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PERHAM — One Perham pup's happy, tongue-out face will be nationally known this autumn, thanks to her adoptive humans who, on a whim, submitted her picture to a Busch beer Facebook competition in March.
Little did Dan and Ali Kenyon know at the time, their rescue dog, Kira, would win.
As the winner, Kira will be featured on the front of 40,000 cans of Busch beer Dog Brew — an alcohol-free bone broth treat for dogs.
"I submitted a picture of her and didn't really think anything of it," Dan recalled during a recent interview with the Focus. "When you put your dog in a national competition, you just think they'll pick someone's dog from wherever. You never think it's going to be you."
Busch held a "Bark Bracket" online — a bracketed-style voting competition — to help find the face for its new line of Dog Brew. The contest lasted eight days and had hundreds of entries, and voters nationwide weighed in.
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Kira, who is a bit over three years old, was originally found in a ditch by a local police department near White Earth. The officers brought her to the Detroit Lakes Humane Society shelter where, just a few days later, the Kenyons walked through the doors.
"We adopted her on the spot," Ali laughed, remembering when she and Dan first met their dog. "Her sassiness made us fall in love with her. Even as a puppy, like a really small puppy, she had a bit of an attitude to her, but it was a fun-loving one. And she was adorable. And her big brown eyes — that was the thing for me."
Since her adoption, Kira has maintained her sassy attitude. Ali describes her as an "energetic goofball," and the pup lives up to that, running around and begging her parents to play.
The Kenyons never expected Kira's big brown eyes to strike the heart of the nation, but it seems they did just that. In the last week of March, the Kenyons found out Kira made the final four in the competition. On Friday, March 29, they found out she made the final two. Then, on Monday, March 25, they found out she had won.
"It was neat," Dan laughed.
"It was a shock. With all the entries, I did not foresee that happening," added Ali.
Both emphasized how glad they are that the Busch competition highlighted rescue dogs like Kira. Dan said that many people will look for a certain dog or they'll breed a certain dog to get the perfect animal they want, but he believes there are a lot of perfect animals in shelters who already need homes.
"They deserve love like any other dog, and not just being locked up in a kennel all day waiting for their forever home," he said.
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This fall, Kira will be featured on cans of Busch's Dog Brew, sold nationwide. Keep an eye out for this newly-famous Perham pup.
