WOOF

By Dubs

By Washington Huskies

May 10^th, 2018

I still remember the first time I saw them.

It was a gray March afternoon, and my handlers took me to Husky Stadium for the very first time. I couldn’t believe it! They had told me and my three sisters all about it — how more than 70,000 fans pack in on football gamedays, how the gentle breeze blows in off the lake on a crisp fall afternoon, and, most significantly for us, how a lucky dog gets to lead the team onto the field before each game, with every one of those 70,000 fans roaring as loud as they can. It sounded amazing, but to actually see it … I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to see those seats filled all the way up to the roofline. It’s enough to give a dog chills.

We were there that day to meet my new family. I had been raised the past two months, along with my sisters, by my breeders in Snohomish, who had been carefully chosen by the UW athletic department to breed the next in a long line of Husky live mascots.

The previous fall, the owners of the current Dubs had noticed that he was slowing down a bit, and seemed more tired than usual after events — which go far beyond Husky football gamedays, to include campus events, birthday parties and more, for a total of more than 100 events per year! — and suggested that, at 12 years old, it might be time to start thinking about retirement. He’s worked hard and been a great “Dawg,” as I hear Husky fans spell it … he deserves some time off. In the press release announcing his retirement, he stated that he was "excited to spend more time with my family, frolicking in the fields of my own backyard.” I can’t lie — that sounds like a pretty great life.

That’s when UW officials began working with Anne-Lise Nilsen, a former student handler of Dubs who had earned her degree in animal behavior, to find the next Dubs. You see, not just any old Malamute can be Dubs. You have to have the right look — typically, a mix of gray and black fur, harkening back to previous mascots like King Redoubt and Spirit — and, most importantly, the right temperament. You need to be friendly, obedient, active, outgoing, and can’t be spooked by loud noises or bright lights. Dubs is a rock star in Husky athletics — it takes a rock star of a dog to play the role.

After my sisters and I were born on Jan. 4, UW officials visited several times to try and determine which of us best matched the qualities above. Two of my sisters were nearly all grey, so they were ruled out for not having “the look.” That left me and my sister, Eleanor. When the people in the purple shirts would show up, I knew it was time to strut my best stuff, so I would proudly prance around, let them pet me as much as they wanted, and follow all the commands I was given. I’d literally been preparing my entire life for this job, and I wasn’t going to throw away my shot. It didn’t take them long to see the fire in my eyes and know that I was the best dog for the job.

“There were certain qualities we were looking for — the physical appearance, of course, the coloring and the fur — along with friendliness, and how comfortable he was around lots of people or lots of noise,” Brian Bowsher, UW Chief Marketing Officer, says. "We can't have a Dubs that hides every time the siren goes off, for example. We were able to rule out a few right away based on color, so then it really came down to Dubs and Eleanor, and Dubs was just more outwardly friendly. He seemed like a great fit.”

Now came the exciting part — choosing the family with which I would spend the rest of my life, the one that would feed me, clean me, help train me and fill me up with love — and, most importantly, make sure that I was available for the hundreds of events I’d have to attend in the coming years. It’s not easy having a celebrity in your household, so not just any family would do. More than 90 families responded to an open call at GoHuskies.com, from which nine were selected for phone interviews. That pool was then whittled down to four who received in-home visits from the department’s Dubs committee, including Bowsher, Nilsen and Rachael Doyle, UW's Director of Marketing. They wanted to see exactly where I’d be living, and get a sense for which family would be the best fit for my — and, sure, their — needs.

All along, there was one family that stood out. Husky officials told me that I can't share their names just yet, but the family included two parents and two kids, an older son, 11, and a younger daughter, 9.

“We interviewed several families, but we definitely had a sense from the beginning that they might be a great fit,” Bowsher says. "They were alumni, they were season-ticket holders, they had owned a malamute before, they had a huge yard, and were very excited and realistic about the responsibility of owning Dubs. They were really a perfect fit.”

And, on that gray March day at Husky Stadium, it was finally my chance to meet them. They told me later that the kids didn’t know.

“We wanted to surprise the kids at Husky Stadium, so when Anne-Lise called the family to tell them the news, she asked the mom to go into another room,” Bowsher recalls. “It’s good that she did, because she screamed with excitement when she told her.”

Nilsen asked the parents to keep it a secret, and to bring the kids to Husky Stadium the next week under the pretense that they had to do one last interview. Instead, they'd be meeting me.

As I walked down the tunnel to head out onto the field, I imagined what it would be like to have the entire Husky football team behind me, hearing the marching band’s music echoing off the walls and the crowd’s cheers building to a roar as the siren goes off and I sprint onto the field for the first time. Only 13 dogs have ever had the privilege of leading the Huskies out onto the field — that’s an even more exclusive club than starting quarterbacks, or head coaches. You might even say that it’s the most prestigious job on the team. I sat on the field for a minute and closed my eyes, playing the moment over and over again in my mind — it’s going to be magical.

And then, suddenly, I saw them. I heard a rustle around me and opened my eyes, and there they were, all four of them. I wanted to run to them, but knew that I needed to show better control if I was going to be Dubs, so I just wagged my tail instead to show them how excited I was to see them, and walked calmly over towards them.

The boy got to me first. He and his sister were happy, petting me and smiling a lot. They didn’t have much to say, but that’s OK, neither did I — we were all too happy and excited (and, in their case, surprised) to come up with a lot of words. But we didn’t need any — I knew right away that they were the perfect family for me, and of course they fell in love with me the moment they saw me. I seem to have that effect on people.

We stayed a little while to shoot a video for UW’s social media outlets, and to take pictures of me showing off my skills. The more I ran around the field, the more I began to realize that this wasn’t just a dream — I really am the new Dubs, and these amazing people really are my family. I was halfway across the end zone, looking out past the scoreboard to the lake and mountains beyond when it hit me — I just might be the luckiest dog in the world.

A short while later, on National Puppy Day, Bowsher and his team sent out a press release officially announcing me as the new Dubs. They included a few facts about me that were fun — like that I love digging and chewing on sticks, and that I already know how to sit — and some I might have preferred to keep private, like that my older sisters constantly pick on me, and that I can’t go anywhere without my stuffed ducky. And, most significantly, they included several photos and a video of me valiantly charging onto the Husky Stadium turf.

That’s when things really got out of control. In addition to the local newspapers and TV stations, the story was picked up by national blogs and media outlets, including Deadspin. My favorite was The Seattle Times headline, which parodied my favorite Twitter account, @WeRateDogs, saying “10/10, would cheer with.” I find that rating appropriate.

"We had actually planned to make the announcement a week later, but then someone pointed out that it was National Puppy Day and said, 'Should we just do it now?'" Bowsher recalls. "So, we went ahead and rolled it out. The Dubs retirement announcement in the fall had gotten pretty wide coverage, so we had an idea that the story would catch on, but we weren't expecting it to take off at the level that it did."

Within 48 hours, more than 55,000 people had already viewed my video on YouTube. When I heard that, I brushed my shoulders off, but I think my handlers just thought I was trying to scratch my ears. People just don’t get it sometimes.

In the weeks since, the furor has died down a little bit, but we have still heard from many fans who are eager to see me in action. I’m still in training now, but I will probably start filling in for Dubs at some of his smaller events as the year goes on. He is going to finish out the 2018 football season while I learn the ropes — they’re calling me Dubs II for now, but that will change after the original Dubs lays down the leash — and then I will follow in his gigantic paw prints starting in 2019.