People Pets

No Love Lost between Sofia Vergara and Modern Family's Stella

By Melody Chiu

03/19/2012 at 09:00 AM EDT

Modern Family's got itself a case of life imitating art!

While attending PaleyFest 2012 on Wednesday, Sofia Vergara revealed she's as equally unnerved by French bulldog Stella as her onscreen counterpart, Gloria Pritchett – thanks to a little ribbing by show creator Steven Levitan.

"It's not that I hate the dog!" she said. "It's that I'm not used to having a little dog on top of me and licking."

Levitan shared that when shooting scenes with Stella, whose real name is Brigitte, Vergara naturally adopts a disgusted expression.



"Sofia's a wonderful actor," he said, "but she's not that good of an actor."

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But the actress went on to explain that she has nothing personal against the Frenchie, just that she's not used to being in such close quarters with one.

"I grew up in Colombia, where you have big dogs in your yard and the dogs sleep outside of the house," she said. "They don't go into your bed. It's a different thing."

Luckily for Brigitte, Ed O'Neill is as taken with the pup as is his alter ego, Jay.

"I absolutely love the dog. It's like a little bowling ball," he said, echoing sentiments made by Brigitte's trainer, Guin Dill, earlier this year.

"She's really Ed's dog," Dill told PEOPLE. "He is very concerned about her all the time, and he looks out for her. I couldn't have asked for a better actor to work with."

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