With no soccer to talk about, we felt no time was better to talk about mans best friend. So we got on the phone with Tim Parker and Florian Valot to discuss their dogs, Mr. Woodson (aka Woody), and Simba.

A dog?

For Florian and Tim, the idea of getting a dog came during at the end of preseason right before the season starts. For Florian owning a dog was something he always wanted. However, he had to make sure he would be able to take care of it.

“I thought about it because when you travel a lot you have to make sure your dog is taken care of because its not fair to him. I thought about is it worth it and decided I needed one?”

While Florian early season injury was unfortunate having Simba by his side made things easier.

Tim was entering his second year at the Vancouver Whitecaps when he got Woody. At the time he was living in a team owned building that was not pet friendly. This obviously makes it hard to own a dog, however Tim decided to go look at some bulldogs to see what the deal was.

“Of course the minute I go see the dogs I meet woody and end up getting a dog and living in a non pet friendly apartment”

So what does one do in that situation? Tim used the stairs and a backpack to sneak a young woody in and out until the finding a new place to live.

For Tim the idea behind getting a Bulldog was simple. He wanted a dog that was good on its own and he finds Bulldogs to be hilarious. For Florian he didn’t have a specific breed in mind but he did have criteria. He wanted a dog that wouldn’t shed and be on the smaller side since he was living in an apartment. This lead him to looking at doodle mixes. After a trip up to Connecticut and 3 hours with a litter of puppies Florian found the one.

“I spent 3 hours to pick which one I wanted since they were so cute but I made the right choice as he is a mix of calmness and energy.

A Name

A name is one of the most important things when it comes to a dog and as you may have guessed Disney was behind the names of both Woody and Simba. For Florian he had picked the name before even finding a dog.

“I really love Disney and my favorite movie is theLion King. Before picking the dog I knew the name. It just came naturally.”

Tim also had Disney on the mind before meeting Woody however the name was not set in stone.

“It was a combination of his colors and I felt woody would be a good name and just sort of went with that”

Good Boys

Both Simba and Woody are good boys according to Tim and Florian. Outside of a little shoe chewing when they were younger there are no horror stories to tell. Woody despite the mean exterior that bulldogs are known for is easily frightened.

“The best thing about woody is that as a bull dog he looks kind of mean and portrays this mean look. but he is scared of everything and anything. If a piece of card board falls he is jumping and running away.”

It took Simba a little bit of time to learn that the door to the apartment wasn’t the door to get outside. this lead to a few hallway accidents.

Both players are thankful to have a dog to keep them company in these different times. For Tim the walks outside with woody are a nice way to kill some time.

Both dogs can be found on Instagram @misterwoodson and @simbaforking.

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