Miranda Lambert sees her pet dogs in the same light she would her own children.
The country singer has a growing collection of animals she shares with her husband Blake Shelton, including five dogs, horses, chickens and pigs.
The 29-year-old star has such a soft spot for her canines that they travel everywhere with her, even while on tour.
"They're our family," Miranda revealed to ET Online. "We don't have children so our dogs are our children and we kind of treat them that way."
Miranda married fellow country music star Blake in 2011. Blake is currently gearing up for a return to singing talent show The Voice, while Miranda has been kicking off her 2013 Locked & Reloaded tour. The bubbly blonde Texan beauty loves nothing more than attending to her brood of animals with Blake on their farm in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
"We go home it's like a totally different world," Miranda admitted. "We're in the country, just with animals and we're miles from any major city and it really calms us down, keeps us grounded."
Miranda's workload looks set to continue to dominate her time this year. As well as recording new material with her band Pistol Annies, Miranda has chosen to use her fame to help out animals by partnering with the PEDIGREE feeding project. The program offers five animal shelters-in-need across America the chance to receive free food if selected.
"[Next to music, animals are my] passion," Miranda explained.
