Charlie White gives DJ and Finn a skating lesson.
food. Charlie fi lmed a commercial with them, which I wasn’t a part of because I was working, but I popped over at home for a moment and they were trying to set up a shot where he [Charlie] poured food into the dish and they [DJ and Finn] would come running toward him. T ey actually had to put me behind the
camera to get them to run over. T ey’re mama’s dogs! SKATING: Between the two of you, who is
more likely to spoil them? Charlie: Tanith is the spoiler. I ended up being
Tanith and Charlie enjoy the holidays with DJ and Finn. “We got Finn in the fall of 2014,” Tanith said.
“I got DJ just before Charlie and I started dating. When I picked her up, she had two younger sisters in her litter. I had this idea of ‘Full House’ in my head, so I named her after DJ Tanner since she really looked and acted like a big sister. It’s actually pretty funny because Charlie went on to do ‘Dancing with the Stars’ with Candice Cameron Bure, who played DJ Tanner on the show.” “T at’s basically how I introduced myself,”
Charlie said. “We were all about to go out on the stage to be introduced as the new cast for that season and I was like ‘Oh my God! Real quick, I just have to tell you that I have dog named DJ and she was named after your character!’ She was like, ‘Umm, OK.’ As I walked backward toward the stage in shame, it sort of hit me what an awkward way that is to introduce yourself. We ended up being pretty close; she’s awesome, but I didn’t bring it up again!” “In retrospect, it might not be the greatest
compliment, but it defi nitely makes a funny story,” Tanith said. Since stepping away from competition, the
couple has stayed busy — and close to the sport. Aside from ice show performances, Tanith works as a fi gure skating analyst and sideline reporter for NBC, conducts interviews for icenetwork and acts as a host in the United States Olympic Committee’s “Road to Rio” video series, while Charlie, after making it
30 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016
to the semifi nals on ABC’s 18th season of “Dancing with the Stars,” provides commentary for icenetwork and tours and performs in shows around the world with Davis. While they can’t take their dogs on most of
their travels (the pups either stay with Charlie’s par- ents in Detroit or Tanith’s parents in Atlanta while they’re away), the couple still spends plenty of time spoiling DJ and Finn, going on lots of adventures in their time at home in Michigan. During a break in their schedules this summer, SKATING caught up with Tanith and Charlie to get the hairy details on
ice dancing’s top dogs. SKATING: What are some of DJ’s and Finn’s
best tricks? Tanith: T at’s a really good question. T ey’re
not really fl ush with the tricks. DJ’s would probably be high-fi ves. I actually have a video of her playing patty cake, because she can alternate feet. And Finn can stand up for a really long time. I guess his would
be walking on his back feet. Charlie: Running away when we call them?
Running away and/or high-fi ves. SKATING: If you both called the dogs at the
same time, who would they go to fi rst? Charlie: Tanith. We both know it. Tanith: Me! We already tried that. So our dogs
were obviously always stars in our minds, but now they have their own endorsement deal with Nulo pet
the disciplinarian. She gives them chicken and they love her. But she does the same with me, so I can’t talk.
Tanith: Me. T at’s probably why they come to
me when we call. Charlie is defi nitely the disciplinar- ian, which takes a lot of pressure off of me for when we have children. T at’s clearly going to be his job. I defi nitely spoil them a lot. I can’t help it. T eir faces are so cute. When I look at them I just want to put
food in them. SKATING: What’s their favorite treat? Tanith: Probably ice cream. Charlie: Anything that they shouldn’t be hav-
ing. My dad is actually like the treat master. He al- ways has treats in his pocket. A lot of the time the dogs end up staying there and they know that if they sit in front of him and paw his leg, he’s ready. It’s like a Pavlovian response; they go straight to him and he
goes straight for his pocket. SKATING: When you’re all home, what’s your
favorite activity to do together? Tanith: We love to go to the arboretum in
Ann Arbor. It’s gorgeous. T e Huron River runs right through it. We love to go on long walks, maybe throw them in the river so they can swim around a
little bit, and have a picnic. It’s really nice. Charlie: It’s pretty famous on the U of M cam-
pus. It’s a really nice big space where we can just go and chill out. So often we’re on the road or super busy, so just being able to get out and walk around and see the dogs so happy is one of my favorite things about having them. It’s an excuse to slow down and be together.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NULO PET FOOD
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