CBS Airs Its Dolly Parton Tribute Tonight. Her First Single, at 13, Was Called "Puppy Love."

Dolly Parton passed away on August 25 at the age of 80. In the days since, the Empire State Building has been lit pink in her honor, flags flew at half-staff for a week, and Nashville has begun the process of renaming its airport after her. [1] Tonight CBS airs a two-hour tribute, "Remembering Dolly: A Rhinestone Life," at 8 p.m. [2]

Most of the remembrance has gone, rightly, to the music and to the Imagination Library, which has put more than 24.6 million free books into the hands of children in North Carolina alone. [1] There is a smaller thread that gets less attention, and it runs from the literal first record she ever released to the last few years of her life.

It started with "Puppy Love"

Her debut single came out in 1959, on the small Louisiana label Goldband, when she was 13 years old. It was called "Puppy Love," and she wrote it with her uncle Bill Owens. [3] The song is about a schoolyard crush rather than an actual dog, but the title stuck with her, and she came back to it repeatedly across sixty-odd years. Writing about pets much later, she said her love for animals was "stronger than ever." [4]

That was not a late-career rebrand. She grew up in the Smokies in a house where dogs were part of the yard and part of the family, and animals turn up all through the catalog and the children's books. One of those books, Billy the Kid Makes It Big, was inspired by a French bulldog belonging to her manager. [4]

Doggy Parton, and the farm behind it

In 2022 she launched Doggy Parton, a line of pet apparel, accessories and toys made in partnership with SportPet Designs — rhinestone collars, a tiny denim jacket, a wig, the whole thing played exactly as straight as you would expect. [5] Her own framing at launch was "your pet can sparkle too." [6]

The part worth knowing is where the money went. A portion of the proceeds supports Willa B Farms, a rescue in Old Hickory, Tennessee, that describes its work as improving the lives of "homeless, neglected, abused and abandoned animals." [5][7] It is not a conventional dog-and-cat shelter. Willa B takes in horses, pigs, chickens, tortoises and whatever else arrives, which means many of its residents are not adoption candidates who cycle through in six weeks. They are animals the farm will feed for years. [7]

In February 2024, CBS aired Dolly Parton's Pet Gala, a two-hour special she co-hosted with Jane Lynch: a pink-carpet dog fashion show with performances from Lainey Wilson, Carly Pearce and Chris Janson, and a rendition of "Puppy Love" that finally had actual puppies attached to it. Proceeds from the Doggy Parton line again went to Willa B Farms. [8]

If this is where you want to put something

A lot of people are looking for somewhere to direct a feeling this week. A memorial donation to an animal rescue is a reasonable place for it, and there are a few things that make the gift land better.

Small monthly beats one large gift, for most rescues. A farm sanctuary's costs are hay, feed and vet bills that arrive every month regardless of what happened in the news cycle. Recurring donations are what let a small organization say yes to an animal in March based on money it knows is coming in June.

Check the wish list before buying supplies. Most rescues publish one, and it is usually less romantic than people expect — dewormer, litter, pine shavings, gift cards to the feed store. Donated items that are not on the list can become a storage problem rather than a help.

Foster if you have the room, and be honest about the room you have. Foster homes are the constraint on how many animals a rescue can take, more than money is. A short-term foster commitment you can actually keep is more useful than a long one you cannot.

Verify before you give. Charity fraud tends to spike around a famous person's passing. Willa B Farms and Rescue is a registered 501(c)(3), and you can confirm any nonprofit's status and see its filings through the IRS or ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer in about a minute. [9] Give through an organization's own site rather than a link in a social post.

If this ends with you adopting. Shelters and rescues are busy this week, and a tribute adoption is a good outcome for everyone. The one piece of paperwork worth handling in the first week is the microchip: the chip a rescue implants or transfers is only useful if the registry has your name and a phone number that rings your phone today. It takes five minutes and it is the kind of thing that only ever gets checked at the worst possible moment.

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Sources

1. "How America celebrated and mourned Dolly Parton, in Nashville and beyond," NPR, August 29, 2026.
2. "TV Schedule: What To Watch The Week Of August 30, 2026," TVLine.
3. "On This Day in 1959, 13-Year-Old Dolly Parton Released Her Debut Single, 'Puppy Love'," Parade.
4. "Dolly Parton was very philanthropic, to help people and animals," Steve Dale's Pet World.
5. "Doggy Parton: Dolly Parton launches pet clothing line in support of animal rescue Willa B Farms," ABC7 Chicago.
6. "Dolly Parton launches Doggy Parton collection," WBIR.
7. "About the Farm," Willa B Farms.
8. "Dolly Parton Highlights Her 'Puppy Love' in New CBS Special," DogTime; "Dolly Parton's Pet Gala airs Wednesday night, Feb. 21 on CBS and Paramount+," CBS New York.
9. "Willa B Farms And Rescue," ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.