Millie Bobby Brown's 'genius' dog can relieve her anxiety attacks
Millie Bobby Brown has praised her beloved miniature poodle Winnie as a "genius" who can calm her panic attacks.
Millie Bobby Brown's "genius" dog has helped calm her anxiety attacks.
The Stranger Things actress adopted miniature poodle Winnie in 2020 and her pooch has learned deep-pressure therapy so will put her paws on the 22-year-old star's chest if she is having a panic attack.
Millie told Vogue magazine: “She’s a little genius. I got her to help me with my anxiety and she’s completely changed my life."
Asked what one thing she'd love to tell her dog, she added: "That I genuinely don’t know what I’d do without her. I wish she could know how grateful I am for how much love she’s given me over the years."
The Enola Holmes star and her husband Jake Bongiovi are parents to a 12-month-old daughter, and she praised Winnie for her relationship with the tot.
She said: “She does a really good job of being a big sister. She’s really patient."
The family live on a farm with a total of 10 dogs, but Winnie is the one who gets most involved with what the other animals are doing.
Millie said: “She loves to be on the farm.
“And when I say on the farm, I mean Winnie is the only dog that actually gets under the fencing, and she likes to be with the pigs. So when the pigs are kind of in their mud pile, you’ll see Winnie out there laying and rubbing in the mud pile too.” Whether rolling around in the mud or posing for a fashion magazine, Winnie seems to be right at home anywhere—as long as she’s near Brown.
Millie believes she and Winnie are "kindred spirits".
She said: "She doesn’t walk on grates. Like in New York City, she just won’t walk on a grate at all. And it’s funny, because I don’t like to walk on grates. If I walk on five grates at a time, I have to say the word toast.
"So I feel like, innately, because we’re kindred spirits, she knows that we can’t walk on grates. And she likes to sleep with things of mine."
While she thinks Winnie is a good "big sister" now, the Damsel star previously revealed the dog had struggled to adjust to there being a baby in the household.
Speaking on The Tonight Show in December, she said: “It’s been a hit to the ego.
“I think she doesn’t understand it. She hasn’t acknowledged her presence yet, but my daughter has now totally figured out that she’s an animal.”
The dog went through a "power play" with the baby.
Millie added: "She’s like, ‘I’m gonna ignore you until you disappear,’ basically. I’m like, ‘Winnie,’ I have sit-downs with her, like, ‘She’s not going anywhere now.’
“Last night, she took one of my daughter’s bath toys and ran it upstairs.
“I said, ‘I saw you do that,’ and she poked her head around the corner and death-stared me. She knew. She stopped on the stairs to be like, ‘Yeah, that’s right. What are you gonna do about it?’”
