Charlize Theron - Charlize Theron Starts Her Dog Collection Again

The actress has always been a huge dog lover and she has been rescuing pooches in her adopted Los Angeles for years, but a series of recent tragedies made her rethink her role as a pet owner.

She says, "(My dogs) all kinda passed away in the last two and a half years kinda back to back, but they had amazing lives; the oldest one was 16.

"I went for a year without having dogs because I thought I was gonna go and make this film (Mad Max) in Australia... but the movie kept pushing and my mom just finally said, 'What are you doing? You're such a dog lover... I hate coming over here (to your house), everything's so clean, and it's, like, quiet.' And so I just recently adopted two rescue dogs."

And the Monster star is urging dog lovers to adopt this Christmas.

Appearing on Wednesday's (14Dec11) Ellen DeGeneres Show in America, she said, "People don't realise you can actually go and specifically adopt exactly what you want. There are so many dogs available.

"It just kills me when people run to pet stores. This is the season to adopt."