Benn happy to have pit bull with him in Montreal
Habs defenceman happy to have his ‘sweetheart’ pit bull by his side
Canadiens defenceman Jordie Benn is happy to have his best buddy back with him this season in Montreal.
That buddy is Juice, his threeyear-old pit bull.
Last season, Benn had to leave the dog with his father in Victoria because of a Montreal bylaw banning the breed. That law, put in place by former mayor Denis Coderre, was overturned after Valérie Plante and her Projet Montréal party was elected last November. The Quebec government passed Bill 128 before the National Assembly broke in June and the city adopted a new bylaw to replace the controversial pitbull ban.
“He’s an absolute sweetheart,” Benn said about Juice after the Canadiens practised Wednesday morning in Brossard. “When I was growing up, it was Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers that were the aggressive dogs. Now, with all the media coverage with pit bulls coming out with the dog fighting and stuff like that, they’ve become the No. 1 aggressive dog.
“I put it all on the owner. If you’re not going to train your dog or discipline it to make it be obedient, then it’s going to be aggressive. So it’s not the dog ’s fault, it’s the owner.”
Benn has always loved dogs and as a kid his parents Randy and Heather told him if he got a report card with all Bs or better they would let him get one.
“It was the one and only time I ever got Bs or higher on a report card and we got a black lab named Maddy,” Benn said. “She was our family dog. She was really overweight, but she lived to be 14 and was a really good dog.”
Juice was also overweight when Benn got him back after last season.
“I had to tell my dad that food’s not love,” Benn said. “I’ve got him down now to about 88 pounds.”
Benn’s girlfriend Jessica Kohout also has a dog that is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mix named Lily.
“They’re both rescue dogs and both are absolute sweethearts,” Benn said.
Benn and Kohout met about eight years ago in Dallas through his brother Jamie when Kohout was working in a sushi restaurant. Benn was playing for the American Hockey League’s Texas Stars at the time, while his brother was with the Dallas Stars. The two brothers and their parents — who Jamie flew in from Victoria — got together for dinner Monday night in Montreal before the boys squared off Tuesday night at the Bell Centre with the Stars winning 4-1.
Kohout is the person responsible for Benn’s trademark bushy beard.
“When we first started seeing each other, she told me: ‘Just see what happens … grow it out,’ ” Benn said. “I didn’t want to because of how red and orangey it looked. But she was a beard fan, so she just said: ‘See what happens and grow it out.’ It grew out full and I’ve had it ever since.”
Benn has been playing some of his best and most consistent hockey this season with the Canadiens, posting 1-0-1 totals in 11 games while averaging 17 minutes 16 seconds of ice time. The fact he can now come home to Juice after a game certainly hasn’t hurt.
“I’m a huge dog lover and I like all breeds of dogs,” Benn said. “Pit bulls are absolute sweethearts. If you’re nice to them, they’re nice to you. Juice is nothing but a cuddly dog. All he wants to do is lay on the couch and have you pet him.”
Benn recently hit the 400game mark for his career and is now at 403, which is quite an accomplishment for a player who was never selected at an NHL draft. If it wasn’t for his father, Benn said he might have never played even one game in the NHL.
After playing for the Victoria Grizzlies in the British Columbia Hockey League, Benn joined the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings for the 2008-09 season and thought about packing up his skates and looking for a new career.
“I called home and my dad wouldn’t let me come home,” Benn said. “He just said: ‘You know what? I’ll work for you. You’re having fun playing the game you love and you never know what can happen.’ So I owe a lot to my parents.”
Benn might owe some of his success this season to Juice.
“It’s nice to come home and he doesn’t know what happened during the day,” Benn said. “He’s just happy to see me, so it’s nice just to kick back with him and just relax. It’s good to have him here.
“After games I’ll come home, I’ll have a bite to eat and then before I hit the bed I always take the dogs out for a good 45-minute to an hour walk just to relax. There’s nobody out there … it’s midnight, 12:30 by the time I’m out there. It’s just soothing to me. I love going for walks.”
Especially with his buddy Juice at his side.
Juice is nothing but a cuddly dog. All he wants to do is lay on the couch and have you pet him.