Dogs love to be good people who do good jobs at their work, and those who dedicate themselves to being therapy pups are among our finest citizens. Added to these noble ranks is Jennifer Garner’s eight-year-old golden retriever Birdie. Birdie and her person just appeared on We Rate Dogs where she spoke with host Matt Nelson (as relayed by Garner) about her therapy work, her children’s literacy advocacy, and things she’d like to try before her birthday in May:
“She wants to read some new books for kids. And speaking of kids, Birdie is a therapy dog,” shared Garner. “And she just got a promotion to work at Children’s Hospital L.A.”
“So she’s excited. She wants to have her first time at Children’s Hospital L.A. before she turns nine,” the Party Down star continued. “She’s a very good dog, a very good girl.”
Garner shared a few more of Birdie’s plans, including some reasonable goals and a few daring activities.
“Birdie would like to sit at a Parisian bistro. While she’s there, she wants to swim in the Olympics. She loves to swim,” offered the Alias alum. “Oh, she wants to eat an entire string of cheese. The whole thing.”
“Birdie wants to skydive. Everybody should once and she thought before she turns nine is a good time,” added Garner.
“Oh right, she wants to go on a date with Major Biden,” Garner shared. “She has a big crush.”
“Oh and she wants to stop biting her nails,” continued the 13 Going on 30 star. “It’s hard, but it’s good to have a goal.”
“Birdie has a beautiful coloratura voice. So she’s a soprano and so she wants to sign with the Metropolitan Opera,” added the actress.
Garner welcomed Birdie into her life after her eldest daughter, Violet Anne, 18, waited until her tenth birthday to get her very own dog. Garner shares Violet, Seraphina Rose, 15, and Samuel, 12, with ex-husband Ben Affleck.
“My eldest was two and decided she needed her own dog, and she talked about it all the time,” Garner recalled for Nelson. “And I said, ‘When you’re 10, that’s the age that one might get their own dog.’ And I thought she’d forget because she was just two, but now we have Birdie.”
“She did not forget,” joked Nelson. “She did not,” replied Garner.
The actress also spoke about her series with Birdie, titled “Books with Birdie,” where she reads children’s books to the golden retriever.
“Birdie is a huge early literature, just kind of a literacy advocate,” Garner cheekily explained. “So it only makes sense that she would have this series ‘Books with Birdie.’”
“She just really likes to promote children’s literacy, right?,” Garner asked her dog. “It’s super important to you, just part of your mission of who you are.”
When I was a freshman in college my dorm hosted an event the week before final exams: puppy petting. Working dogs of all shapes and sizes punched in the clock for a grueling hour of being adored by over-caffeinated students. It was bliss. But the one pup who really stole my heart was a retriever who was simply exhausted from his many engagements (he had just been visiting with seniors at a nursing home). So instead of gamboling right into the thick of things, this good boy was clinging to his mama, burying his nose in her lap. Finally his mama said “What are you doing? You’re here to mingle!” Too precious.
Getting back to this story, these really were Birdie’s words. She lifted her snout up to her person and Jennifer dutifully bent to receive her comments each time. Second, we need this Birdie – Major Biden date to happen, stat! It’s a matter of national importance! And I kid you not, the minute Jen said the name “Major Biden” Birdie started thumping her tail. She knows what she wants, and what she wants is a sexy specimen of German shepherd, presidential, I’ll guard my parents from shady secret service agents, good boy energy. The hunk sets her tongue wagging. Literally. True, Major is younger than Birdie (three or 21 years, depending on which species you’re counting by), but canines can be cougars too. My one word of caution: long-distance relationships can be ruff rough. Just know going into this that it will take extra effort. And we don’t want anything getting in the way of Birdie’s very important work as a therapy dog at Children’s Hospital LA. That being said, your move, Major Biden.
Photos credit: Adam Schultz / Avalon and screenshots from YouTube and Instagram