Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s dog goes from ‘alleged’ to ‘official’

Lachlan Bailey/Tommy Hilfiger

Taylor Swift is, rather famously, a cat person. Many fans not only know the names of Swift’s three cats (Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benjamin Button), but see them as much a part of the singer’s lore as her romantic history. Who else, upon being chosen as Person of the Year, would pose for the cover of Time magazine with her cat?

So it was rather big news when it emerged on Wednesday that Swift and new husband Travis Kelce had officially welcomed a new dog into their family: a fluffy white Samoyed named Wendy.

“Little ‘ol Wendy’s a little over a year old now,” Kelce said in Wednesday’s season premiere episode of the “New Heights” podcast he hosts with brother Jason. “We’ve had her for quite a while.”

Kelce said he and Swift had been trying to keep the dog “under wraps,” but he acknowledged their plans had been foiled when they were photographed in mid-July disembarking a private jet with Wendy in Palm Beach, Florida. Since then, news outlets have been referring to the couple’s “mystery dog” or “alleged dog,” but Kelce’s comments on Wednesday confirmed she was indeed officially part of the family.

As you’d expect of the fur child of the most famous couple in the US, the couple’s dog made her public debut in glitzy style, with Wendy appearing alongside Kelce in a new advertisement for the Tommy Hillfiger Fall 2026 collection. The photo, taken at the famed Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, showed Kelce reclining on a sofa wearing a peacoat, while Wendy reclined wearing her, well, natural coat.

“It’s kind of crazy how perfect she looks in the Tommy Hilfiger world,” Kelce said of Wendy. “She matches the brand and the shoot and it was pretty easy to get her to jump on the couch and have some fun with us. But yeah, Wendy’s a model. She’s a model dog.”

“Unfortunately, she’s just got her fur on,” he added. “We gotta work with Tommy on getting her some good clothes.”

Swifties weren’t the only ones excited about Wendy’s introduction to society. Breeders and fans of the Samoyed have also taken note, according to Kathleen Farlow, president of the Samoyed Club of America.

“Now that it’s public, we can see they have a very beautiful Sammy,” said Farlow, using a nickname for the breed. “She’s clearly well-bred. Wendy’s a very pretty dog.”

Farlow has been around Samoyeds since her parents first brought one home in 1965. Although she’s lost track of how many she’s raised over the years, she says she’s currently got six that live with her. And given her lifelong love of the breed, Farlow can understand why the couple may have been powerless to resist.

“You meet one, you think they’re beautiful, sweet and wonderful, and before you know it, you fall in love,” Farlow said. “I’m assuming that that’s what happened to Travis and Taylor.”

Farlow expects that Wendy’s arrival on the social scene will lead to an increase in interest in Samoyeds, but she says breeders want people to think about purchasing one of the dogs for the right reasons. (A typical Samoyed can cost anywhere between $4,000-$7,000, Farlow said, and should be brought from a breeder who has signed her club’s code of ethics .)

“They hope that people will acquire a Sam through just literally loving the dog, and not just because Taylor has one,” Farlow said. “They’re hoping that they go to homes that are prepared.”

Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

Among the world’s most ancient dog breeds , Samoyeds get their name from the Samoyedic peoples of northern Russia and Siberia. This indigenous and semi-nomadic group originally used the dogs to hunt for reindeer, but as the centuries passed they began to task them with herding and guarding duties, as well as pulling sleds. The breed was also useful in keeping families warm on frigid nights.

Given where they’ve evolved from, Samoyeds have a double coat, with a thick underlayer to insulate against the cold, and a coarser outer layer to repel ice and snow, according to the American Kennel Club .

Angelina Katsanis/Reuters

Everyone has big Taylor Swift wedding feelings and we haven’t even seen the dress yet

Maintaining this coat is not necessarily for the faint of heart. Farlow says she grooms each of her dogs with a bath and blow-dry for two hours at a time, every six to eight weeks. (When she’s showing her dogs in competition, she does this ritual once a week to ensure they look their best — something Farlow speculated Swift and Kelce may opt to do if Wendy is going to be frequently snapped by the paparazzi.)

Farlow also warned that a Samoyed will shed their double coat twice a year, meaning Farlow hopes Swift and Kelce’s vacuums are as strong as hers.

Although the famous couple own homes across the country , from Tennessee to Rhode Island, Farlow says Samoyeds can generally be comfortable whatever the climate, although their coats may be heavier when living in the cold.

“They can pretty much cope with anything. They love the beach,” Farlow said. “Again, Wendy can go anywhere they want her to go.”

And if the couple decides to live a nomadic life, hopping from mansion to mansion, Farlow said thousands of years of Samoyed breeding should come in handy. “Movement doesn’t bother the dogs. They want to be with their family, their people, but where they are doesn’t much matter,” Farlow said. “It’s a connection to their owners versus a connection to a place.”

If fans are worried that Wendy might be averse to living in a home full of loud music, Farlow said the breed isn’t noise sensitive, so Swift can sing as loud as she wants.

Wendy’s new brothers and sisters — aka Swift’s cats — also shouldn’t be a problem, Farlow said.

And given the public is still yet to see any photos of Swift’s wedding dress, could Wendy be to blame for getting her paws on it?

“They love their chew toys,” Farlow said. “They’re smart, but as long as she kept her wedding dress away from the dog, no problem.”

