Meet Davy Jones, the Seattle Kraken’s new team dog

The first time the Seattle Kraken’s team dog entered the practice floor, he got so excited he had an accident. For a 4-month-old husky mix, there might not be a better workplace than one made of ice.

Davy Jones was less enthused about venturing onto the ice on Tuesday morning — the team didn’t practice, and the smooth surface was just a bit too slippery — but he greeted media members at the Kraken Community Iceplex with a wagging tail.

Davy was adopted by Chris Scarbrough — a leader on the Kraken’s app development — and his wife, Emily through Dog Gone Seattle via Texas. A Washington-based nonprofit, Dog Gone Seattle is dedicated to saving homeless dogs in high-kill shelters through rescue, foster and adoption. It is a foster-based organization that is 100% funded through adoption fees and donations.

In partnership with the pet food company Canidae, Davy will be trained to be a therapy dog. Most NHL team dogs are in training to become service dogs, but the Kraken decided to go a different direction.

Canidae was on board with the plan, said Kraken corporate communications manager De’Aira Anderson, and helped the team work with Dog Gone Seattle to find the right fit. Canidae also provides him with food, treats, toys and more.

“Most dogs who are being service trained have to be purebred,” Anderson said. “We wanted to make sure that we adopted a dog ... and Davy is a mix. In order to get him trained, we had to go the therapy route just because he is a mix. It was really important to us to show the value of adopting dogs. There are plenty of dogs around that need to be adopted.”

Team therapy dogs also move on to complete their training. That won’t be the case with Davy. Instead, the team looked within the organization for someone willing to adopt. Scarbrough and his family answered the call. Once Davy was selected, he was introduced to the Scarbroughs’ cat and dog — a 2-year-old pit bull mix named Doug — to make sure he was comfortable.

The Kraken are still researching the program Davy will complete for this therapy dog certification, Anderson said. He will make appearances throughout the season at home games, practices and community events.

“It’s more about his temperament,” Anderson said, “just making sure he doesn’t get too overly excited with crowds, etc. He’ll go through that training program and also his general training. Once he’s certified, we’ll be able to bring him out into the community and events and such.”

Davy, who has his own No. 1 jersey, a Kraken hoodie and a leash with the team logo, made his first public appearance during Monday’s game. Scarbrough said he loved the attention, an essential quality for any team dog.

“Specifically children, we just need to make sure that he’s well socialized,” Scarbrough said. “He was good with kids, so we can do the therapy dog thing and can stay well-behaved in stressful environments like the game last night where he had people petting him, taking pictures. He was very popular last night and handled it like a champ. It was awesome. He loved it. He crashed hard after the game.”

Davy often joins Scarbrough at work where he’s already bonded with the players, especially goaltender Philipp Grubauer — partially because of his pads. He’s also grown fond of 6-foot-7 Jamie Oleksiak, who will fold himself onto the floor just to play with the puppy at his level.

“The pads actually kind of confuse him because they’re really big and they make everyone else bigger,” Anderson said. “But he’s really warmed up lately. He loves playing with all of them. It’s great to see them. I know (head coach) Dave Hakstol really likes him. It’s nice when we bring him downstairs (to the locker room) because they’re all really excited to see him.”