Lucky Dog! Dierks Bentley Adopts a Pooch Live on 'Today' : Meet Goose

The 8-week-old border collie mix comes from N.Y.C.-based Muddy Paws Rescue

As if we needed a reason to love Dierks Bentley even more.

On Thursday, the singer swung by Today in New York City for a performance and a chat on the 3rd Hour. Some rescue dogs happened to be on set in honor of the universal adopted dog birthday, “DOGust 1st,” and Bentley, 43, found himself smitten.

“I’ve been texting back-and-forth with my wife and kids,” he said during a conversation with Jenna Bush Hager and Willie Geist on Today with Hoda & Jenna. “They really want a third dog. My wife for her birthday said, ‘All I want is a third dog.’ ”

Within minutes the paperwork was underway, and by the end of the four-hour show, Bentley was headed to his next tour stop in Buffalo, New York, with his new pooch, 8-week-old border collie mix Goose.

Dierks Bentley puppy
Nathan Congleton/NBC

“I feel a connection,” he said. “I feel it’s meant to be. I’ll never forget this day. This is unbelievable.”

Bentley already has three kids — Evie, 10, Jordan, 8, and Knox, 5 — and two dogs with Cassidy, his wife of 14 years, but he admitted “they’ve been on me about a third dog for a while,” in a video posted to Al Roker’s Instagram.

“I definitely feel attached to Goose and he’ll be well-loved,” he continued, adding in his own Instagram video, “I mean, how can you say no to that [face]?”

Though the family is busy with rescues Patch and Emmy at home, their eldest dog, George, died earlier this year, preceded by another pup, Jake. In a tribute to George, Cassidy wrote in May, “You reigned in our house and in our hearts for 14 years and right now your absence feels like a hole the size of an entire Dachshund shaped universe. We are trying to fill that hole with gratitude and with the wildest hope that your spirit has already reunited with Jake’s in what lies beyond.”

Goose will seemingly help the family heal; during his chat with Bush Hager and Geist, Bentley said his family was going to fly out to Long Island, New York, this weekend to meet him at a tour stop and formally meet Goose. “Just to see the dog, they don’t care about Dad,” he joked. “They’re going crazy.”

Within minutes of leaving Today — and after swinging by a local Petco — Bentley was already sharing videos of the pup snoozing in his van on Instagram, joking he was introducing him to the glamorous side of life on the road. He later posted a photo on Instagram from his concert in Buffalo, with Goose on stage.

Dierks Bentley dog
Dierks Bentley and dog Goose in Buffalo, New York. Zachary Belcher

Goose came from N.Y.C.-based Muddy Paws Rescue, a non-profit, no-kill organization that plucks animals from intake shelters and finds them new homes.

“I appreciate everyone out there that works in dog shelters across the country, rescuing these guys,” Bentley said in his Roker’s Instagram video. “Y’all are doing great work. Thank you.”

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