Cleveland is indeed the home of the Dawg Pound, and during training camp, the Puppy Pound.
It makes sense, then, that one of the Browns' fiercest young dawgs recently welcomed a puppy into his home.
Cleveland, meet Gohan, Myles Garrett's dog.
"I knew that it was going to be tough because having a dog is a lesser version of having a baby," Garrett said of becoming a dog owner during a Monday appearance on Cleveland Browns Daily. "I know there's more responsibility with that and I'm not ready for that, so we're just going to have a smaller version of that walking around the house. I know he's going to get things rolling eventually but right now he's just trying to find his bearings."
Garrett has posted a handful of photos with Gohan, whom he's introducing to the Northeast Ohio environment with each free moment of time not spent at the team facility in Berea. When he's done with his Dawgs, he turns to his dog for Myles' and Gohan's next great adventure.
Last week, they tackled Blue Hen Falls, located within the confines of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
"It's fun," Garrett said of their adventures. "Just watching him grow, watching him have these new experiences whether we're walking somewhere or going on the trail or we're just walking around the yard, how he interacts with things just brings a smile to my face every time."
Garrett is less than a month into being a dog dad, but understands that little Gohan, with his sleek, all-black coat that will eventually cover a much larger body, needs to make friends with other pups. The Dawg Pound is a family, after all.
In order to do so, and to unite Browns fans and dog owners, Garrett is hosting a play date for dogs Wednesday at Canine Meadow in Kirtland.
"I want to be able to interact with fans and it's just a long offseason so I have plenty of time for it," Garrett said. "But also I have those certain times where on the weekends I have to go somewhere and I have to do things for him. And he needs to be able to socialize with other dogs and I have to go out and see the fans and be with them, just go out in the community and see how people are. Just be able to connect with people and have him not trying to bite or fight other dogs. Just being a normal dog and be able to lay around the house and interact with people and dogs just fine."
As is often the case with love, the two key factors -- chemistry and timing -- played out in Myles' and Gohan's favor. Garrett said he'd been wanting a black German shepherd for a while but needed the right match to arrive when he had ample time to properly welcome him into his world.
"Just the look, the breed, I knew that's what I wanted," Garrett explained, "and eventually when I found one that's around the same age I wanted and it kind of met the same time period that was going to be good for me to be able to be around the dog, take care of him, get it trained and just give him the love and care that he needs and the room and space he needs to grow up and run around and just be happy, I knew I had to get him at that point."
Gohan picked the right time to join the Dawg Pound. He'll meet plenty of his fellow dogs (and Dawgs) this week.
