Billboard’s Power Pets is a feature focusing on musicians’ best friends — no, not the humans, but the furry (and some scaly and feathery!) ones who bring extra joy and companionship to artists. Celebrities will be sharing sweet details about their beloved pets and how their furbabies enrich their lives. For the fourth story in the series, we talked to Korn’s Jonathan Davis.
Jonathan Davis and his dog Dante were meant to be. The phantom poodle came into the Korn frontman’s life while the band was on tour in 2022, when he and girlfriend Brittany “Bee” Parisi were looking for a hypoallergenic poodle.
“We found someone and invited her out to a show, and she brought four pups,” the rocker — who is allergic to dogs — recalls to Billboard. “Originally, we were going to get a different one — a tan one — and then the whole lot came out and I saw a dog in the back who was quiet and kept to himself, and I instantly fell in love with him. And he was the phantom black and brown color, but the minute I laid eyes on him and our eyes locked, I knew he was the one.”
Now, Dante — who turned 3 in July — is Davis’ loyal sidekick and snuggle buddy. “I have a little road dog who goes everywhere with me. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I see is his little eyes looking up at me. He nudges me in bed and basically says, ‘Hello, Dad!’” gushes the musician, who shares that his dog allergies used to be so bad as a child he’d have asthma attacks and had to be taken to the hospital, and so, could never curl up with a dog in bed until Dante. “Now, before we head out, I go through my morning health routine, which includes my breathing exercises. While I do that, he sits on my feet, patiently waiting. As soon as I’m done, he jumps up excitedly, knowing it’s time for our morning coffee run … he’s right by my side, no matter where I go in the house.”
Adds the rocker of his beloved pooch: “Having that kind of unconditional love and companionship from him has changed my life. I’ve never had that with my previous dogs.”
Though Dante likes to stick by the Grammy-winning artist’s side, the pup doesn’t go on tour. “I can’t bring him, unfortunately, due to his health condition,” says Davis. “Bringing him out on the road would flare up his Addison’s disease, so he needs to stay in a comfortable environment.”
According to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Addison’s disease is uncommon and is “caused by a deficiency of essential hormones that are made by the adrenal glands.” After diagnosis and continued treatment through medications, the outcome can be “very good.”
Davis shares that he learned Dante had Addison’s after a photo shoot for the rocker’s line of pet products, Freak on a Leash. “We thought he got sick after he was exposed to the other rescue dogs, because he was lethargic and laying around the house for a few days,” says the musician. “When we took him to the vet for his neutering, we had a severe health scare and he almost died. … So no tour for Dante!”
While going on the road is off limits for the poodle, he does help the musician in other aspects of work, including promoting Freak on a Leash by modeling products for photo shoots and promo videos. “I just wanted to create a pet brand that makes cool sh—,” Davis says of his line of products, for which he launched a new capsule collection alongside designer Ashton Michael in April. “I want to keep doing collabs and creating cool, unique designs that give people more of a variety and choice on how they want to dress their dog or cat — something that reflects their own style too. It all comes from love, and it’s awesome to see people buying it and their pets loving it.”
That April drop benefited Pup Culture Rescue in Pasadena, Calif., and the Korn frontman tells Billboard, “Each drop, we pick an organization that helps animals, rescues, non-kill rescues and organizations like that because you need a lot of money to take care of dogs and cats, and I just want to give back and help in some way. It’s very important to me.”
Read on to learn more about Dante, including his favorite FoaL toys, the cool trick Davis taught him and much more!
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Style Inspiration
Image Credit: Courtesy of Brittany Parisi Davis shares that designer Ashton integrated elements of the rocker’s own style into the capsule collection for FoaL. (For example, the musician’s three eyebrow rings are echoed in the three stacked gold rings on one of the leashes.) But just as the designer was inspired by the singer, Davis says he was inspired by Dante. “He has this tough black-and-gold essence to him,” he shares of his phantom poodle. “So we leaned into that and created items with black leather and gold metallic accents. I wanted to dress him up in something I thought was cool as f—k. In this way, this collection is a tribute to Dante and his unique style.”
The dog himself is also a fan of the Freak on a Leash products, especially the toys. “Dante’s favorite toys are the freakin’ zombie hand and the eyeball … he loves them all!” says the rocker. “But it’s really his toys that bring him joy. They’re everywhere all over the house. He has a toy box where I try to keep everything organized, but every morning, he jumps into that box and scatters his toys everywhere. I find myself saying, ‘Dante, go pick up your toys!’ because they end up all over the place no matter where I go.”
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Man’s Best Friend
Image Credit: Courtesy of Brittany Parisi Davis reveals that Dante — who is his third dog — is the first puppy he’s ever had. “Sheepy was already 10 years old when he came into my life, and we got Chaos when he was 3,” he shares. “Raising a puppy from the start is a whole different experience — it’s like taking care of a baby since they need to go out every couple of hours.”
Adds the rocker: “Having Dante from the beginning has allowed me to build a really special bond with him. I love him more than anything.”
And the feeling appears to be mutual. “He’s a jealous boy!” laughs Davis. “When my granddaughter comes over, he gets all swole up. He’s never done anything aggressive toward her or anything of that nature, but he jumps on me and has to rub on me, like, ‘You can’t be paying attention to her! You gotta be paying attention to me!’ Yep, he’s a jealous boy.”
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Good Boy!
Image Credit: Courtesy of Brittany Parisi Besides the usual “sit” and “stay” tricks, Davis says he’s also taught his dog to be a home security system of sorts. “I trained him to ‘clear the house’ — to check each corner for any potential intruders by going to all four corners when I say, ‘Dante, clear!’” he shares proudly, explaining that a military dog trainer taught him how to train his own pooch. “So, let’s say Bee comes home and she thinks there’s someone in the house or she’s scared; she can send Dante and go, ‘Clear!’ and he’ll run and go look. If there’s someone in the house, he’ll bark. So that’s pretty cool. I didn’t know poodles could do that, but he did it great.”
But it’s not all work for Dante. Davis says that he loves going out and throwing balls and toys with his dog. “He actually fetches,” boasts the rocker. “I love watching him — he’ll go outside and chase birds ‘cause it’s in his DNA to do that … so he’s always out in my yard chasing birds and even rats. I just love watching him run outside living his best life.”
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Wags and ‘Tudes
Image Credit: Courtesy of Brittany Parisi The singer says that when Dante was a pup, he’d sit at the musician’s feet while Davis would be writing at his desk. But now, there’s not much studio time for the poodle. “I’m worried he’ll take off and get into something that could hurt him, like ant bait traps. I’m always nervous he’s going to get into something because he finds a way at home, but my studio is a huge old space with many nooks and crannies,” explains the frontman. “He gets into everything he shouldn’t be getting into. My worst nightmare is him accidentally eating something that will poison or hurt him.”
But that’s not to say Dante doesn’t get a taste of Dad’s musical abilities now and then. “When I used to play the harmonica, my previous dog Sheepy would sing and howl along,” Davis recalls. “When I try to do that with Dante, he looks at me like I’m f—king crazy. He has a f—king attitude, but I love it.”
