It's football season. Auburn fans from all over scurry to bookstores on and around campus to pick up their favorite orange and blue gear for the game. T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps and more, whatever it is, wherever the store; it's all orange and blue.
But the customers shopping at Big Blue Bookstore won't be able to leave the store with their orange and blue without a little gold too; golden retriever that is.
Shug, is a 1-year-old golden retriever, who spends his day laying around Big Blue, greeting customers and shaking hands with kids.
"He is our companion first and foremost, but he has turned into our best ambassador," said Shug's owner, John Harrell, who also owns Big Blue. "We have alumni from across Alabama that will come to the store and the first thing they will ask is 'Where is the dog?'"
Big Blue has become well-known among Auburn students and fans as "the store with the dog."
"We had students coming in during book rush and we would overhear student's saying 'Yeah, this is the store with the dog,'" Harrell said with a laugh.
Shug has been raised in the store since he was a just a puppy, becoming the de facto mascot for the bookstore.
"He goes home with me at night and he is back with me in the morning," Harrell said. "So this is home for Shug."
Before Shug came along, his parents, Paige and Ben, roamed the store.
"We lost Ben last March, but luckily we had a pup, so Shug has taken his place," Harrell said. "A lot of people still think that Shug is Ben."
The golden retrievers--Paige and Ben--belonged to Harrell's son Wes, who first started bringing the dogs into his father's store.
"At first I think my dad was kind of wondering if customers would be terrified of the dog and run out the store," Harrell said. "But it ended up being a big hit and everybody loved the dogs."
When Wes gave Shug to his father as a puppy, he started bringing him into the store with him too.
"Shug is only a year and three months, but he has acted like he was 10 ever since he was born," said Wes Harrell. "He is well-mannered and doesn't bother anybody."
Shug was named after the legendary Auburn football Coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan, adding historical significance and making him even that much more special to Auburn students and fans.
"We have just been amazed at how positive people react to him--students, little kids, older alumni," Harrell said. "He really just has friends all over Alabama."
Customers who visit the bookstore are accustomed to stopping in and seeing Shug.
"I love going into Big Blue and seeing the dog in the store," said Amy Holiday, a senior in landscape horticulture. "I have a golden retriever at home named Walker, so I really like Shug. He reminds me of my dog."
Shug is truly a mascot for the Big Blue Bookstore decked out with an orange and blue Auburn bandana around his neck in place of a collar.
"People love our mascot," Harrell said "People will come in the store and go find him."
During Camp War Eagle this past summer, Big Blue decided to use Shug as a way of advertisement.
They put Shug's picture on the back of the T-shirts given out to incoming freshman students, hoping to attract dog-loving students.
"I think by using Shug in our advertising campaigns it helps people to know we are down-to-earth folks here," Harrell said. "They all love Shug."
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