Sports

Lane Kiffin Left His Dog ‘Juice’ In Oxford While Abandoning Ole Miss For LSU Amid Labrador Facade

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Lane Kiffin Dog Juice Wildrose Kennels
© Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images -- © Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Lane Kiffin left his dog, a Labrador Retriever named Juice, in Oxford when he left Ole Miss for LSU. Except it wasn’t even really his dog in recent years anyway…

The whole thing was something of a facade!

Although Lane Kiffin paid for and legally owns the dog, it is my understanding that Juice is currently cared for by Wildrose Kennels in Mississippi— not the college football coach or his family. The newest head coach at LSU left him behind without so much as a goodbye belly rub or an ear scratch.

Juice is Lane Kiffin’s dog.

For those who do not know this specific dog, let me catch you up. The three-year-old Golden British Labrador Retriever first came to be known as ‘Juice’ on April 26, 2022.

On that day, Lane Kiffin posted a photo of his new puppy.

From that point forward, Juice became the unofficial mascot at the University of Mississippi. He was everywhere.

He even got his own credential for the bowl game in January!

Ole Miss has moved through a few different mascots since the early 2000s. It chose to sideline Colonel Reb as its official on-field mascot in 2003. It adopted Rebel the Black Bear in 2010, inspired by both the famous black bear in William Faulkner’s novel ‘The Bear’ and the story of Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear on a hunt. That was after a failed attempt to get Admiral Ackbar. (George Lucas said no!)

Tony the Landshark later replaced Rebel the Black Bear in 2018, inspired by former linebacker Tony Fein.

All of this goes to say Ole Miss doesn’t really have a mascot. Thus, Juice became the unofficial mascot. Some fans bought shirts and made buttons with his Name, Image and Likeness. Others brought stuffed animal dogs to The Grove in his honor.

He typically led the Walk of Champions before home games.

He also retrieved the kicking tee after kickoffs!

Everybody in Oxford loves him and will always love him. How can you not?? BOOP!

Lane Kiffin and his family even created a fake account for their dog on X, which was immediately removed from the Ole Miss database after the head coach’s departure on Sunday. Some of the posts were adorable updates about Juice’s shenanigans. Some of the posts were spicy jabs at opponents.

Kiffin took the Twitter account with him to Baton Rouge but not the actual dog.

Wildrose Kennels is the best in the business.

Here’s the thing. Per my understanding, Lane Kiffin and his family have not had primary custody of Juice in two-ish years.

Juice came from Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Mississippi. It is the the oldest, largest and most diversified producer and trainer of British and Irish Labradors in North America. You won’t find better. They are not only great at what they do, they are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Juice has become an elite hunting dog in recent years.

All of this through the teachings of Wildrose!

You get the idea! Juice is loose.

However, as of this writing, he is not in Baton Rogue with the rest of his “family.” According to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, he remains in Oxford with the great people who care for him.

Lane Kiffin coached the Egg Bowl on Friday morning, went to his son’s high school football playoff game on Friday night, engaged in a lengthy and heated discussion with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter on Saturday and then got on a plane for Baton Rouge without Juice in a blaze of infamy on Sunday.

In fact, as far as I understand it, he didn’t even say goodbye or “I’ll be back” to his dog. Not even a belly rub. Not even an ear scratch. Nothing! This is what Juice was up to:

Lane Kiffin Dog Juice
Old Row

I do not know what the future holds for Juice but he does not seem to be the priority. Lane left him behind. At least for now. Even though it is his legal right to do so, if he was to go back to Oxford for Juice at this point, it certainly feels like it would be out of spite.