Werenski, Harrington latest to welcome dogs to the family

Scott Harrington and Zach Werenski had each been considering getting dogs this offseason, and as the coronavirus pandemic has slowed down the pace of life and left the National Hockey League in an indefinite pause, the two Blue Jackets defensemen each came to the same conclusion independent of one another.
There's no time like the present for a pooch.

So both Werenski and Harrington have decided to adopt puppies over the past month, with Harrington welcoming a French bulldog named Josie a few weeks ago while Werenski picked out a Goldendoodle named Beau over this past weekend.
"It's been awesome so far," Werenski, a longtime Goldendoodle fan, said of his new role as a puppy parent.
"It's been great," Harrington added of his first few weeks with Josie. "We love her."
It's hardly a unique trait among Blue Jackets players -- you wouldn't be able to throw a stick in the CBJ locker room without hitting a player with a dog, and those canines would likely be more than willing to return it -- but for each defenseman, it's a new life experience.
"It's the first dog we've had in our family," Werenski said. "My parents never had one. We never had one growing up, so it's definitely new. Some of my friends have dogs and puppies, and I asked them some questions on it. I read some stuff online, but honestly you can't really prepare for it. You kind of have to go through it."

Harrington, meanwhile, also wouldn't necessarily describe himself as a dog guy for much of his life because of one main reason -- he's allergic. His girlfriend, Maddie, grew up with dogs, though, so with the help of some allergy meds for Harrington the couple had planned to adopt a pooch when summer hit and there was plenty of free time.
Of course, with the pandemic leaving people largely stuck indoors, it struck Harrington as the perfect time to go ahead with the plan.
"It's been nice because there's not a whole lot to do right now," he said. "So doing something different, taking her for walks and getting out of the apartment, all those sorts of things, it's nice to take your mind off things. You can't really do too much so in that regard, it's been great."
Werenski agreed, and the two have had similar experiences when it comes to their dogs. Both defensemen reported being lucky at how well-behaved their two puppies are, with each of them playing well with others and (mostly) handling the night hours well.
"He sleeps pretty much all night," Werenski said of Beau. "He likes his crate. The only thing he does really is, I don't know if it's called teething with dogs, but he bites on everything right now. That's the only thing we're working on, but he's so young. You can't get mad at him. He goes hard for like 30-40 minutes then he'll crash and just lay there for an hour and a half, then he'll wake up and go crazy again."
"I think we really lucked out," Harrington added of Josie. "She has a very nice temperament. She's very friendly with any other dogs that we pass by. She's friendly with people - we don't really get close enough for her to interact with people anymore, but she's great. I don't think she's barked once. She's been really good for us. We're happy with her."
The two are just the most recent in a long line of Blue Jackets to embrace dog ownership. Coaches John Tortorella and Brad Shaw are outspoken advocates of dog adoptions, while Cam Atkinson has long boasted a Pomeranian named Easton and Marcus Nutivaara has a Dachshund named Iitu that he painted as part of his CBJ Christmas card this winter.
Gustav Nyquist (Harvey), Alex Wennberg (Lexie) and Dean Kukan (Nikki) also have dogs, while Elvis Merzlikins (a Cavapoo named Koby) and Vladislav Gavrikov (a spaniel named Willy) joined the team this year with canine counterparts. Oliver Bjorkstrand (mixed breed named Chelsea), Pierre-Luc Dubois (a French bulldog named Philly) and Ryan Murray (an Australian shepherd named Jake) are among the more recent Blue Jackets players to join the party, while Devin Shore brought with him a labradoodle named Potter when he was acquired at the trade deadline.
In other words, it won't be hard to find advice should the newest CBJ dog owners need it, but the explosion of pooch purchases shows that the hockey lifestyle is one that is compatible with canine companionship.
For Harrington, his family is in Ontario while Maddie's is in Cincinnati, so Josie will be a nice companion around the house during the team's in-season road trips. Werenski, meanwhile, has lived with his brother Brad for the past couple of seasons, but he often has returned to an empty house during the summer or afternoons after practices/before games.
"It's going to be awesome," Werenski said. "We have so much time after the practices, days off. When my girlfriend or friends come to visit, people can watch him when I have games and stuff like that. I'm really excited for it. I think it's going to be awesome. It's been awesome so far, but obviously there's a lot more work to do."

Beau, like
Merzlikins' dog Koby
is well on his way to becoming an
Instagram celebrity
though Werenski said creating the account came at the advice of a friend and dog owner who told the CBJ defensemen that he wished he had more pictures of his pup when it was younger.
The dogs of team members already have a few friendships -- Dubois swears his dog and Nutivaara's are dating -- that are similar those on the team, and Harrington sees that happening with his newest addition when things get back to normal and everyone heads back to Columbus.
"It's nice to have another addition to your family to give you stuff to do and go for walks and go to new parks and new areas of town and stuff like that and hanging out with other couples who have dogs, too," Harrington said. "It's just a social thing that brings couples together and teammates and their girlfriends. It's nice to do things outside the rink together with your teammates, and I think a dog is a great opportunity for that. It's an easy reason to get people together and hang out.
"I think there's a million good reasons why if you have a system that allows you to make it work, I think it's a no-brainer to get a little puppy."