Here’s the scoop on Samoyeds, the dog breed that Swift & Kelce appear to own now
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Travis Kelce was photographed with a fluffy white Samoyed that breeders recognized.
- Samoyeds are described as friendly, active, affectionate and extremely loyal dogs.
- Samoyeds get along with other breeds including cats and are social with strangers.
When Jazmine Light saw paparazzi photos of Travis Kelce with a fluffy white, cloud-on-four-legs Samoyed like the dogs she breeds, it told her something about the Kansas City Chiefs player himself.
Samoyeds are friendly, active, affectionate, extremely loyal dogs that like to be on the go, get along with all animal breeds — including cats — and never met a stranger.
To Light, that sounded like a perfect match for Kelce, who married famous cat lady Taylor Swift on July 3.
“If it is Kelce’s dog, it just tells you his personality,” said Light, the vice president of the Heart of America Samoyed Club, which serves dog owners in Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas.
“If this was a breed he desired, and it truly is his dog, it gives you a glimpse into his personality and the type of dog that he wanted because it’s such a sweet, loving, beautiful dog.
“And in my opinion, if a man was the type of guy that wanted this dog, then he has a good heart.”
Paparazzi photos that first emerged in April shone a spotlight on a breed developed by the nomadic Samoyed people of Siberia. At the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, the Samoyed competes in the working group.
Nicknamed the “land cloud” for its thick, white, cotton-like coat that Light said is as soft as it looks, the Samoyed is known for its expressive smile — known as a “Sammy smile.”
“I get a lot of young families that want this breed,” said Light. “They’re searching for a dog that will mesh with an active lifestyle and they’re searching for a dog that will be excellent with children.
“They either are beginning to start their family or they started their family and they want a dog and they’ve done some research and this is the breed that keeps coming up.”
Light, owner of SnowDen Samoyeds, said some of her puppy buyers were the first to tell her that Kelce and Swift appear to have chosen a Samoyed.
“Did you see that Taylor Swift has a Sammy?” they excitedly told her.
“I said I love that they have a Sammy,” said Light, a Missouri breeder for 24 years who has relocated to central Florida. “I love that they have decided on this breed but as a breeder who wants these to go into the proper hands, and not just because they’ve become the next trend, the next thing I thought about was more people are going to want this breed and not be educated in what they’re getting.”
Light said people keep referring to the dog in the paparazzi photos as a puppy, “but I don’t think it’s a puppy because of the denseness of the coat and the size,” she said.
“People believe that this is a large dog. It’s not. The height for this dog is only 21 to 23 inches at the shoulder.
“And people think they weigh a lot. A lot of it is deceiving. You can have a Samoyed that weighs as little as 45 pounds — and some females can be as small as 35 pounds and males can top out at 65 pounds — so they’re really not that big.
“A lot of it is the coat ... they might look a little bit bigger than they really are.”
Unless Swift and Kelce talk publicly about the dog, fans might never know why they chose this breed. Though this is a possible connection: San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk and his wife Kristin Juszczyk, who became famous when she gifted Swift a custom Chiefs coat, have Samoyeds.
Both attended the Swift-Kelce wedding.
Depending on the dog’s lineage, genetic health testing and the location of the breeder, a Samoyed puppy can cost $3,000 to $5,000, Light said.
And as affectionate and easy-going as they are, Samoyeds can be high maintenance with all that hair, their need for exercise and a few, shall we say, quirks.
They bark excessively.
This is not a couch potato
“His jobs included herding reindeer, hunting and hauling sledges and guard work,” the Westminster Kennel Club website says in its Samoyed breed description.
“The Samoyed people depended upon their dogs for survival. Samoyed dogs actually slept in the shelters with their people. Their exceedingly close association with humans helped to imprint a wonderful temperament on the breed with the smiling face, laughing eyes and stunning silver-tipped coat.
“The Samoyed, a working dog, is happiest when he has a job, even if it is just bringing in the daily paper.”
Said Light: “They are not a dog that’s going to be necessarily a couch potato. They want an active family. They want to go on walks, hikes, travel to the local bistro and hang out on a patio and meet everybody that goes by. They love to be out and about.”
Swifties have joked that Swift — not known as a dog person — adopted a dog that’s really a cat.
“They were designed to be family pets, excellent with children,” said Light. “Unlike the Siberian (Husky), they’re really good with multiple species of animals if they’re raised with them.
“Cats, dogs, ferrets, birds, they do well with other animals. They don’t have as much prey drive or malice in them like other Arctic breeds. As far as an Arctic breed, it is the friendliest and most compatible companion.”
All that cloud-like hair requires weekly brushing, Light said.
Insert the words “high maintenance” here.
