With the second season of the “Real Housewives of Dallas” premiering soon, the Advocate thought we’d revisit last year’s story about the less dramatic members of the cast’s households — their pets.

Originally published August 2016, story by Emily Charrier.

Let the fur fly

The reality TV roadshow that is the “Real Housewives” franchise rolled into town this year, bringing new words to our lexicon like “Jesus juice.” The high-money, glass-tossing cast included Preston Hollow neighbors LeeAnne Locken and Cary Deuber. While the often-catty pair clashed like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the show, there is at least one topic on which they absolutely agree: life is better with dogs. Between the two of them, they have five pooches who probably have better lives than most people, living large with all the doggy amenities one could imagine. Often, these four-legged fuzz-balls stole the show, winning over the Bravo production staff from the start. “The crew would just hold them while I was doing interviews in the living room,” says Cary of her dogs Lily, Daisy and Izzy. “[The dogs] loved the attention.” For Locken, her dogs Chief and Carly are more like children, and thus a critical part of her story on the show. “You can have a house, or you can have a home. You can have a pet or you can have a fur baby,” she says. “I have a home with two fur babies. That’s just how I live my life.”

Carly, Photo by Danny Fulgencio Carly got her name on the show. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

The only one named

It’s a good thing show producer Andy Cohen is a beagle lover and owner himself. He insisted that the “Real Housewives” editors name Carly whenever she came on the screen, just like the housewives themselves.

“She was the only dog on the show who got her name on there,” beams LeeAnne.

The 2-year-old beagle was rescued from a parking lot of a Dairy Queen in Crandall, Texas by LeeAnne’s good friend Cassie Evans, a Hockaday graduate and volunteer attorney for the Dallas SPCA. As soon as Evans posted pictures of the dog on social media, LeeAnne fell in love.

“You know how you just look at something and know it’s yours?,” she asks. “She was just my dog.”

She fit right into the pack, bringing a mischievous balance to her more mellow dog-brother, Chief. LeeAnne says Carly’s always the one to instigate playtime, and the most likely to cause trouble. One day, she heard a ruckus outside, and looked up to see the beagle perched high in a tree in the backyard.

“She goes 20 feet in the air and she jumps from branch to branch chasing squirrels,” LeeAnne laughs. “She’s crack-head Carly.”

But LeeAnne identifies directly with the dog’s high-energy ways. “She’s just like her mama,” she says, “she goes from nothing to 90.”

Chief, Photo by Danny Fulgencio Chief hangs out with mama LeeAnne Locken. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

The Enforcer

Although his small frame may not look it, Chief is the sheriff at the Locken household. He makes sure everyone knows when someone is at the door, and is quick to tattle on little sister, Carly, when she’s up to no good.

“He comes right over to me and gives me these eyes and I know Carly has gotten into something,” LeeAnne says.

Call it kismet, but Chief was meant to be her dog. One day when she was leaving her gig at the Plano Television Network, she saw a group of women trying unsuccessfully to coax the little black dog in a parking lot. LeeAnne called the dog over and he came running.

“They said, ‘We have been trying to get that dog for three hours,’ ” LeeAnne recalls. “And he just came right up to me.”

While he had a collar, there were no tags. She tried in vain to find an owner, checking for microchips, posting to social media and listing him with local shelters. By that point, her boyfriend, Rich, had was smitten with the dog, so Chief became the newest addition to their family.

He’s famous for his adorable party trick that sends him sailing across the floor on his belly whenever his parents sing a ditty they made up called “Floor Surfing.”

160722106_DannyFulgencio_CaryDeubersDogs_PHC0308 Izzy, Daisy and Lily. Follow them on Instagram @IzzyandtheLittles. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)160722073_DannyFulgencio_CaryDeubersDogs_PHC0308 Lily. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

The QueenBee

“Lily is not really a dog,” says Mark Deuber. “If she could talk, she would tell you that. She’s a person.”

Despite being just 3-pounds, little Lily runs the pack at the Deuber household. At 7, she’s the oldest in the puppy family and makes sure everyone knows her seniority.

“She’s the uppity bitch,” Cary laughs.

At night in the Deuber’s bed, she prefers to sleep on a pillow just like her people. She came to the family as a tiny puppy through a nurse in the couple’s med-spa service. From the very beginning, the mini-Maltese had a big presence and a take-no-lip attitude.

“I swear she rolls her eyes at me,” Cary smiles, “she’s such a bitch.”

Cary has always loved malteses, since she was a young teen who had just moved to Texas and got her first little fluffy friend. Lily is the quintessential lap dog, quick to curl up in Cary’s lap because she knows that’s where the alpha belongs.

She has weekly appointments every Friday at the Grooming Table, where she only trusts Daniel with her long silky locks.

160722079_DannyFulgencio_CaryDeubersDogs_PHC0308 Daisy in front of sister Lily. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

The Dumb Blonde

While Daisy shares the same DNA as her big sister Lily, and the two could pass as twins, the similarities stop there. Lily is graceful and stately, Daisy is goofy and bumbling.

“She’s the dumb, pretty one,” Cary laughs as Daisy presses against her side. “She’s a big ditz.”

A year after the Deubers got Lily, her canine parents had a second litter of puppies and they decided to get her a little sister. Enter Daisy, so named to continue the floral theme. It became clear quickly that she was no Lily, but rounded out the pack with her own loveably inept style. She never challenges Lily’s authority, she knows better than that. She’s perfectly content to be the ludicrous sidekick — the Pinky to Lily’s Brain.

But she’s also the one most likely to cause her owners anxiety by wandering off, like a recent adventure that took her prancing around the neighborhood while her frantic parents tried to call her home.

“She would not last long on her own,” Cary says.

Izzy, Photo by Danny Fulgencio Izzy. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

The Discount Dog

Were it not for the Deuber’s pet snake, Izzy likely wouldn’t have found her way into the couple’s expansive Strait Lane home. The ball python, who went by Jade or Nelly depending on who you ask, was the pet of Mark’s son, Gray. Like most snakes, she ate live mice that had to be bought regularly from the pet store. It was there that Mark spotted a little Shetland sheep dog, waiting patiently in her crate.

“She was marked down to a dollar. She had been there for four months,” Cary says. “But she was just so proud sitting there waiting.”

Mark was drawn to the dog, and not just because of her discounted price. It was clear she was no longer a puppy, although she was being marketed as one. He called Cary from the pet store.

“I said, ‘I can’t leave her here,’ ” he recalls.

At 4 years old she’s the youngest of the Deuber pack, but also the most well behaved. She’s a quiet, slightly anxious creature who is happiest sticking close to her mama. She lacks the moxy of Lily and the playfulness of Daisy, but carries a gentle demeanor that makes her the perfect third-leg of the Deubers’ trio.