Nottingham Forest fan names Lapland sled dogs after team

Ben Wagstaff was inspired to name the litter after it arrived on the same day the team were promoted

A Nottingham Forest fan now living in Swedish Lapland has named his litter of sled dogs after his beloved Premier League team.

Ben Wagstaff, originally from Hucknall in Nottinghamshire, moved to Northern Sweden to follow his dream of raising and racing sled dogs.

He said he had been inspired to name the litter after it arrived on the same day Forest were promoted.

He now has huskies named after Brennan Johnson and manager Steve Cooper.

"It was a massive life change," said Mr Wagstaff.

"I always had a couple of huskies in Nottingham. I got the chance to come to Northern Sweden to be a handler for a guy with 100 huskies and I went there and just fell in love.

"I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do.

"When I finally had the funds and the guts I made the change to come here and start a husky farm for myself.

"We run tourists, have fun, do races. It's totally, totally amazing."

Now Mr Wagstaff and his Dutch partner, Naomi Bouwmeester, have 41 dogs between them that run across snowy mountains and forest trails at distances of up to 217 miles (350km) over several days.

"Two of our best dogs, Morris and Isa, had a fantastic litter on the night that Nottingham Forest got promoted to the Premier League," he said.

"Of course, being a Nottingham guy and waiting 23 years for this, I decided to name the puppies after the team.

"There were six puppies. Brennan Johnson is my favourite, the dog and the player too. I just hope he can be as good as the real Brennan Johnson."

Brennan Johnson is just eight months old and already weighs 32 kilos (five stone).

Mr Wagstaff said the most vocal dog in the kennels was named after Forest manager Steve Cooper.

"I imagine he's like a leader telling the others what to do," he said.

He added he hoped the real Steve Cooper might travel out to meet his namesake.

The dogs are too young to race just yet but Mr Wagstaff said he hoped they would reach Champions League standard in the future.