“Most people will bathe them every six months, but their biggest nemesis is just that they have the brushing because if they’re not brushed, they can mat up pretty easily,” Light said.
She had a tiny quibble with the way the alleged Swift-Kelce canine appeared to be groomed in the paparazzi photos she saw.
“As a breeder the first thing I saw ... it looks like the dog has been scissor-trimmed to lessen the coat and that’s a big no-no,” she said.
Samoyeds have a double coat. The top “guard coat” helps to keep the elements — wind, snow, rain — off the dense undercoat that serves as the dog’s insulation by regulating their body temperature.
“It looks as if the coat’s been scissored,” Light said. “But that’s not something we recommend — or shaving them — because the coat has a purpose.”
If Samoyed owners think keeping them clipped short will eliminate shedding, they’re wrong, she said.
“All you’re doing is clipping the length of the hair shorter. The root and the stem of the hair is still going to shed out,” said Light.
She tells people who buy her puppies to expect their dogs to “blow” their coats twice a year — early spring and late fall.
“When they shed — this is something everybody needs to know — it’s like a month-and-a-half of an entire dog coming off of this dog, like clumps, and you will fill two black trash bags of hair,” she said.
They have an Instagram smile
Samoyeds are certainly crowd-pleasers. Quite a few have found Instagram fame, including a fluffy world traveler named Felix who has 1.5 million Instagram followers.
“People love the pretty head and the little ears and that real black nose,” said Light. “We call them black points — which means the lips are black and the eyes are black-lined and the nose is black. It’s such a striking contrast.
“It’s known as the smiling dog also because they always have, even with their mouth open or shut ... the look of having a smile on their face. It’s known as the Sammy smile.”
Samoyeds do not like to be hot, Light said, and will find any and all places in the house that are cool. That’s also why they won’t spend a lot of time snuggling in your lap — too hot.
If you have an air conditioning vent on the floor, they’re going to lay on top of it, said Light.
They’re not extreme “lickers” either, she said, which is probably good news for Swift, who has been seen in home videos turning her head away from sloppy dog smooches.
This breed, though, just might follow her through the house.
“The one thing I can say about a Sammy is that this is not a dog that enjoys being left home alone when you go to work,” said Light. “With proper training they can stay in a crate or stay in a confined area while you’re away.
“But this is a breed that longs to be with its owner and its family. They’re not an outside dog. They were bred to be inside with the family. They bond with multiple people in the family. So as long as they have their family with them, they’re happy.”
Paparazzi photos this week showed Kelce getting off a private plane in Florida with the dog in tow. Another plus for the newlyweds: Samoyeds love to travel.
“They’ll sit in a car until all the wheels fall off,” Light said. “They love to go, go, go.”
Three things to watch for
As pretty as they are, there are also three things to watch for with Samoyeds, Light said.
They bark a lot.
“They bark when they are being a watchdog in the yard and they bark in loneliness. That’s how they express themselves and they use it in multiple ways,” she said. “And unfortunately that is the one thing that people tend to not like about the Sammy and causes issues in the home.”
They dig a lot, too.
“If you’re an avid landscaper and you think that your landscaping is very precious, unless it is blocked off this dog is going to dig a hole that you could drive a lawnmower into,” Light said. “They were designed to do that.”
And should a Samoyed ever get off its leash?
With proper training they do OK, but sometimes they are not good off leash. “They can be very playful, but they can escape and run away and it’s hard to get them back,” Light said.
“If you do the proper training, that can be solved. But a lot of Samoyeds, when they get out, they think it’s fun to play chase. You may be chasing them for an hour. As soon as you let them go, they’re literally gone.
“You see them in the distance and all you see is a tail going by. If you train them from young with the word ‘come’ and ‘sit,’ those are going to be lifesavers in any incident where they get out.”
Light uses the promise of a car ride to get her dogs back when they take off.
As much as she’s happy that Swift and Kelce appear to have chosen a Samoyed, Light worries that other people will rush out and buy one without researching the breed.
She’s seen it happen before when movies, including “101 Dalmatians” and “Snow Dogs,” stoked public interest in Dalmatians and Siberian Huskies, which she used to breed.
“The breed gets exploited when things like that happen,” she said. “And we cherish this breed and we know the qualities of this breed and we just want them to go to the right home. And we don’t want people to support backyard breeders ... or puppy mills.”
A reputable breeder, she said, will have performed certain health checks and provide documentation. Hip dysplasia, cataracts and certain cardiac issues are three possible issues with Samoyeds.
People can also learn about the breed through groups such as the Heart of America Samoyed Club — which hosts a dog show every spring — and the Samoyed Club of America, Light said.
“It’s not that we don’t want people to love the breed, but we want them to be educated,” she said.
.jpg)