Cotton’s Café Challenges Coach Freeze, Rebel Nation to Eat Dog Biscuits

Janet McCarty with Cotton (left) and Clover (right).

Imagine this: Ole Miss Rebels’ head coach Hugh Freeze eating a dog biscuit. And he’s eating it because Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society raised $35,000. Oh, and make the dog biscuit peanut butter and honey flavored (or blueberry honey or sweet potato honey).

Now picture that scene on the Jumbotron at the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium!

To make that scenario happen, accept the #DogBiscuitChallenge issued by Cotton’s Café Dog Treat Barkery.

These are the rules of the challenge:

1.) Make a video of yourself eating a dog treat. For those who prefer not to eat a dog biscuit may only donate a monetary amount to the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society through Cotton’s Café website. Either way, do challenge your friends, coworkers and especially Coach Freeze and then donate to the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society through Cotton’s Café website.

2.) Post the video on the following social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to tag Cotton’s Café in those videos. This way you’ll have three chances to win the prize: a chance to go to an Ole Miss football game.

3.) Be sure to use the hashtag: #dogbiscuitchallenge to be eligible for the prize!

Here is the video, courtesy of Derek Brown of Life Long Productions.

Janet McCarty, founder and owner of Cotton’s Café Dog Treat Barkery, is behind this local twist on the Erie County SPCA’s #DogBiscuitChallenge which culminated into Rex Ryan, head coach of Buffalo Bills, eating a milk bone.

McCarty was especially inspired by the challenge. Her handmade treats are safe and tasteful enough for people to eat, too, because they’re made with organic produce from local farms such as Bost Farms, Cherry Creek Orchards, Vardaman Sweet Potatoes and Deaton Farms to name a few.

Her bags’ tagline read, “If we won’t eat it, your dog won’t eat it either.”

Graphic courtesy of Cotton’s Cafe Facebook

Also, she donates the organic treats to Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society to help provide for their shelter dogs. The shelter is where she got her second rescue dog, Clover, from. With this challenge, McCarty hopes to raise $35,000 for the shelter’s benefit.

She said, “The fundraising will help the shelter transport 850 puppies to their forever homes across the country.”

The Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society has been undertaking the project where the shelter workers and volunteers choose and transport puppies to shelters in areas in New England that are not quite as populated with strays. Read more about this project here in the article by Steve Vassallo.

New England’s regulations pertaining to domestic animal population have reduced the number of strays, affecting the availability of pets at the local shelters. The New England Society for Abandoned Animals (NESAA), located in Osterville, Massachusetts, reports that the state has “no known free roaming dogs to even create a statistic.”

While there are no published statistics on stray dog population in Mississippi, a quick observation of local shelters’ social media should lend to the idea that there are more than enough stray dogs for Mississippians to send to the people in New England.

McCarty said, “The #DogBiscuitChallenge will last through the football season or until we meet our fundraising goal.”

She will be on the University of Mississippi campus next week on October 8 in front of the student union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. “There will be plenty of opportunities to take the challenge and donate,” McCarty said.

To keep up with the #DogBiscuitChallenge, follow Cotton’s Café on its website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Callie Daniels Bryant is the senior managing editor for HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com.