Topdog

Isabela Moner Was Basically Born To Play Dora The Explorer. Here, The Nickelodeon Actress-Turned Silver-Screen Star Shares Why Portraying The Beloved Cartoon Character Means *Everything* To Her—Yes, Even As Much As Snuggles With Her Rescue Pup Pluto.

- Sydney Adamson

Pluto Moner is a very good boy…until, well, he isn’t. The three-legged American Staffordshire Terrier accidentally just sent a potted succulent crashing to the ground on the set of our cover shoot. His owner, the 18-year-old actress Isabela Moner, profusely apologizes and quickly cleans up the disheveled shrub. But you can’t stay mad at Pluto for long—he’s just that cute.

“He’s got three legs, but he doesn’t let that define him because he’s got a good soul, you know?” Isabela says as she sweeps up the last specks of dirt. “Pluto is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

And we can assume the feeling is mutual. After all, Pluto is now *definitely* living his best life: He flies on private jets, snuggles up in plush hotel beds and heads to set and the studio with Isabela, who first laid eyes on him during some downtime while filming Dora and the Lost City of Gold (out July 31) in Australia. It was puppy love at first sight—and now Pluto is as steady of a sidekick to Isabela as Boots the monkey is to Dora in the classic Nickelodeon show-turned-movie.

Even before she found Pluto, life already had taken a serendipitous turn for Isabela. Like many of us, Isabela grew up watching Dora every morning before school and even heard constant comparisons to the cartoon character as a kid. “I’ve been called Dora my whole life. It was this ongoing joke between my friends and me that I was Dora—I had the bangs, I’d teach them Spanish,” says the Instant Family and 100 Things To Do Before High School star. “It’s crazy how life works out.”