Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy is a busy guy, and he most recently appeared as a cover model in an Autotrader calendar published through Dogtrader for National Dog Day.
Besides featuring Kenworthy and his Korean Jindo rescue pup Birdie, the calendar also features adoptable rescue pups that can be found on Dogtrader, and social media superstars like Dogstagram’s Rambo the Puppy, WillieCute and the Goldenwoofs.
(Autotrader also released their 2021 Best Cars for Dog Lovers list for National Dog Day as well.)
Viewers will remember Gus Kenworthy as a freestyle skier who competed in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, earning a silver medal in slopestyle in Sochi.
But the British-American skier has also claimed five X Games medals, seven Winter Dew Tour medals, and several world championship events, in addition to a budding acting career, appearing on American Horror Story: 1984, Will and Grace and various reality shows, and as a TV personality during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.
Besides being an animal welfare advocate who has appeared in the 2018 Puppy Bowl, he is also very active as an advocate for LGBT rights.
He chatted with Wesley and Dog O’Day via video meeting last week to talk about Birdie, how he got into dog rescue, and more.
Gus Kenworthy chats with Dog O’Day about his dog Birdie and more.
Dog O’Day – Could you tell me a little bit about your dog Birdie, and how you came to adopt her?
Gus Kenworthy – Yeah, my dog Birdie is a Korean Jindo mix, I actually adopted her from a dog meat farm in South Korea. I was in Pyeongchang at the time competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics, and I do a lot of work with the Humane Society International; they were in the process of shutting down a lot of dog meat farms, so I went with them to the farm, so that I could see how much of an atrocity it was, in person, so that I could better advocate for them.
While we were there, there was a dog actually giving birth in one of the cages; one of those puppies born that day is my dog Birdie. So we are very connected.
That’s awesome. And what is her personality like, just like in daily life?
She’s honestly just the sweetest dog. Her personality is just that she’s VERY happy go lucky; she’s pretty independent, at home she does love to be cuddling, but she’s kind of like a cat sometimes in how she’ll leave the room and go off to her own room and curl up in a ball and kind of be on her own. Which I like, she’s an independent woman and she needs her own time. But otherwise…she’s just so sweet, she gives kisses, she’s just a really good girl.
Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy chats with Dog O’Day about how he got into dog rescue, and specifically an Autotrader pet adoption calendar.
Dog O’Day – Were you already involved in the dog rescue efforts before Pyeongchang? How did that start?
Gus Kenworthy – I was, yeah. My first dog that I ever got was on my 11th birthday, and my dad took me to the pound to get a dog from the shelter, and that was my childhood dog. And then in 2014 when I was competing in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, my ex-boyfriend and I actually brought home five stray dogs, and that’s when my work with the Humane Society International began, because they helped out a lot with that process and with clearing the red tape.
One of those dogs is my mom’s dog, and two of them live with my ex, and one went to a lady who worked for the Humane Society. But since then I’ve just continued to work with them, which is why they enlisted my help in 2018.
That’s really cool. And how did this partnership with Autotrader come about, with the calendar?
Well, I think because I’ve done a lot of work in the dog adoption field, and just been a strong proponent of animal adoption and rescue, it was a great fit for them, and it was certainly a great fit for me, because it’s so wonderful what they’re doing. The calendar that we got to be featured on the front of was such a cool opportunity, but it’s just so cool to me that there are adoptable pets featured in the calendar.
But moreso, it’s even cooler that Autotrader is using their technology to have a website, Dogtrader, where people can find adoptable pets in their area, and find the best cars for dogs, and car accessories that are dog-friendly, and really just helping a lot of animals find their forever homes., and live their best lives once they do.
That’s awesome. Does Birdie enjoy going on trips with you when she can, like car trips, things like that?
Of course! Anytime I’m traveling for training or getting ready to compete somewhere, she’s just always so bummed that she doesn’t get to go, because she just LOVES riding in the car. The two things that make her the most excited are saying “Do you want to go for a walk?” (And as soon as she hears the word “walk” she just goes crazy) and “Do you want to go in the car?” She loves going in the car, she loves car rides, and I just love being with her at all times, so it’s nice to be able to bring her along and have her be comfortable in the car.
Olympian Gus Kenworthy talks about his plans for the future and dealing with separation from his doggo.
Dog O’Day – Have you dealt with separation anxiety when you’re away for extended periods of time?
Gus Kenworthy – Um….yeah. Well, I have separation anxiety and I definitely want to be with her, okay?! [chuckles] She’s like a very well adjusted dog, and when I’m gone she stays with my boyfriend, and they’re very connected as well, so it’s nice that she’s able to have that, and it’s pretty rare that we’re both away, and that’s definitely hard, both for her and for us, but usually when I’m gone for traveling or training or competing, she’s still got one of us at home.
That’s good. And being a professional athlete, how important is that for you to kind of be an advocate for important causes in your life, like dog adoption or other things that you’re passionate about?
Yeah, I think that being an athlete, or really anyone that has a platform, and everyone has a platform of some size when it’s elevated and you’re able to reach more people, it’s so important to advocate for causes that are important and near and dear to your heart. An animal adoption is one of those causes for me, so I love being able to speak about it and promote animal rescue, and yeah, just trying to be…a role model for anyone that may be following me in any of the areas that are important to me – LGBT rights and LGBT representation in sports, animal adoption – all of it.
Yeah, those are all important things. Are you making a run for Beijing next year?
Yeah, I am, I’ll be competing in Beijing [for Great Britain this time]. We’ve already had a lot of our qualifying events over this past year, and I’m looking pretty good to be skiing there, it’s gonna be my third and final Olympics, so I’m looking forward to it.
Are you an athlete, too? I see a lot of medals on your wall.
They’re mostly my brother’s [aspiring Paralympian in archery, air rifle shooting or powerlifting], but I do compete in some stuff, yeah.
Very cool.
And so this’ll be your final Olympics – what do you hope to continue doing in the future beyond that?
Well, I’d like to do some hosting on camera, I’ve already done a bit of that, and potentially acting, so I’ve been auditioning here and there, and working on getting better in that skill, but it’s also presented a lot of cool opportunities – I just got to be at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics for NBC, doing commentary for them. I’d love to be able to continue doing stuff like that, and hopefully auditioning and acting when I can…I don’t know, I guess we’ll see how that works out, it’s kind of the big unknown right now, but I’m hopeful about it.
That was neat seeing those segments in Tokyo; I imagine with the COVID lockdown there weren’t that many people out walking their dogs, things like that.
Yeah, no. It was definitely a surreal experience. A lot of people were like, “How was Tokyo?” and it was so wonderful, but also….I didn’t really get to see Tokyo, like, at all. I didn’t really go into the city, I didn’t really eat at restaurants, we were pretty much confined to the actual hotel that we were staying at and the Olympic venues. And so I had a great time and got to see a ton of incredible Olympic moments, but it was hardly a vacation. [laughs]
Again, the calendar can be found at Dogtrader.com, and Gus and Birdie’s adventures can be found on Instagram at @GusKenworthy and @B_Pups, respectively, while Dog O’Day is on Instagram at @DogODayFS and on Twitter at @DogODay1.