voice. A poet and artist, Randy “had a hard time with the world at large and just in life. He was so delicate in some ways, so sensitive. He was a real artist at heart.”
I’m friends with Randy’s caregiver. She attended family events with him. We spoke the day after he passed. They were all so destroyed. I didn’t realize Diane had written about him, I’ll probably pick that book up. I can tell you that the way Diane treated my friend as her employer is why I have such a soft spot for her. I was shocked to learn that Diane’s daughter Dexter is 27 and her son Duke is 22. Since she rarely talks about them, I’d forgotten they were grown now. I still had them as teens in my mind.
As for Reggie, she’s such a love. I always forget which is the doofus breed: retrievers or labs? It’s the retrievers, though, I think. They really are loveable oafs. It doesn’t really matter how bright a dog is, we tend to call them with dunce-like labels. Affectionately, but hardly complimentary. My husband calls our dogs brain-trust or lunkheads and yet they frighten me with how smart they are. Smart enough to know exactly when to play dumb. And hilarious, like Diane said. My girl pup sat next to me on the couch this AM. I turned to her and smiled, and she put her paw in my face and then looked confused. They really are ridiculous.
If anyone in Southern California needs some ridiculous in their life, here’s your chance. DoVE Project, who rescues beautiful dogs from the Meat Trade in South Korea has an adoption event tomorrow. If you aren’t ready to adopt, there is a Foster Family outreach event on April 2 where you can learn all about that.
Photo credit: Cover Images and Instagram
The idiots are the people who can’t take the time and trouble to train a dog. Dogs aren’t born knowing what is an appropriate chew toy. Goldens are used as guide dogs, support and service dogs, search and rescue dogs, etc., as are Labs. Neither breed is stupid.
Stupid they are not, but non-working Labs and Golden tend towards the silly and eager to please modes (in my experience and opinion).
Eager to please is what makes dogs highly trainable. If they behave in a silly way, it’s because it was encouraged by the owner. Even people when not working behave in a silly way sometimes. It’s a matter of what is allowed/encouraged with dogs.
Plus they are happiest when they have something in their mouths. My golden used to run happily to greet us and stop short when we came home, immediately run away to find a toy to hold in his mouth and only THEN come over to soak up all the petting and love. It was like he was so excited and happy to see us he needed his stuffed squeaky bee in his mouth to make the moment perfect and try to contain and enhance his pure joy! He was also the most empathetic calming dog I ever had – if I was sad or upset, he’d dial down the exuberance and just come over calmly and lean on me, sit on my feet, occasionally looking up soulfully. Seeing him automatically calibrate his usual puppy-like eager-tigger energy – sitting quietly when greeting little kids or wobbly adults was amazing… no “gentle” needed from me, he just knew some people need calm and soft , not waggy wiggly bouncy. (We’d trained him to sit for greetings, but retrievers often can even sit energetically LOL)
Sure, and a dog is still a dog. I have a highly trained working dog and yesterday when I went to get a potato from the cupboard — no potatoes. What? So I went all around and found the whole 5-lb sack of potatoes in my floof’s bed. He really wanted those potatoes!
Aww, her dog is beautiful. And thank you to everyone pointing out dogs’ innate intelligence, no matter the breed. As @equality said, they have jobs they are born to do. We are the idiots when we don’t train or adequately engage them. We have a border collie (genius!) and a black Lab (love muffin) and I wish we had room for another. #teamdog 🙂
Wow if it’s so easy you’re welcome to train my dog. I adopted him off the sidewalk. He already knows sit but he really seems to enjoy peeing inside right after a walk. I’m shocked by how much he still has left after going like 25 times on every bush and rock we pass. You seem like an expert though. I’ve only ever had cats. They don’t need to be trained.
No idea where you live but there are training classes available through the Humane Society and at pet stores in my area. I have trained every dog I have had. Some I went through training classes with to socialize them. Some are easier than others. It takes commitment, consistency and patience and sometimes professional advice, including a complete health check to ensure that there is no medical reason for so much urination. He could perhaps be marking territory also and neutering might help if he is not already.
@equality I totally agree with you on 99.999% of dogs. I never had a “dumb” dog until I got my dumb dog that I had. He was precious, sweet, loving, and every single day had to be taught many things all over again. And that was ok with me. He taught me patience in the best possible, zen way. I’m forever grateful to that dog. He was my “heart” dog and I’ll never get completely over him.
