Tom Brady was asked about being bitten by a dog at practice during training camp a few years ago. Adhering to “The Patriot Way,” the story had never surfaced until the Patriots quarterback was asked about it during his press conference Wednesday, and he seemed surprised at the question.
“Wow! Yeah,” Brady said, pausing. “I was bitten by two dogs. One when I was little in Minnesota at my grandpa’s farm here. I gave the dog a bone and then went down to give the dog a kiss. I was young, and he bit right through my lip. It was pretty rough. Then, the second dog bite, we were in the stadium. I don’t know how many years ago.”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft had allowed military training at Gillette Stadium, and Brady, Jerod Mayo and Vince Wilfork joined the Krafts in watching the night exercise. Afterward, the Patriots went onto the field to greet the troops.
“Some guys were kind of excited to see us walk out, so I kind of got close to all the guys, and I didn’t realize there were dogs,” Brady said. “Obviously those weren’t like Labrador [Retrievers]. These were like tough dogs. I raised my arms up over my head, and right when I raised my arms up, the dog jumped up, and I guess was going for my neck and the guy grabbed the dog back down and the dog got my thigh on the way down. I was standing there with a bunch of tough guys, and they all saw it. They’re like, ‘Are you OK?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, of course I’m OK,’ but I could feel the cut.’ . . . I’m with the toughest guys in the world, so I just sucked it up for like an hour after we said hi to all the guys.”
Brady returned to the training room afterward to get stitched up.
“I have a nice little scar on my quad thanks to that night,” he said. “I learned a very valuable lesson.”
