From fixing up homes to taking care of their pets! When HGTV’s biggest stars aren’t renovating flipped properties, many find comfort in their four-legged companions.
“SURPRISE!!! Meet Bugz El Moussa 🐶♥️,” Tarek El Moussa captioned Instagram footage in August 2021, surprising daughter Taylor and son Brayden with a pug. “The kids have been gone all week and at first @heatherraeyoung and I played with the idea of surprising them with a puppy when they got back but when we saw Bugz, we knew she had to be the newest member of the El Moussa family ♥️.”
The Flip or Flop star — who shares Taylor and Brayden with ex-wife Christina Haack — adopted the new pooch alongside Heather Rae Young, whom he wed in October 2021.
“I’ve watched this reaction vid over and over again — I can’t get over Bray not being able to catch his breath once he realizes that he has a new puppy and Tay walking straight past her not even registering what’s going on 🤣😂😂,” Tarek continued in his post. “It’s one of those moments where you know your kids will look back on it and remember it forever♥️ So — welcome to the family Bugz and I hope you’re all ready for some puppy content!! 😂”
The Flipping 101 alum is hardly the only HGTV star to embrace pet parenthood. Jonathan Scott, for his part, grew up around dogs before adopting Gracie and Stewie.
“I grew up on a ranch. We always had big dogs: Labs and even a 200-pound Rottie,” the Property Brothers star told Modern Dog magazine in November 2013. “However, with my lifestyle, you need to have a dog you can take with you. So my first dog was a Yorkie. His name was Gizmo and he was only 2.5 lbs. Unfortunately, he was fragile, and he passed away. But, before he died, he totally opened me up to small dogs. … Shortly after Gizmo, I got Gracie. I like having two dogs, it lets them bond. Then, I got Stewie. I brought Gracie with me to check out our options, and she wouldn’t socialize with anyone but Stewie. They were instantly inseparable.”
Joanna Gaines, for her part, lives on a Waco, Texas, farm with her husband, Chip Gaines, their five children and a plethora of pets. Their animal menagerie includes six dogs, multiple cats, cows, horses, chickens and goats.
“Chip told me he hadn’t surprised us in a while with a new animal and that it was long overdue… we now have more dogs than children,” the Magnolia Table author wrote via Instagram while introducing the family’s English mastiff puppy in August 2019.
Scroll below to meet the HGTV stars’ furry friends:
