Me & My Dog with Jon Lee

Jon Lee with Molly

Jon Lee found fame as one seventh of pop sensations S Club 7. With hit records, a hit TV series as well as legions of adoring fans, Jon made an indelible mark on popular culture at a very young age.

After a small hiatus, he is now back in the limelight appearing in Love Shack the Musical with former Hear'Say star Noel Sullivan and Faye Tozer from Steps.



Hi Jon, tell us about your dog...

My dog is called Molly, she's an 11 years old Samoyed x Border Collie, she has all the markings of a Border Collie but the fluffiness of a Samoyed.

When I was younger and still at school so I must have been 11 or 12 years old I used to volunteer for Animals In Distress after school and it was only about 6 months after one of our dogs Sasha had died, anyway, this one day someone just turned up and left a box of puppies on the doorstep so I called my mum to come down and see them, she asked me which one I wanted and we chose Molly, she was the runt of the litter. She's recently been diagnosed with diabetes so she's having two injections a day but it hasn't affected her really, she's as happy as Larry!


Do you have a favourite breed, if so why?

I love cross-breeds, they always seem so much healthier than pedigrees and so intelligent. But I love Newfoundlands, they have webbed feet don't they? I also love Bull Mastiffs, any big dogs that are slobbery!


When did you get your first dog and can you remember what the feeling was like, early days, initial problems, fun etc?

My family has always had dogs, we had two already when I was born so I have always been around dogs, we had Sheba a Lurcher and Kelly a German Shepherd. I grew up with them both until I was 11 years old when Sheba died, but I loved growing up with dogs, coming home from school to have them waiting for me, they seem to know just when to get ready for me coming home and its never lonely when you have pets.


An average day at home with the dog would entail...

If I'm not working and I have a day off, then an average day would normally start with my mum taking Molly out, as I still live with my family, we grew up in Devon, but when I moved to London, my family moved with me which is great, so after my mum has taken Molly out first thing, then I'll normally take her out later that day in the afternoon, there's a park near our home, so we'll go over there and play and throw sticks, but because she's getting a bit older, she's not as agile, so we don't play for too long always as she tires quite quickly, but its all great fun.

She's a very vocal dog, she loves to have a proper chat and she loves her animal programmes, she's not bothered about people on TV but if she's outside and you shout to her "Rolf's on" she'll come running in and sit in front of the TV and sometimes if its maybe a programme with loads of wildlife in Africa she'll bark at them!


An average working day would entail...

At the moment my average day is involving travelling around a lot because I'm in a pop musical called Love Shack with some great '80's tracks and I'm starring with Faye (ex-Steps band member) and Noel (ex-Hear'Say band member) and we're touring the UK going pretty much everywhere I think, we started in February and we finish at the end of July, but its great fun and we're spending a week in each place at the same venue. So if anyone's interested in finding out more or if we'll be coming to a place near you, visit www.loveshackthemusical.com!


Does your dog ever get to come to work with you?

Not really, because she's getting on a bit, she stays with my mum but in S Club, she did once come with me one day for a photo-shoot with Live & Kicking magazine. But no, she stays at home generally.


What's your favourite place on earth?

I love snowboarding, so you'll find me up a mountain somewhere. I love snowboarding, when I was learning on my third day learning something just clicked and I've loved it ever since.


Does your dog ever get to go with you on holidays or trips with you?

If we go back to Devon or somewhere around the UK then she'll come with us, she's just like one of the family, she's not treated like a pet, but more like a human. I couldn't imagine leaving her in kennels.


Have you ever experienced the death of a pet and can you remember how it affected it you?

It was devastating, we lost Sheba when she was 15 years old, so she had a really good innings and Kelly when she was 8 years old which I believe people say is around the average age for a German Shepherd, but its really devastating to loose a pet.


Is your dog insured?

Erm, no - no she's not.


What was the reason for your dog's last trip to the vet and has your dog ever had any major accidents or illnesses?

Oh, we had a comical moment a couple of months ago, or maybe it was a bit longer than that, anyway, Molly had a lump on her side, it was all really dramatic, we were thinking oh god, its cancer it was really, really dramatic, so we took Molly to the vets and the vet said it was a fatty lump, we were so relieved and she had it removed. But then we took because she'd been really lethargic and she was diagnosed with diabetes.


Does your dog have a favourite toy/food/game/activity?

She loves Rolf on TV and she's never liked to play with balls and she's never brought them back. At Christmas we bought her one of those stockings which had a squeaky pink pig in it and she's taken a real shine to it, she loves it and she loves chocolate, although I know it's not good for dogs, but at Christmas she stole a whole box of Roses!


What was the last thing you taught your dog to do?

We've never actually sat and taught her to do anything, she seems to just know, she appears to understand what you say, for example if you say come in the backdoor or come round to the garden, she just seems to completely know what you're saying and she'll give you her paw, roll over and she loves to talk.


More than 8million Briton's choose to share their lives with a dog, why do you think that is?

I think they make great companions, they're great for kids to grow up with and I think there's something emotional you only get from animals which you can't get from anywhere else. I think they have a real calming effect although I some people possibly shouldn't have a dog if for example, you work all day and your dog will be left on its own all day because that's not really fair. But I think if everything's right, pets are great to have.


The funniest thing your dog has ever done or the funniest thing you've ever seen a dog do?

Oh this comes straight to mind, when Molly was a puppy and we were still living in Devon and we had a stream near our house, she was a bit nervous of water and so we were always tempting her to get in and she got really confident with it until one day when was about to do her normal bounding into it thinking she knew how deep it was, she didn't know the effect the flood would have on the depth and she got such a shock and the look on her face, we just couldn't stop laughing, but dogs faces are so expressive, aren't they?


If you could swap roles with your dog for a day how do you think they'd handle being you and vice versa?

If it was a summer's day, I'd do exactly what she does, lie in the garden and soak up the sun and she'd do the same if she were me, because that's what I'd love to do as well.


If your dog had the ability to answer just one question, what would you ask and what do you think the answer might be?

I'd ask her if she was happy, if she liked living with us and I think she'd answer yes.


Many Thanks Jon!

Jon was speaking with Kim Bruce

All Original Content is Copyright © 2001-2008