A handsome hound

Published: April 14, 2007

By NICOLE MONTESANO
Of the News-Register

Kevin and Susan Jeffries wanted a dog so badly that they decided to buy a house of their own when their landlord held firm with a no-pets rule.

When a house came on the market in their neighborhood, they swung a deal. After doing some quick repainting, Susan said, "The first thing we did was get a dog."

Actually, they merely put in a reservation for a dog, as the litter wasn't ready yet. But the breeder granted them visitation rights in the interim.

They went through a golden retriever breeder who had sold a pup to Susan's parents from an earlier litter. They were able to pick one out for pickup later.

In the meantime, they boned up on dog-training technique.

"We wanted a dog that was going to be sweet and docile," Susan said. And Hobbes turned out to be just that.

"People think he's a girl all the time," Susan said, watching Hobbes put both paws on a visitor's knee and offer a soulful gaze. "He's such a flirt."

"If you're ever really upset or stressed out," Kevin said, "he knows and he'll come up to you."

Hobbes is cute, too. Cute enough, it turns out, to earn himself a year's worth of free feed.

Browsing the website of dog food manufacturer Eukanuba some months ago, Susan spotted an advertisement for a pet pooch beauty contest. The prize was a year's worth of free dog food.

"He loves the Eukanuba dog food," she said. So she entered him.

They had plenty of photos to choose from. Even before bringing their darling home, they started snapping pictures of him.

Though she had no previous experience as a scrap-booker, Susan even made him his own photo album. It features photos of Hobbes snoozing on his blue blanket on the way to his new home, playing with his beloved tennis ball and romping at the beach.

She chose a picture of a blissful-looking Hobbes exploring at the beach. In the photo, he's got sand dusting his muzzle and even coating his tongue.

"He got so dirty," she recalled, laughing. "He had so much fun."

She sent along a video of Hobbes as a puppy, trying vainly but happily to pick a Gatorade cap up off the floor.

The judges - pet owners across the country - were as delighted as the Jeffries. Hobbes won the grand prize in the "Large Breed Video" category.

According to Sherri Weiss, vice president of marketing and digital communications, "Since October 2006, more than 2,500 dog owners from coast-to-coast uploaded photos or videos of their dogs to the contest site, along with a short description of what makes their dogs most beautiful, be it their melodious bark, saggy jowls or wagging tails. Monthly winners received a month's supply of Eukanuba and entry into the grand prize contest to compete for a year's supply.

The winners also get the chance to appear in a Eukanuba advertising campaign.

By voting online at www.beautyofthebreeds.com, more than 3,000 pet owners picked six grand prize winners in different categories.

Kevin and Susan were thrilled, of course, though they didn't need anyone else to convince them Hobbes was the cutest of them all. "He's our little star," Susan said.

Both the picture and video may be viewed on the Eukanuba website.