Don’t let Dave Bautista‘s tough exterior fool you — the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 star is a total softie when it comes to his three dogs. Bautista, who plays Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel movie franchise, gushed about his pets in a new video for the Humane Society.
“My wife and I, we’re such animal lovers,” the 48-year-old former wrestler says in the clip. “We’ve always wanted to get officially involved. Obviously animals can’t speak for themselves, so we need to speak for them, but also encourage other people to step up.”
Bautista and his wife, Sarah Jade, have three dogs. “Frankie, he’s very quiet,” the actor says. “He’s funny, he’ll sit out in front and he’ll just wait for people to pass by and he’ll bark at ’em. He’s like the grouchy old man [going], ‘Get off my lawn!’ And Janie’s very much like the puppy. She never really grew up — she’s very energetic and she’s excited over everything. And then Sadie, who’s our oldest puppy, she’s very independent.”
Frankie and Sadie are both pit bulls, and Janie is a Catahoula. But Bautista strongly advocates against judging dogs by their breed.
“You know, people look at me and they see this big, rough, tough exterior,” he says in the video. “But once they get to know me, they see that I’m a kind person. I think that’s very much true to our dogs as well. … I’m hoping that a lot of my fans or people who support me will take suit, you know, not just care for animals in your heart, but you gotta actually do something to make a difference.”
Watch the video above!