Kacey Oberlander is missing her dogs back home and she is more than a little stressed competing in the high-pressure environment at the US Olympic swimming trials.
That is where Holly comes in.
The adorable, four-year-old Havanese is available for petting and furry hugs.
Photo: AP
“It just calms me down a lot,” said Oberlander, who swims for York YMCA in Pennsylvania and is to attend the University of Alabama in the fall. “It’s nice to see the happy puppy dogs running around when everything is so intense and everyone’s so serious. The dogs are very happy all the time. It makes me calm.”
Yes, the Olympic trials have gone to the dogs — and the athletes are loving it.
USA Swimming, in an effort to ease some of the anxiety accompanying such a major meeting, has partnered with Domesti-PUPS — a nonprofit organization based in Lincoln, Nebraska, that is providing four-legged companions for the athletes’ lounge at the CenturyLink Center.
In a section of the arena that is generally off-limits to everyone except the swimmers, dogs such as Holly and Larry, a goldendoodle who will readily pose for a picture or pause for a pat on the head, have been welcomed with open arms.
If anyone doubts their purpose, each pooch wears a collar that says: “Please ask to pet me. I’m friendly.”
“There’s a lot of pressure,” said Leah Braswell, a teammate of Oberlander’s. “Having the dogs here is a great distraction, a way to take a break from all of that. They’re happy all the time. It just makes you happier. You can forget about whatever race you just had.”
Given their gentle, soothing nature, “therapy dogs” have become more familiar around hospitals, retirement homes, hospice centers and disaster areas. They have provided comfort to veterans and those with autism. They have even done time in prisons, nudging inmates along the road to rehabilitation.
There is no judgement from these animals. Fido merely wants to love and be loved. For someone in pain or anguish, they can be an invaluable companion.
At the Olympic trials, their role is a bit different, but it is really in keeping with the extensive training that Domesti-PUPS puts its animals through before sending them out into the world.
“Anywhere there’s an elevated level of stress, we can take our dogs and try to destress them,” said Sandy Ludwig, who works with the organization. “These dogs are just lying there, waiting to have their bellies rubbed or their ears scratched.”
“This is the first time we’ve ever done it,” said Morgan Weinberg, the program and services manager for USA Swimming.
“I’m an animal lover myself, and I was trying to think of different ways in the athlete lounge that they would calm down, and kind of just relax and have fun,” Weinberg said.
“I like dogs, I thought about dogs and it just kind of evolved into therapy dogs,” she said.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
RSS