The Farmer's Dog signs five live dog mascots to three-year college deals

The Farmer's Dog signed three-year pet food partnerships with five college athletic departments on October 28th, 2026, and the faces of the deal are live dogs: Uga at Georgia, Smokey at Tennessee, Jonathan at UConn, Goldie at Tulsa and Dubs at Washington.

The New York-based fresh dog food maker, which says it has been making freshly cooked meal plans for more than a decade, will supply the five mascots with human-grade meals and treats. It will also build game-day experiences, in-stadium promotions, athlete collaborations and tailgate activations across football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball. Learfield, the college sports media and technology company, worked on the multi-school partnership, and Altius Sports Partners is advising The Farmer's Dog on its collegiate strategy.

Five live mascots join The Farmer's Dog roster

The dogs come with long histories. Georgia's Uga XI, known as Boom, belongs to a line of English bulldog mascots that began with Uga I in 1956. Tennessee's Smokey is a Bluetick Coonhound in a tradition the company puts at more than 70 years. UConn's Jonathan XV is three years old, and the Jonathan line dates to 1924. Tulsa's Goldie, a Golden Retriever, is starting her "freshman" year and will spend four years alongside the Class of 2030. Washington's Dubs, an eight-year-old Alaskan Malamute, leads the Huskies onto the field before home games in a tradition dating to 1922, and the Seattle Sports Commission named him 2025 Mascot of the Year.

Shawn Hegan, Executive Vice President of Global Partnerships at Learfield, said the pairing "just makes sense and complements the fandom that already exists with the iconic mascots at each university." Learfield describes ties to more than 1,200 collegiate institutions and more than 12,000 local and national brand partners.

Student-athletes will work with The Farmer's Dog on content featuring each school's live mascot. At Georgia and Tennessee, the company also funds residencies in small animal veterinary nutrition that help train Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists.

Several of the mascots are kept by private families. Wikipedia's entry on Uga says the Seiler family of Savannah, Georgia has owned each Uga since 1956, and Rolling Stone's profile of the dog mascots reported that Dubs and Jonathan are kept by private families.

College sports becomes another lane for the brand

The deal extends a run of sports and media partnerships we have tracked since spring. The Farmer's Dog signed a two-year partnership with The Oprah Podcast on May 22nd, 2026, then was named the NFL's Official Pet Food Partner on September 9th. The company lists the NFL, New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo, tennis player Jess Pegula and NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney as the rest of its sports roster.

Purina is working college football from the cat side. DesignRush reported on September 29th, 2026 that Friskies, a cat food brand, signed six feline mascots at Auburn, BYU, Missouri, Arizona and Villanova to a "Certified Frisky" roster. The first score in each regular-season game triggers a 10,000-meal donation to Greater Good Charities, with up to 500,000 meals committed across the season. None of those five schools is on The Farmer's Dog's list. Purina also holds a multiyear U.S. Soccer deal running through 2030.

The same DesignRush report noted that mascot deals fall outside the College Sports Commission's NIL review, which cleared more than $227M in NIL deals in July and August 2026.

What three years of mascot access means for rivals

For rival pet food marketers, the live-dog mascot slots at Georgia, Tennessee, UConn, Tulsa and Washington now carry a Farmer's Dog partnership for three years. Friskies shows that rights holders such as Learfield, Playfly Sports and Arizona Sports Enterprises package pet brands with mascots, so the same route is open at other schools.

For the two universities with nutrition residencies, the funding ties a pet food company to board-certification training in canine nutrition. The Farmer's Dog said the residencies help train the next generation of those specialists and advance the understanding of canine nutrition.

The Farmer's Dog said fans will see the new roster members throughout the season and pointed readers to thefarmersdog.com/mascots for updates. The partnerships run three years, so the content cycle starts now and continues across football, basketball, baseball and softball.

Source: The Farmer's Dog via PR Newswire