John O'Hurley's Doggone Life

Has Thanksgiving gone to the dogs?

If John O’Hurley has his way, then you bet!

A lifelong dog lover, the 53-year-old is slated to host the

National Dog Show on NBC on Thanksgiving for the sixth year and it’s only

getting bigger and bigger.

“It’s one of the most successful event that NBC does all year long — anywhere

between 20 and 25 million people will be watching on Thanksgiving day so it’s

become kind of a tradition and an alternative to football,” John tells OK!.

“It’s amazing — what used to be a day of football has now gone back to the

dogs.”

This year, viewers will get a Thanksgiving treat as the Dancing With the Stars

alum will have a very special someone at his side on the program — his

11-month-old son, William.

“I’m doing a whole little opening piece with him in a Dr.

Seuss kind of way, explaining the concepts of the dogs to him, so he’ll be all

through the show,” he says.

That won’t be the first piece of doggie literature young

William will be exposed to. A prolific writer, John has published two books

inspired by his canine friends. The first, It's Okay to Miss the Bed on the First Jump: And Other Life

Lessons I Learned From Dogs, was a motivational read

released last year and the second, Before Your Dog Can Eat Your Homework, First You Have to Do

It: Life Lessons From a Wise Old Dog to a Young Boy, hit shelves earlier this month and serves as a guidebook

for his son written by their 16 1/2-year-old white Maltese Scoshi.

John adamantly clarifies that it was

Scoshi who penned the tome, not he.

“I don’t want to put OK! in the same position that Oprah

found herself in with celebrity plagiarism,” John teases. “Let’s make that

clear, I didn’t write it, my dog did.”

Scoshi left secret notes around the O’Hurley home addressed to William,

espousing life lessons “that he totally distrusts I’ll ever be able to teach

him.” In writing, er, transcribing the book, John wanted to keep in line with It's Okay to Miss the Bed’s

theme of learning everything in life from dogs and figured his son ought to

inherit Scoshi’s wisdom.

“I think dogs teach us extraordinary things, and they have

the power to change the temperament of a human being in an instant and not many

things can do that — no matter how bad your day is, you walk in and you see

your dog and you just smile,” he says.

The family, which includes John’s wife, Lisa Mesloh, has another

dog, Betty, a black lab daschund mix, and the actor says he wasn’t too worried

about William getting along with the dogs.

“I’m more concerned about how he relates to us,” he says. “There will come a

time when he is a little more mobile and gentle.

Right now he can pet the dogs, but he also wants to pull the ears and

also he wants to do an oral exam on the dogs as well. He just wants to put his

finger in everyone’s mouth.”

He might do the same backstage at the dog show, where up to 2,000 hounds will

be backstage carousing about. The sight may be overwhelming for some, but

probably not for William.

“He’s very comfortable being on stage,” John says, adding that he frequently

brings his son on Family Feud, of which he’s the host. “He just loves being on

stage to the point where if I have to continue with the show and I hand him off

to my wife, he doesn’t want to go with her, he wants to stay on stage.”

So does that mean William is set to follow in dad’s showbiz footsteps? Too soon

to tell, the Spamalot star says.

Something he’s less unsure of is having more

kids — one is good enough for the couple. “We did it right once. He’ll be

getting out of diapers just as I’m getting into them, so that’s funny.”

Fatherhood was worth the wait though because it is “the most

incommunicably satisfying thing” he’s ever done.

“I had never known that I had the capacity to love something as deeply as I do,”

John says. “It certainly has deepened my life and changed my life in so many

aspects. As much as I love that little kid, I am also much less tolerant and

more vigilant about the world around me than I ever was before.”

By Joyce Eng