Miranda Lambert and hubby Blake Shelton haven’t spent very much time together since they got married and the two love birds seem to be okay with that arrangement for now. Something they are also okay with is having no kids anytime soon. After all, they already have six at home. Dogs that is.

“I don’t plan on having [children] for a while,” Lambert, 29, tells PEOPLE Country. “To me, my dogs are my children.”

The singer currently has six rescue dogs, but the cast of furry characters is frequently rotating depending on what wanders onto the couple’s Oklahoma property.

Lambert has always had a heart to help animals, and that includes the work she does through her MuttNation Foundation, a nonprofit she started in 2009 to help dogs and shelters in need.

“There’s just something in me about dogs and animals,” says Lambert, whose first canine love was a yellow Lab named Cooter Brown. She has imparted that something to friends, strangers, and most importantly, her husband. Quiet nights at home involve lying on the couch with a few of the dogs “piled on top of us.”

“I think the unconditional love you get from an animal, especially a dog, is better than anything else,” Lambert says. “They’re so grateful and the love they give you back is like nothing else.”

“I can give the biggest show of my life, and my dogs don’t give a damn,” she adds. “They just care about their mom.”