Drew Carey is known for his quirks, such as saying ‘I love you’ to fans before signing off, but the “The Price Is Right” host still manages to surprise fans from time to time. On an earlier episode of the show, he brought a furry friend along. When announcer George Gray called the host of the show out to the stage, Carey walked in with a dog.

“And now, here’s your host, Drew Carey,” he said. The 67-year-old came out with a black Labrador wearing the show’s merchandise. Amber Lancaster fell in love with the four-legged friend the moment she saw her. “That’s my dog, Bubba,” Carey said. “That’s my dog. Wanted to say hi to everybody.” The host then directed his dog towards the back of the stage, and it ran out.

Screenshot showing Amber Lancaster interacting with the dog. (Image source: YouTube | Triniswagg92 Beastmode)
The studio audience loved the moment and gave their approval with incessant applause. “Good morning, Drew. How am I supposed to follow a cute dog?” Gray asked. After everyone got over the furry friend, it was time to play the game. Carey then turned his attention to the contestants standing on Contestant’s Row. Fans of the show loved the moment and made their thoughts clear in the comments section of the clip on YouTube. “I love Drew Carey’s dog. It looks so beautiful. I am sure that Bob Barker would have been proud because he was an animal lover,” one fan commented. “Happy to see the dogs back on the show! Bob would definitely love this,” mentioned another. “Drew and the dog. This was a preview of Pet Adoption Week,” one more fan wrote.

A lot of people mentioned the former host Bob Barker’s name when they saw the dog with Carey. It is understandable why that is the case. The former host was, after all, a celebrated animal rights activist. He made it a point to mention the importance of neutering pets in every single season of the show, according to a report in The New York Times. He even used his own pitbull as an example.

“There are just too many cats and dogs being born,” he had said in 2004. Animals are being euthanized by the millions simply because there are not enough homes for them. In the United States, there is a dog or cat euthanized every 6.5 seconds.” Barker was an animal rights activist who became a vegetarian and even stopped dyeing his hair, as the products used to be tested on animals.

However, during his time as host of “The Price is Right,” the show occasionally used to have pets as prizes, a practice that would be thrown under the bus today. Fans of the show discussed the matter in a Reddit thread. “Last night, The Barker Era channel ran a first-season episode they probably shouldn’t have: one of the prizes in the second showcase was a Saint Bernard puppy. A real live, purebred St. Bernard puppy,” the post read.