`Sopranos' star appearing at Palmyra event to help a very sick dog

Drea de Matteo of `The Sopranos' hugs Hooch, the homeless Great Dane-mastiff mix in need of expensive medical procedures.

By JUDITH W. WINNE
Courier-Post Staff

Hooch has been one sick pooch, but now the ailing Great Dane-mastiff has a television star in his corner.

On Sunday, Drea de Matteo, Adriana on HBO's The Sopranos, will hang out with the gentle giant and his two-footed friends at the Broad Street Pub in Palmyra.

The actor's appearance is designed to raise money for Hooch's medical care. De Matteo is fond of the enormous canines and has two of her own, plus a bulldog and two cats.

She is so devoted to her pets that, even though she had a loft built in her home so she could sleep undisturbed, one Great Dane now climbs the stairs to the loft to bed down with de Matteo. She doesn't protest.

De Matteo seems equally taken with Hooch.

"He stole my heart," said the actress. "He's funny. He's a comedian. He's possibly the most beautiful teddy bear. He looks like a baby elephant."

Or a strapping, 150-pound canine who hasn't had the greatest puppyhood.

"He was very, very sick," said Roxann Dolce of Palmyra, who helps with Hooch's foster care. "He was abused. He was neglected."

Dolce said when she first put Hooch, originally named Shane, in her van, he was soon drooling and tearing up the car bedding. He reminded her of the large, misbehaving dog in an old Tom Hanks comedy.

"He was grungy and dirty and filthy and stinky," recalled the 41-year-old volunteer good-naturedly. "He personified Hooch in Turner and Hooch."

Volunteers nursed Hooch back to health and worked with him on his behavior, re-training him. A skin disease, exacerbated by neglect, said Dolce, has claimed much of Hooch's fur - at least for now.

Then, a few months ago, Hooch was diagnosed with a serious neurological syndrome. The big dog will need surgery that could cost thousands of dollars.

The goal is to get Hooch better, then find him a permanent home.

Dolce, a controller for a lighting company, works with the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League, a group that works to find homes for needy Danes.

It's a problem larger than the dogs.

"Great Danes at six months can weigh 80 pounds," said Laurie Zoock of Jefferson Township, Morris County, public relations coordinator for the rescue league. "The average size is 160 pounds. . . They're 6-feet tall on their hind legs. They can knock you down."

Rescue folks worry about the new Scooby-Doo movie, due for release later this month. They fret that some viewers will see the cute cartoon dog and rush to get a real, live Dane - without thinking about the consequences or putting in time to train the dog.

"We get a lot of dogs dumped," said Zoock. Some owners ignore the obvious, that the cute pup will soon look more like a pony than a canine.

"The No. 1 reason people give them up is they grew too big," said Zoock, 42.

There are dozens of Danes in the Mid-Atlantic rescue group region from lower New York state to West Virginia who need homes.

Hooch, with a little TLC, would make a fine companion, said Zoock.

"He is so happy," said Zoock. "He's just a loving dog. There's just something special about him."

Viewers of The Sopranos may recall a minor dog story line involving Adriana, de Matteo's character. Christopher, Adriana's mobster boyfriend, sat on her tiny pooch and squashed the pet.

Some fans of the drama worry whether Adriana's future is equally bleak. The big-haired Jersey girl is an informant for the Feds and if Tony Soprano finds out she's a rat, she could wind up buried in the Pine Barrens. De Matteo suggested predictions of her demise were premature, but said she'd prefer Adriana committed suicide if she had to die.

"I'd rather if she was going to be whacked, she took matters into her own hands," said the 31-year-old actress.

A New York native, de Matteo got involved with Hooch's problem and Great Dane rescue after Dolce contacted her.