Billy The Kid (BTK)
Dolly Parton currently has one very special dog in her life: A French bulldog named Billy the Kid (also known as BTK for short). Many fans think BTK is Dolly’s dog, but she currently has no fur babies. BTK is actually owned by her manager Danny Nozell and Parton considers BTK her “god-dog.” Billy has also been the inspiration for Dolly’s children’s book Billy The Kid Makes It Big and most recently, Billy The Kid Comes Home For Christmas.
Popeye
Dolly Parton’s most famous dog was her Boston Terrier named Popeye, who she credits with saving her life. Doly and Popeye are seen here with her husband Carl Dean in the 1980s. In the 2017 book Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton, Parton told this story, “It was bad. It was devastating to be in that state of mind. For about six months there I woke up every morning feeling dead. I noticed in the nightstand drawer my gun that I keep for burglars. I looked at it a long time… Just as I picked it up, just to hold it and look at it for a moment, our little dog, Popeye, came running up the stairs. The tap-tap-tap of his paws jolted me back to reality I suddenly froze. I put the gun down. Then I prayed. I kinda believe Popeye was a spiritual messenger from God.”
Dolly Parton
Legendary country music singer Dolly Parton was born on January 19, 1946. She’s also known as a philanthropist, businesswoman, and actress. She started her career as a songwriter for other singers, before releasing her first album Hello, I’m Dolly in 1967. Over her decades-long career, she’s sold over 100 million albums, had 25 number-one hits on the Billboard country music charts, 11 Grammy Awards, and countless other awards and achievements. Since the 1980s, she’s also heavily supported charitable causes, mainly through her Dollywood Foundation.
Dolly Parton’s life-long love for dogs
Dogs have always been an important part of Dolly’s life. So much so that she even has a pet cemetery on her Willow Lake Plantation in Brentwood, Tennessee. She’s had many dogs over the years, including Popeye, Andy, and Gypsy. She credited Popeye with helping her through a very dark time in her life. She was holding a gun and contemplating suicide, but said the tap-tap of Popeye’s paws as he came to find her snapped her out of it. She even wrote a song about one of her furbabies named Cracker Jack:
She also made headlines when she found an abandoned dog at Glastonbury Music festival in 2014. She posted the doggy to her Twitter, saying she’d adopt her if nobody claimed her. She ended up not adopting but helped get the dog plenty of press to help find her a good home.
