NFL’s Juwan Johnson and Wife Chanen Share How ‘Emotional Support’ from Their Dogs Prepared Them for a Baby (Exclusive)

After New Orleans Saints star Juwan Johnson and his wife Chanen Johnson got married in 2020, they didn’t wait long to become dog parents.

“We jumped into the whole parenting thing really quickly,” Chanen tells PEOPLE. The couple’s dogs, Fitzgerald and Hendrix, joined the family in the months after the wedding. “It’s been amazing. It’s affected our lives so much. Obviously, 2020 has been a crazy year.”

“They were literally my emotional support,” he adds. “They bring so much joy to our lives. Now that we have a baby, she and the dogs get along so well. They are the cutest, and it’s just the cutest little family.”

The couple, who met as students at Penn State, welcomed their first child, J’adore Blessing Johnson, in July.

Their parents’ first dog, Hendrix, is a French bulldog who is said to have a Napoleon complex.

“He’s small, but he tries to attack anything,” Juwan tells PEOPLE of the dog, a pet known for his side eye. – The other day I was vacuuming, and he was trying to catch the vacuum.

“He thinks he’s big and great, but he’s a tiny little guy,” adds Chanen.

Dog two is Fitzgerald. Juwan got the dog, believed to be a Chihuahua-terrier mix, from a shelter in Mississippi as a gift for Chanen. The pup, who Juwan describes as “very cute,” has grown more than expected and now weighs 60 pounds.

“His personality is the Chihuahua in him, for sure,” says Chanen. “He thinks he’s so small and always wants to be cuddled.”

Juwan Johnson and Chanen Johnson with their daughter J’Adore.

Chanen Johnson’s Instagram

Juwan Johnson, wife Chanen pose with newborn daughter J’adore for NFL family photo: ‘Baby’s First Game’

Their experience adopting Fitzgerald inspired the couple to participate in pet adoption events in New Orleans.

“Taking Fitzgerald out of the shelter literally made me cry because of the number of dogs I saw there, and I know they’re overcrowded and they’re just going through it all, so I can’t even imagine having to deal with that, just being a little puppy,” says Chanen.

The Johnsons are teaming up with Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Greater Good Charities to help raise donations for the 2024 Shelter Bowl, which supports pets in need. During the Shelter Bowl, which runs through February 11, Hill’s will donate meals to animal shelters and rescues across the country, and Hill’s and other partners will match each donation up to $30,000.

While Chanen says Hendrix and Fitzgerald are “polar opposites in every way,” their favorite activity is playing with each other.

J’Adore, nicknamed Dori, recently started petting Fitzgerald.

“Fitz is very attached to Dori, so they have their little moments, and he’ll come over and lick her and play with her,” says Chanen. “When she was a newborn, he would just sit and protect her at all costs. And if someone came and passed, he didn’t have it,” she adds.

Hendrix.

Juwan and Chanen Johnson/YouTube

Chanen says taking care of two canines prepared them to be parents.

“To be honest, it’s very similar,” she says. “Both of our dogs were puppies when we got them, so there’s a bit of a baby phase. With dogs it goes a lot faster. Our dogs are old in dog years now, they’re adults, but it really prepared us. It helped me in my grooming routine about someone other than yourself.”

“Yeah, it just gets you into a routine because when they’re newborns and they’re crying in the middle of the night, they have to go to the toilet, you have to train them, you have to potty train them, and then you have to teach them morals and manners and things like that,” adds Juwan. “It’s only with dogs, it’s fast-paced, not with children which takes months and years.” The dogs also helped the couple through difficult times before Dori was born.

Juwan Johnson and Chanen Johnson.

Chanen Johnson’s Instagram

Juwan Johnson and wife Chanen reveal they’ve had two miscarriages as they look back on 2022.

“We had two miscarriages last year and I feel like having our dogs was huge, honestly,” she says. “We kept to ourselves for a long time last year and didn’t really want to go out and hang out. It can just be hard. And having them there was really special for us.”

“Yes, it was helpful because we could still be parents of something,” adds Juwan. “They were helpful. They were fun. They always do the weirdest things and help us with a lot.”

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Dori attended her first NFL game in September to cheer on her dad, and the 6-month-old — who makes frequent appearances on her parents’ popular TikTok account — is on the cusp of new milestones.

“I think they’ll be walking soon, but they’ll be crawling soon,” says Chanen. “She’s also very close to talking, which we’re excited about. I’m going to film the first time she talks. There’s no way I’m going to miss that. Oh my god, she’s so old, it’s scary. She’s literally going to start driving soon.”

For more information about the Shelter Bowl, visit GreaterGood.org/Field-Goal.

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Source: HIS Education