Jerry O’Connell on dogs and dads

Dogs are good training for fatherhood, according to Jerry O’Connell.

The actor has six-month-old twin girls, Charlie and Dolly, with actress/model Rebecca Romijn and said that the amount of care his pets need helped him get ready for the girls.

“What’s amazing is I had dogs before we had kids and when you get the dog food and you’re putting it out, the dogs are like panting, ‘Food time!’ Babies are exactly the same,” said O’Connell.

His wife insisted on breast feeding, which made their nights inconvenient (though it’ll, you know, improve their immune system and stuff, but come on, Jerry wanted baked Alaska!)

“Even I was like, ‘Honey, why?’ Lets go get some formula and make this easy. But every few hours that big generator Frankenstein machine would go on. We were at a friend of ours’ wedding and we were there for a couple of hours. I was having a good time, dancing… and we’re having a good time. My wife grabbed me and she was like, ‘We’re leaving now,’ and I was like, ‘No, no, no, come on, I want to cut the cake,” said O’Connell.

As well as being demanding for their food, the girls also have very different sleep patterns from their parents.

He told “Live! With Regis and Kelly”:”I don’t wake up particularly early, my wife doesn’t wake up particularly early, but for some reason for our children, 5 a.m. is their time!”

And that, my friend, is why all I have is a cat.