Once a Runt, Now She’s a Mighty Dog

Audrey came a long way to become Miss November, as Peggy Skomal calls her now.

“She was the runt of the litter, such a small dog,” Skomal of North Hills said about her 6-year-old Samoyed. “She had to fight her way up to be mighty.”

But now, according to the maker of Mighty Dog canned dog food, Audrey is one of the mightiest. Her photo was selected out of thousands submitted by dog owners to win one of 12 spots in the company’s 1997 Mighty Dog Calendar.

The picture of Audrey, taken by Skomal at Vasquez Rocks, will be featured on the November page of the calendar. Skomal, a professional harpist, has another Samoyed, an 11-year-old male called Mushnik, who won an honorable mention on the calendar last year, she said. Mushnik has stronger features, Skomal said, but Audrey went further in the contest.

“She actually wasn’t my first choice,” Skomal said, remembering how she selected Audrey from a local breeder as a companion to Mushnik. There were two other females in the litter, but they were show dogs, she said.

“I liked her personality,” Skomal said. “I thought I could do something with her. She turned out to be a really sweet dog.”

For Skomal, the dogs are her family. “Anybody who knows me knows my dogs,” she said.

The Mighty Dog Calendar contest has been run for the last 15 years. About 100,000 copies of the calendar were sold this year. As part of Skomal’s prize, the company is donating 25 cases of dog food to Samoyed Rescue of Southern California, where Skomal has volunteered for three years.

“I love my dogs,” Skomal said. “It’s nice that someone else likes them too.”