Red Hot Chili Peppers snuggle up with Nuzzles & Co. puppies before Utah concert

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4) — Right before hitting the stage at the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheater, Red Hot Chili Peppers rock stars prepared for the show in the best way.

It was total puppy love. In pictures online posted by the band and rescue Nuzzles & Co., vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea can be seen snuggling puppies ahead of their concert on Wednesday, June 5.

Josh Stasinos, the development manager for Nuzzles & Co., said the non-profit often hosts “Snuggle Lounges”, where they bring puppies to events for adorable animal therapy.

“It is truly a wonderful thing to actually spend just a few minutes cuddling with a dog. You can just feel the worries of the world just disappear. You get into that mental headspace,” he said. “…We’ve actually done green rooms for artists before for shows up in Park City, so I was pretty excited to learn that the Chili Peppers are fans of dogs.”

Stasinos said when the band played a few days earlier in California, there were puppies at the venue and it was a “pretty well-received situation”, so Live Nation’s artist hospitality team called the amphitheater in Utah to see if that would be possible here. The venue’s marketing manager then called Stasinos, having adopted animals from Nuzzles & Co. herself.

Stasinos, a long-time fan of the band, said when he picked up the phone, he was in awe at such an amazing opportunity.

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“When Anthony finally came out, he immediately picked a puppy up and was chatting with the opening band. They were cuddling puppies, and you could just see all smiles and he was just really warm with the animals and said he had animals of his own at home,” he said.

Stasinos continued to detail the experience, saying that Flea also talked to Nuzzles & Co. about his dogs at home and how he had worked at an animal hospital in the past.

Even with excitement to meet a band he loved, Stasinos said when he was first asked about setting up the “Snuggle Lounge”, he quickly jumped into work mode, making sure everything was lined up perfectly. The puppies that were chosen, he said, are the perfect size for cuddling and have a great, calm demeanor.

These now-famous Red Hot Chili Puppers, are Tucker (male), Danielle (female), and Esty (female). Their mom, Mama Sue, also came to the event and was given plenty of love. Stasinos said she’s a 4-year-old mixed-breed dog.

The puppies are six weeks old and will likely be available for adoption in two weeks after they are spayed and neutered. Anyone interested in adopting these puppies and their mama can email [email protected] and reference their names.

Stasinos said they’ve already had a few applications coming in. He said he’s grateful for the experience and for the band posting about Nuzzles & Co. online, bringing attention to their cause.

“Any time we can have more adoptions, that always leaves room for another animal for us to save,” he said. “The impact of getting more attention, especially on a bigger venue from somebody as big as the Chili Peppers, the hope is your adoption levels increase, maybe some donations come in, you get some more traffic to the website, hopefully, some new followers and some new faces, maybe some new volunteers in the organization. All those things just lead to better animal welfare because we can do more programs that have a positive impact on the lives of the animals.”

Stasinos said seeing how uplifting this was for the band, he hopes it could be a trend with more artists getting ready for their big shows with pups.

“It’s always great to meet people that you have admiration for — I mean, I’ve now spent my whole life following this band — and to actually get to meet them and have a positive experience and see them loving puppies. ….Like, that’s pretty cool,” he said. “…The thing that’s really important in my life is animal welfare. And these guys care about that too,” he said.

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