Dog Day Afternoon

Sammi, left and Jesse "take care of each other" says Burton flanked here by his two loving Labs

After a long day at the studio the first thing Steve Burton likes to do when he gets home is relax. As luck would have it, his two yellow Labrador Retrievers, Sammi and Jesse, have the same thing in mind. "It's good for me, and them, to unwind. Sometimes they are in the house all day long. So when I get home, we all go outside and play around. I'll throw the ball and they'll run up the hill. One of them loves to retrieve. The other one is a retriever but the only thing she retrieves is the other dog".

They may look the same to someone who doesn't know them but Burton has no problem telling them apart. "My wife got Jesse for me as a Christmas gift 5 years ago and we just got her a little pal" he says of Sammi. "Having two has been great. The older one, Jesse is really dependent on us. But Sammi is dependent on Jesse and not us. While we are gone, they play and do whatever they want to do. They are never bored."

Although Burton always had dogs growing up, it's a brand new experience for his baby girl, Makena, who is a tiny 6 month old. "She likes to watch them" smiles Burton, "but the dogs are like 'what are YOU doing here? They're cool though. They know the baby, they like to hang out with her. They'll come up when she is in her swing and sniff and lick her. We'll tell them, OK, that's enough. Now go away."

Steve slowly introduced the dogs to his baby girl, Makena