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For the 23rd year in a row, local dog lovers will be able to bring their four-legged, bath-needing friends to Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary’s Celebrity Dog Wash to have them scrubbed down by notables with big hearts.

But for the first time, some lucky canines could find themselves in the capable hands of a Blackheart.

“I’ve washed several dogs in my life,” reports rock icon, vegan, animal lover, soon-to-be movie subject and Dog Wash headliner Joan Jett, who will appear with her band The Blackhearts at Saturday’s benefit at Carlin Park. “I tried to wash my cat the other day, and it didn’t work too well. She wasn’t having it.”

Perhaps felines don’t appreciate the effort to keep them clean, but all of the critters who benefit from Safe Harbor’s services as a hospital and no-kill shelter should be grateful for events like the Dog Wash, which raises money and awareness for the plight of the area’s homeless animals.

Jett, who grew up surrounded with pets and goes out of her way to support animal organizations, says she’s impressed with what she’s learned about Safe Harbor, including its policy of not rejecting pit bulls, who are not accepted at other shelters.

“That’s really important. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many lovely pit bulls who are just the sweetest dogs. I know a lot of them have had a dangerous label attached to them, and I realize that people can train them to be, but they can be very loving dogs,” she says. “Many people have watched The Dog Whisperer and know how he turns them around, and that it’s possible with lots of love and understanding for them to have a good life.”

And if people truly love animals, their quality of life will be as important as how cute they are, Jett says.

“I think too many people today think of animals as a nice piece of furniture, or a nice pair of shoes or something. It’s always important to remember that animals think and feel pain. I think they reason — I believe a lot of things that other people don’t about animals and their intelligence. Humans beings are a little arrogant in thinking that we know what they think and how they think. I just find it very rewarding being with them, and whatever I can do to give back, I do.”

And in Jett’s case, that’s significant, since she’s hardly sitting around with a clear schedule looking for something to do. The singer, known for classics like Crimson and Clover, I Love Rock and Roll and I Hate Myself for Loving You, is currently touring, promoting her new Greatest Hits album out this month, a photography book with designer Todd Oldham about her life and career, and The Runaways, a major motion picture and Sundance Festival hit about the groundbreaking teen girl rock band she played with in the 1970s, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning.

“I think, overall, the movie definitely gives you a sense of what it was like at that time for us. I lived it and it was unbelievable for me. I enjoyed every minute of it, even the bad stuff, and it’s hard for me to think that any movie could ever capture that,” she says. “That said, I certainly wasn’t unhappy with it, which is saying a lot. … I take a poll in the girls’ bathroom after every screening I go to, to see what people are thinking, And people seem to like it. Of course, if (their reaction) was negative, they wouldn’t tell me.”

Jett says that although The Runaways has been promoted as a biopic, it’s really “a coming-of-age story focusing on Cherie Currie (Fanning), myself (Stewart) and (producer) Kim Fowley (played by Michael Shannon). The Runaways are more the environment that we’re living in, but it’s not really about (the band). It doesn’t go into every girl’s back story and that kind of stuff. But I think they did a great job. The Runaways’ music is all over the place, and you get a sense of what it’s like. I’m pleased that people seem to like it.”

The Runaways, whose lineup included Sandy West and Lita Ford, get a lot of credit for establishing that women can rock just as hard as men can, even if the band was treated in some quarters as a novelty at the time. Although Jett and Ford followed up with successful solo careers, along with a few other notable female rock stars, the current lack of women on the rock chart begs the question whether much has changed.

“That breaks down a couple of ways,” Jett says. “I don’t think much has changed at all, in the sense that I don’t think the media and the music industry are willing to accept girls playing rock and roll any more than they were then. The difference is that the girls are. They’re ready to rock. When I did the Warped tour, in every city we were in, there were girls playing in bands, all really good to different degrees. They’re out there playing, but it’s hard to expand much beyond that because there’s not the infrastructure that there was. The way we did it was, you signed to a label, you got on the radio and you went on tour. Now everything’s so fragmented.”

Jett notes that modern bands, even without the access previous musicians had to radio airplay, have something their predecessors didn’t — the Internet, “where you can get your music out to the masses, even without touring. But even with that, it’s still hard to find people to give girls a shot for trying anything that’s about being tough, that’s outside of being a pop singer, that’s edgy and moves into being a tomboy. And that’s when the cutdown starts.”

Jett knows what she’s talking about — between the Runaways and her success with The Blackhearts was a long stretch where she couldn’t get a foothold in the business as a solo artist. She teamed up with Kenny Laguna, who became her champion, business partner, producer and co-founder of Blackheart Records.

“He kind of believed in me right away. I had this history (with the Runaways) I thought I could draw on right away, and Kenny said ‘I’ll fix this,’ ” she remembers. “People told him ‘Forget it. We don’t want anything to do with it.’ What I was dealing with was completely unwarranted. But they were looking at me, and didn’t like the image, the leather jacket. They made a judgment and said ‘No.’ Once Kenny saw that, we started fighting together. I gained strength once I had someone to fight with me.”

Jett says that while it’s hard to give advice about being a musician, because either you can rock or you can’t, she can offer instruction about sticking to one’s dream, no matter how much you’ve been kicked.

“Girls tend to live a lot more in their self-esteem than guys do. I think a lot of times, after you get the s— beat out of you, you say ‘I don’t need this just for trying to play music,’ ” she says. “You’ve got to be able to develop a tough skin, and it gets easier. Things have hurt me like they’ve hurt anyone. But you have to know who you are. And you have to ask yourself, ‘Do you believe what they’re saying?’ … It’s really important to have a mom, a best friend, somebody who believes in you, even if it’s just one person. You have a shoulder to cry on so you can go be tough for the rest of the day.”

More on the dog wash:

Fido filthy? Let the celebs deal with it!

The 23rd annual Celebrity Dog Wash takes place Saturday beginning at noon in Carlin Park in Jupiter.

With lots of entertainment, including headliner Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, more than 65 vendors of dog products and services, food, jewelry and more, everyone — even the dog — will find something to like about the Dog Wash. The kids will love the Fun-Tastic Pavilion.

What started out with a few hundred people in Jupiter’s Sea Grape Square blossomed into more than 5,000 dog lovers at last year’s event, making it one of the largest dog-friendly festivals in Florida.

An annual favorite? The doggie costume contest, which begins at 3:15 p.m. with prizes for the winners.

New this year is a book signing with animal artist Ron Burns and a chance to see your dog as a centerfold in the 2011 "Studs and Their Buds" and "Gals and Their Pals" calendars. The 24 winners will be chosen by a panel of judges following the event.

Other entertainment features Acoustic Remedy, Big Vince & The Fat Cats, The Shareholders and Tom Can’t Stop.

A free park-and-ride trolley will pick up passengers at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Safe Harbor, Reynolds Plaza and First United Methodist Church.

When: Noon Saturday

Where: Carlin Park, 400 N. A1A, Jupiter

Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the gate. Children 12 and younger are free.

Call: (561) 747-5311