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Service dogs can help make the impossible paw-sible.
As 665 athletes prepare for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, kicking off on Friday, March 6, many of them will arrive with four-legged teammates by their side.
While the dogs are hard at work helping battle for the gold, viewers at home get to admire the tail wags and puppy eyes of the Olympic medal-worthy pups — heroic service and assistance dogs training, traveling and living alongside the athletes to assist with everyday tasks.
One service dog already drawing attention on social media is Pickle, whom the Great Britain Paralympic team charmingly called the “waggiest member of the team” and “a very good girl” on her official headshot.
Pickle is the service dog for British Alpine skier Hester Poole, who was born with the rare eye disease Leber congenital amaurosis and is visually impaired with just 5-10% vision.
Pickle entered Poole’s life when the star athlete was just 14 and immediately bonded not only with Poole but with the family’s two other dogs, “so she settled really quickly and comes rushing through the door from school to greet [them] so they can bounce and play,” the family told The Post.
“It feels as though Hester has grown a foot taller, she’s more confidently going at speed, growing in confidence and stature. And that was overnight with the introduction of Pickle,” Poole’s mother Sarah said in a 2023 interview with Bath Voice News.
Pickle has traveled all over with Poole, now 18, even earning her flying wings and getting her own European passport in Austria.
“She has got used to planes and cable cars — but still has to be carried on escalators!” the family shared with The Post.
Pickle is a star in her own right, too, having appeared alongside Poole on news programs and having been “Beanofied” with a guest appearance in the first audio-described version of the comic “Beano: Dennis & Gnasher: Battle for Bash Street School,” they said.
Another furry friend named Odell will be accompanying Amanda Reid, the first Indigenous athlete selected for a Paralympics Australia Winter team.
With the assistance of Odell, 29-year-old Reid, who has Cerebral palsy, will be competing in women’s banked slalom and snowboard cross.
Odell isn’t the only trusted companion of team Australia. Suki, Willow and Gigi are service dogs supporting members of their para Nordic team.
“We’re a little biased, but one of the best parts of the Paralympics is the addition of our four-legged friends,” the Paralympics Australia team said on Instagram.
Their owners describe them as the “canine equivalent of Lara Croft, Margot Robbie and any woman who loves showing their cheeky side,” Paralympics Australia shared with The Post.
“Dare we say it, but the dogs have been photographed, hugged and smiled at more than any of their owners — but the humans are used to it.”
Gigi assists Navy veteran Taryn Dickens, who lives with PTSD and vision loss from Cone-Rod Dystrophy, on her quest to become the first low-vision Australian athlete to compete in the para-cross country and para-biathlon at the games.
For Dickens, Gigi is part seeing-eye dog, part loyal companion, and she helps Dickens manage the symptoms of her PTSD and prosper as a Paralympian athlete, giving her the confidence to navigate the world.
“The most beautiful thing about her is that she never lets me down, no matter how distracted things can get around us,” Dickens said, via Paralympics Australia. “She always knows exactly where I am and how I’m feeling.”
Gigi comes from Defense Community Dogs, which rescues canines from shelters, then trains and gifts them to veterans at no cost. In a video for DCD last year, Dickens shared that she was hoping to take Gigi to the 2026 Paralympics — and now they’ll both be there.
“I just want to keep pushing forward to prove to myself that I can do it, and to prove to others that they can, too,” she said in the video. “Gigi gives me the confidence to be fearless … I could 100% tell you that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Gigi.”
“I can’t wait to proudly put on the Australian uniform and have my dog right beside me,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Service dog Suki is headed to Milan with Australian Para-biathlete and father-of-two Dave Miln, who has been a serving member of the military for 20 years. Miln became a double amputee after using his body to protect his children in an incident with a large plough in 2022.
“I’ve had Suki about two years now, and she’s amazing. She’s a PTSD-based dog not only for me, but for my family, too, around the accident,” Miln shared via Paralympics Australia.
“She’s been such an amazing help, and it’s hard to take her away from the family, but having her here is incredible,” he said.
Suki also comes from the Defence Community Dogs project and has played a huge role in both his naval and Paralympic journey.
Willow is the service dog of 48-year-old Matt Brumby, a Para cross-country skier and Para biathlete for Team Australia.
Brumby, an ambassador for Integra Service Dogs Australia, and his trusty sidekick have been “inseparable” since they first got together at the Invictus Games in 2018.
“This is Willow’s fourth international trip with me to get to competitions and training events,” Brumby said via Paralympics Australia.
Brumby has only been away from her twice, and she’s “getting around and getting quite a reputation,” he shared.
“We are endlessly inspired at the adventures that our wonderful ambassador Matt Brumby has with his service dog Willow,” Integra wrote on Instagram.
Austrian skier Carina Edlinger takes on the Paralympic Games with her “best fan” by her side — her guide dog Riley.
After the skier won the bronze medal at Beijing 2022, Riley stole the hearts of the viewers at home when Edlinger presented a special medal to her canine helper on the podium.
“Even when you have a bad day, your dog still comes to you and wants to have a cuddle,” she said at the time, per the Paralympics social media. “So he is more than gold. He’s always there. If he’s not there, it’s a bad day for me.
“As long as I have him (it’s good). He’s my biggest fan in life,” she continued. “No one can cheer or shout so much for me. My dog needs to be there.”
Notably, all of these dogs are Labrador retrievers — and for good reason.
In fact, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum has teamed up with Canine Companions to help raise and get Champion, a yellow Labrador retriever/golden retriever cross, trained to become a future service dog.
Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and American Kennel Club Family Dog Director Mary Burch, Ph.D., told The Post that Labs are often referred to as an “everything” dog.
“For service dog work, Labrador retrievers are keenly intelligent, they learn tasks quickly, and they are reliable with good temperament,” she explained.
“Because of their physical size, Labrador retrievers are small enough to be easy to manage, and large enough to be used as guide dogs and mobility dogs,” Burch said, adding that their coats are easy to groom — “and the breed fits well into the families of people who use service dogs.”