拉克兰·贝利/汤米·希尔费格

众所周知，泰勒·斯威夫特是个爱猫人士。许多粉丝不仅知道她三只猫的名字（梅雷迪斯·格雷、奥利维亚·本森和本杰明·巴顿），而且认为它们和她的情史一样，都是这位歌手传奇故事的一部分。还有谁会在被评为年度人物后，和她的猫一起登上《时代》杂志封面呢？

因此，周三有消息称，泰勒·斯威夫特和她的新婚丈夫特拉维斯·凯尔西正式迎来了一位新家庭成员：一只名叫温迪的毛茸茸的白色萨摩耶犬。这无疑是一条重大新闻。

“小温迪现在一岁多了，”凯尔西在周三播出的他与哥哥杰森共同主持的播客节目“新高度”的季首集中说道。“我们养她已经有一段时间了。”

凯尔西表示，他和斯威夫特一直试图对这条狗保密，但他承认，7月中旬他们和温迪在佛罗里达州棕榈滩乘坐私人飞机下飞机时被拍到，他们的计划落空了。此后，新闻媒体一直用“神秘犬”或“疑似犬”来指代这对夫妇，但凯尔西周三的表态证实，这条狗确实已经正式成为他们家庭的一员。

正如你所预料的那样，作为美国最著名夫妇的“毛孩子”，这对夫妇的爱犬以耀眼的方式首次公开亮相。温迪与凯尔西一同出现在汤米·希尔费格2026秋冬系列的新广告中。这张照片拍摄于曼哈顿著名的广场酒店，照片中凯尔西身穿一件呢子大衣，斜倚在沙发上，而温迪则穿着她那……嗯，天然的毛发，悠然地躺在那里。

“温迪在汤米·希尔费格的世界里简直完美得不可思议，”凯尔斯谈到温迪时说道。“她和品牌以及拍摄主题都非常契合，而且很容易就能让她跳上沙发，和我们一起玩耍。没错，温迪就是个模特。她是一只名副其实的模特狗。”

“可惜的是，她身上只穿着皮草，”他补充道。“我们得和汤米一起想办法给她弄些像样的衣服。”

不仅泰勒·斯威夫特的粉丝们对温蒂的亮相感到兴奋，据美国萨摩耶犬俱乐部主席凯瑟琳·法洛称，萨摩耶犬的繁育者和爱好者们也注意到了这一点。

“现在公开了，我们可以看到他们养了一只非常漂亮的萨米犬，”法洛说，他用的是这种犬种的昵称。“她显然血统优良。温迪也是一只非常漂亮的狗。”

法洛从小就和萨摩耶犬为伴，她的父母在1965年第一次把萨摩耶犬带回家。虽然她已经记不清这些年来养过多少只萨摩耶犬了，但她说目前家里养着六只。鉴于她对这个犬种的毕生热爱，法洛也能理解这对夫妇为何难以抗拒养萨摩耶犬的诱惑。

“你遇到一个女孩，觉得她漂亮、温柔、优秀，不知不觉中就爱上了她，”法洛说。“我猜特拉维斯和泰勒就是这样。”

法洛预计温迪的出现将提升人们对萨摩耶犬的兴趣，但她表示，繁育者希望人们出于正确的理由考虑购买这种犬。（法洛说，一只普通的萨摩耶犬价格在4000美元到7000美元之间，应该从签署了她所在俱乐部道德准则的繁育者那里购买。）

“他们希望人们是因为真心喜欢萨姆这种狗才领养它，而不是因为泰勒养了一只，”法洛说。“他们希望萨姆能去到已经做好准备的家庭。”

Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

萨摩耶犬是世界上最古老的犬种之一，其名称源于俄罗斯北部和西伯利亚的萨摩耶德人。这个土著半游牧民族最初用萨摩耶犬猎捕驯鹿，但随着时间的推移，他们开始让萨摩耶犬承担放牧、守卫和拉雪橇等任务。在寒冷的夜晚，萨摩耶犬还能帮助人们取暖。

据美国养犬俱乐部称，萨摩耶犬从其祖先进化而来，拥有双层被毛，内层厚实，可抵御寒冷，外层较粗糙，可抵御冰雪。

安吉丽娜·卡特萨尼斯/路透社

大家都在热议泰勒·斯威夫特的婚礼，可我们甚至还没看到婚纱呢。

打理这身毛发可不是件容易的事。法洛说，她每隔六到八周会给每只狗狗洗澡吹干，每次都要花两个小时。（如果她带着狗狗参加比赛，她会每周做一次这样的护理，以确保它们以最佳状态示人——法洛猜测，如果温迪经常被狗仔队拍到，斯威夫特和凯尔西或许也会选择这样做。）

法洛还警告说，萨摩耶犬每年会换两次毛，这意味着法洛希望斯威夫特和凯尔西的吸尘器和她自己的吸尘器一样强劲。

虽然这对著名的夫妇在全国各地都拥有房产，从田纳西州到罗德岛州，但法洛表示，萨摩耶犬通常无论气候如何都能感到舒适，尽管生活在寒冷地区时它们的皮毛可能会更厚重。

“他们几乎什么都能应付。他们很喜欢海滩，”法洛说。“再说一遍，温迪可以去他们想让她去的任何地方。”

如果这对夫妇决定过游牧般的生活，辗转于各个豪宅之间，法洛表示，萨摩耶犬数千年的繁育历史应该会派上用场。“狗狗们并不在意迁徙。它们只想和家人、和主人在一起，至于身处何地并不重要，”法洛说道，“对它们而言，重要的是与主人的联系，而不是与某个地方的联系。”

如果粉丝们担心温迪可能不喜欢住在充满嘈杂音乐的家中，法洛表示，这种犬种对噪音不敏感，所以斯威夫特可以随心所欲地大声唱歌。

法洛说，温迪的新兄弟姐妹——也就是斯威夫特的猫——应该也不会是个问题。

鉴于公众至今仍未看到斯威夫特婚纱的任何照片，温迪是否应该为拿到婚纱而负责呢？

“它们很喜欢啃咬玩具，”法洛说。“它们很聪明，但只要她不让狗狗碰到婚纱，就没问题。”