Joe Manganiello Says His Devoted Dog Bubbles Still Likes Him More than His Wife Sofía Vergara

Joe Manganiello loves his dog Bubbles.

On Thursday, the 45-year-old actor appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show with the tiny pet, a Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix. Manganiello told guest hosts Tiffany Haddish and Stephen "tWitch" Boss that he and Bubbles have a close bond. The dog, which Manganiello shares with his wife Sofía Vergara, 49, even shows favoritism towards him over the Modern Family actress.

Vergara spoke about Bubbles' feelings towards her on The Tonight Show in May 2021, telling host Jimmy Fallon that the pet "hates" her.

"She hates me. She was supposed to be for me. She was supposed to be my dog," Vergara said at the time. "She arrived to the house, and I don't know, she thought she was for Joe, and that's all she wants to do."

Manganiello addressed how things are going between the pair now during his Ellen visit.

"It's gotten a little bit better, I think," said Manganiello about Bubbles' improving relationship with the four-time Golden Globe nominee.

The actor later revealed that he and his pup shared an instant connection upon their first meeting.

"I went downstairs, went outside, this little head pops up out of her lap and squirms, runs over to me. I pick her up and she starts growling at everybody else, like 'Get away from us. This is my man now. That's it,' " added Manganiello discussing the sweet encounter.

In a nod to Manganiello's role on True Blood, Haddish, 42, asked whether Bubbles loves him more than Vergara because he played a werewolf.

"I think we have a mutual understanding of each other," said Manganiello.

Vergara and Manganiello tied the knot back in November 2015 and recently celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary.

Despite Vergara's struggles to get along with Bubbles, she made her husband a Bubbles-themed birthday cake in 2020.

"I wanted to make him happy because, you know, that's his baby," Vergara explained to Fallon in May 2021.

"I have to say, he treats her like she's a little daughter he has. But she insists on, you know, behaving like a concubine or like a mistress or something," she continued. "She sleeps with him. She gets angry when I walk in the room. It's a whole thing now in the house."