How puppy power can help sportswomen to stay ahead of the pack
Growing number of athletes are finding positive effect on performance from owning a dog, writes es Fiona Tomas
‘We want City to set up a doggy day da care, but bu I don’t think thi that’s going go to happen. ha All the girls would wo talk about ab at training tra is dogs!’ do
Ask British tennis player Katie Swan how her sport could improve, and she offers a unique response. “I don’t think it would actually happen,” she says over video call from her training base in Asturias in northern Spain, “But I would love to have a therapy dog courtside during matches so I could cuddle it. That would be amazing.”
Dogs have always been in Swan’s life. She received Jessy as a nine-year-old and the cocker spaniel’s 12-strong puppy litter that followed were the first of a long line of canine friends that have made their way into the Swan household.
The family uprooted from Bristol when Swan was 13 and moved to Wichita, Kansas, where her mother, Nikki, has fostered rescue dogs since. “I can’t keep track of how many we have,” , laughs g the 21-year-old. y “I came home one time and we had 11 dogs in the house. We had our four and one foster which was running around, along with a rescued German shepherd who had just given birth, so we had her and all of her puppies. It was like walking into a zoo.”
As the world’s oldest domesticated species, dogs have lived with humans for more than 30,000 years, but it has taken the biggest health crisis of the 21st century for many of us to fully appreciate their therapeutic value.
That extends to female athletes, whose lengthy, coronavirus-induced hiatuses from their respective sports during the first wave of the pandemic have led to increased “doggy downtime” and vital companionship in a year when loneliness has soared.
Ahead of entering her eighth week living on her own during the spring lockdown back in May, Beth England, the Chelsea and England striker, described her time alone as “one of the hardest periods I’ve ever faced” alongside her dog, Buddy. This week, England could not hide her delight at seeing Buddy featured on this year’s Pets at Home Christmas advert.
Only recently has animal interaction – particularly the use of therapy dogs – been identified as a potential area of research which could help athletes gain a psychological edge in performance due to benefits associated with lowering stress and anxiety. Last year, Missouri Western State University added a six-month-old Australian shepherd therapy dog named Myron to its athletic department to help studentathletes overcome mental health challenges caused by injuries.
It is an area that is yet to be systematically researched among athletes, but many are already signposting how dogs contribute to their own emotional and mental well-being. Just months ago, Jessica Ennis-hill, Great Britain’s former Olympic heptathlon champion, paid tribute to her late Labrador Myla for “lifting her massively” when she was ruled out of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 through injury. A quick glance at Kadeena Cox’s Instagram page quickly gives a sense of how her miniature dachshund Minnie has helped the 2016 Paralympic champion, who has multiple sclerosis, cope with at-home training during the lockdown.
It is no secret that the coronavirus cris crisis has led to a rise in dog ownershi ownership – particularly puppies – across the UK, with walking a pet be being one of the few reasons people c could go out during the early days of lockdown. Research fro from the Kennel Club shows that t two thirds of those surveyed s said their new puppy was a “lifeline in lockdown lockdown”, while a further 41 per cen cent said they bought a puppy d during the pandem pandemic because they wante wanted a companion. F For Caroline Weir, th the Manchester City a and Scotland midfielder, in deciding to buy her o own two-month-old da dachshund, Skye, the pull of the pooch was driven by something else.
“Literally everyone was getting a dog at City,” says Weir. “Jill Scott got one just before me, so did Chloe Kelly, Sam Mewis brought hers over from America, so there’s a lot of dog chat happening at the club.
“We want to persuade City to set up a doggy day care at the training ground, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. All the girls would talk about at training is dogs!
“They’d speak about them as if they’re children, asking questions to each other like, ‘How’s your dog sleeping?’ I think that was one of the other reasons I was persuaded in the end.”
When she signed for City in September, American midfielder Mewis brought her cavapoo puppy, Finn, with her. Her US and City team-mate, Rose Lavelle, has been forced to find more intuitive ways to stay in touch with her fourlegged pal, her English Bulldog Wilma Jean Wrinkles, who has her own Instagram account with more than 12,000 followers.
“I have a little pet-cam that I log on and see her in live action and shoot some treats out to her and talk to her,” Lavelle said. “So, that makes the distance a little easier.”
Swan, who this year raised awareness for Battersea Dogs as part of the 2.6 Challenge that a host of athletes completed in May after the London Marathon was cancelled, can relate to spending time away from her canine chums and, of course, her family.
“It’s harder to be away from the dogs! My parents know that as well,” she jokes. “Whenever we Facetime, I always ask to see the dogs.
“It’s hard, I miss them so much. I try and talk to them over Facetime, but they never respond – I don’t know if that’s a thing or not – but I’m still working on it.”