Hot dog! Rockin' Rick Springfield is here to raise some bones for older pups

Rick Springfield is an old dog’s best friend.

Springfield, who turned 392 in dog years on Aug. 23 (that’s 75 to you and me), will be in Colorado on Thursday and Friday to both wish that he had Jessie’s girl and raise money for Pepper's Senior Dog Sanctuary, which provides high-quality care for unadoptable older dogs on a 50-acre ranch in Roxborough Park. Co-founder Mary Leprino’s mission is to provide a compassionate, loving, lifelong home where up to 20 elderly dogs sent from shelters all over the state are tended to for their last days.

“From the minute they wake up until they go to bed at night, they are cared for perfectly," Leprino told CBS News Colorado's Kelly Werthmann.

On Thursday, Springfield is headlining the “Raise the Ruff” fundraiser at the Mission Ballroom in Denver, where he is expected to raise an astonishing $500,000 for Pepper’s at a dinner and 90-minute concert that is expected to draw 1,500 swooning fans.

In a PSA for the concert, Springfield describes himself as “a senior musician and a senior dog lover.” He goes on to say: “Senior musicians like me need love, a cozy place to sleep – and a fair share of bathroom breaks.” (And so do senior dogs.)

On Friday night, Springfield will take his show northeast to Greeley for a (non-benefit) concert at the Union Colony Civic Center.

There was probably a time when Springfield grew weary of being objectified by screaming fans as he fired off a string of ’80s power-pop hits including “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and “I’ve Done Everything for You.” Dude did chart 17 top-40 hits and win a Grammy Award, after all. But something tells me that if this handsome dog is still being objectified at age 75, he should just take the adoration like the adorable human Golden Retriever he is.

Springfield’s press bio rightfully points out that he is an accomplished actor who starred opposite Meryl Streep in the film “Ricki and the Flash” and gave a chameleonic performance as the creepy Dr. Irving Pitlor in HBO’s “True Detective,” among others. Conspicuously missing is any mention of a certain soap-opera role that launched him into another ozone layer of stardom. But as someone who worked in the kitchen of a college sorority during those very same years he broke big on “General Hospital” and saw first-hand his impact on impressionable, rich co-eds: Noah Drake. Noah Drake. Noah Drake.

Springfield’s new “Automatic” is his first album of all-new original material in five years.