How can you not adore Diane Keaton?? I adore her and have enjoyed watching her for so many years!! She seems like such a wonderful woman that wears her heart on her sleeve and is exceptionally brilliant as well. I am saddened to hear of her brother but Hecate, why am I not surprised she treats please so well. Diane Keaton is a national treasure!!
I’ve always side-eyed Diane for her continued stanning of Woody Allen.
She also a Polanski defender.
So it hard to “ adore” someone who is ok with child sexual abuse.
Truly. She’s still a defender of Polanski and Woody Allen. No matter how kind she may be in some ways, that stubborn defense boggles my mind, and I have zero respect for defenders of child predators. It also really bothers me when some humans, “jokingly” or otherwise, refer to our fellow animals as idiots, stupid, etc., rather than simply as different.
You can never underestimate the love of a golden retriever.
I may be biased…
Wait, do I mean overestimate? Now I am confusing myself. It’s early. Going to consult with the two goldens, who are definitely smarter than I am.
My bloodhound mix is an absolute dingus sometimes, and I adore him.
Our golden was definitely on the silly side. When we got her at 8 weeks old, we had an old beagle who was the Albert Einstein of brilliant dogs. She just left all the thinking to the beagle for years, following her everywhere, while paying tribute to the old cat who also lived with us. When the cat passed, I got a tiny, very brazen, kitten, who claimed the golden as her own pet/cat bed. The golden accepted her place and decided her job was to be silly and make everyone happy. And to be happy, she thought we all needed tennis balls because they made her happy. She had 3 tennis balls with her at all times. When the old cat was dying, snuggling with the beagle in the dog bed, the golden made sure they both had tennis balls to comfort them. At night, when we were sleeping, she would place tennis balls on our pillows so we would have one when we woke up. And she was ever so excited when we returned them to her. Her job was to be silly and loving and she did it very well.
@Lightpurple, your golden is so generous <3 Thanks for sharing
I think dogs and cats, well animals in general, are smarter than we think. Maybe, maybe not. But something always stirs in me when I make eye contact with any animal…there’s something there, I swear it lol. I had an undeniable union with my son’s guinea pig years ago. I’m super cereal.
I definitely think humans arrogantly assume we are smarter or better than animals! Meanwhile, dogs are too good for us. LOL. My mom’s terrier mix can outrun my husband and I (we’ve seen her run circles around big dogs, too). She can smell when we are coming to the door from an insane distance, she can hear people are around the house before we realize, and she constantly laid her paws on my stomach when I was pregnant. She also tells us everything she wants: she gives nose bumps to our legs when we arrive to say hello, she starts jumping around and brings toys when she wants to play, and she literally will crawl onto our chest when we sit down so she can get lovies. She also licks my nose when I am sick to try and ascertain what I am sick with and has webbed paws, so she can swim well. I know it sounds like I am obsessed with our family dog…and maybe I am. Hahah
Yesterday I noticed our golden wanting to turn right on our walk where we normally go straight. Sometimes, out of curiosity and a sense of adventure, I let him lead just to see where he wants to go, only helping to cross the streets safely. The restaurant where once upon a time he got a strip of bacon is a favorite destination; yesterday, however, he walked me blocks away to the pet shop where they have a doggie bakery counter. When I told my husband about it last night, laughing the whole time, it dawned on me that we’d run out of his after-dinner cookies on Monday. I’m over here getting my ha-has and the little dude was being serious. Starting to wonder who’s the smarter one and can we get him a good paying job.
Our lab is so sweet but so dumb. Our Great Dane on the other hand is so smart! I will say, they are a lot of work-but they bring so much enjoyment to our whole family with their antics.
I live in LA, and my immediate neighborhood has two Great Danes. I can’t express properly how they are the favorite part of many people’s day. It’s like sighting royalty when they majestically walk around with their people. I have two dogs, and they flip the fcuk out when they spot the Danes.
We have three dogs: two shepherd mixes from a rescue and a Corgi.
We figure the mom of the mixes was the shepherd, because these siblings obviously had different dads. One is a pointy eared mystery dog and the other is taller and generally bigger – a Great Dane mix. They’re pretty silly boys, but all three of them are way too smart. We have to spell certain things out because they know too many words.
And we’ve had to Corgi-proof the house because he is a vandal and a thief.
😻