Derby occasionally accompanies his family to South Dakota to visit the farm where Chad grew up and which is now run by his mother, Julie, but his tendency to be surprised doesn’t always mesh well with the great outdoors.
“He’s a bit temperamental, so we’re worried if we were on the farm and he heard something, it would scare him,” Jenni said before adding with a smile, “So when we travel, we generally take a pension.”
Jenni and Chad have loved dogs for as long as they can remember.
Jenni grew up with a miniature poodle, DeeDee, who spent 13 wonderful years with the family. Chad recalls having an all-white German Shepherd, Snoopy, who was “kind of a farm dog,” and they later adopted a stray found wandering the street, whom they named Scruffy.
When Chad and Jenni first started dating as student athletes at the University of Iowa, they owned Champy, a miniature Doberman pinscher, together.
“Champy was the best. Seven books of absolute fury! Jenni burst out laughing.