Chris Pine Says Being a Pet Owner ‘Makes You More Capable of Loving’: Dogs ‘Teach Me a Lot’ (Exclusive)

Chris Pine loves being a dog dad!

In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, the actor and director, 44, opens up about his love of his pets — two rescue dogs and two other canines he is fostering.

Highlighting some of his favorite parts of owning dogs — including “morning cuddles” — Pine says, “It’s myriad, small little things throughout the day, where they make you smile because they do something ridiculous.”

“The love that you have with your animals is profound and heart-opening. Then, the practice of that heart opening over time, I can’t help but think that it bleeds into your life elsewhere,” he continues.

“It just makes you more capable of loving, I think. My dogs have continued to teach me a lot,” adds Pine, who recently released his first children’s book, When Digz the Dog Met Zurl the Squirrel: A Short Tale About a Short Tail.

According to Pine, he became a pet owner for the first time when he was a young child growing up with his dad, fellow actor Robert Pine, and his mom, Gwynne Gilford.

“When I was seven, my parents took me to adopt a dog, and so we got Lucy,” he explains. “She was a small dog, and I had her from when I was seven until I was [in my 20s].”

After Lucy’s death, Pine says he was left heartbroken. “I was studying abroad that year, and I remember my parents calling me and telling me my dog had died, and it was shattering,” he explains.

“Then I went 15 years without a dog. I was traveling a lot, working and starting my career, but then I got Wednesday, and really, it’s no hyperbole to say how that she’s taught me everything about love and patience and kindness,” Pine continues of his rescue pup. “She’s just changed my life.”

Pine tells PEOPLE he now questions why he went over a decade without another furry friend in his life. “I was like, ‘Why did I waste so much time?’ ” he says.

And while he notes that he isn’t a parent, the Don’t Worry Darling star says raising a pet has prepared him for that role, should he ever choose to take it on.

“There’s so much mutual learning in some regard,” he explains. “It’s like, you have to teach a dog how to live in a house and how to teach a dog to be potty-trained, and you have to teach a dog what they can and can’t do.”

“You’re also learning about patience,” Pine continues. “If they rip up a couch, how do you deal with that and how do you treat them with kindness instead of anger?”

When Digz the Dog Met Zurl the Squirrel: A Short Tale About a Short Tail is available to purchase now, wherever books are sold.