Chowing down for charity: Local animal lovers leap at SPCA biscuit challenge
The Buffalo News – August 3, 2015
By Anne Neville
Remember last summer’s ice bucket challenge, when people dumped pails of ice water on their heads to raise funds for ALS? The videos went viral.
This year, people will be chowing down – on dog biscuits – for the local SPCA.
Just like the ice-bucket fundraiser, people who take the Dog Biscuit Challenge tape themselves nibbling on a canine cookie or promise on camera to make a donation to the SPCA of Erie County, then challenge others to do the same. The videos can be seen on the SPCA’s “Dog Biscuit Challenge” YouTube channel.
Already participating in the challenge, which kicks off Monday, are Buffalo News Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Adam Zyglis, County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, Mayor Byron W. Brown, WGRZ-TV’s Maria Sisti and Kevin O’Neill, WKBW-TV’s Mike Randall, SPCA Executive Director Barbara Carr and other SPCA officials. The rules of the video challenge permit people to make a donation rather than take the dare, and the mayor and city Public Works Commissioner Steven J. Stepniak selected that option.
“We are going to donate, we’re not going to dine,” said the mayor, who donated $70.24 because his video was made July 24.
Brown then challenged Poloncarz, Common Council President Darius G. Pridgen, and developer Ron Benderson, who is on the board of directors of the SPCA, to either sample a biscuit, or donate, or both.
Poloncarz responded by digging into a bag of organic peanut butter and banana Zuke’s Skinny Bakes biscuits, eating two and feeding a couple to Reva, an Akita belonging to his chief of staff, Jennifer Hibit.
“It’s actually pretty good; it’s better than most of what I eat on a daily basis,” said Poloncarz, who also donated to and praised the SPCA but declined to challenge anybody.
In his video, Zyglis said that he is “an adventurous eater and an animal-lover,” before popping one of the Skinny Bakes into his mouth.
“Crunchy … very dry … it tastes like oatmeal,” he said before concluding, “Oh, what the heck?” and finishing the treat.
“A little bowl of water would be nice,” he said.
Gina Browning, SPCA public relations director, chose an Oreo-like cookie from the SPCA’s Petique and served it on china, with some blueberries scattered on the plate and a large goblet of cold water with lemon to wash it down.
“I’m embarrassed to say, it didn’t taste bad,” she said in a confidential tone.
O’Neill bit into a biscuit straight from a box while Vera, a white cockatoo that was available for adoption at the SPCA, looked on. O’Neill noted that the biscuit was an “apple-smoked bacon recipe.”
But once he took a bite, he quickly added, “Didn’t really help with the taste at all; it’s still disgusting.”
Those who take the challenge should post their videos on all their social media platforms, including those of friends and people they challenged, Browning said, using #dogbiscuitchallenge. Anyone who wishes to have their video considered for posting on the SPCA’s channel should email the video to DogBiscuitChallenge@spcaec.com.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took off like wildfire last summer, drawing viewers who were amused by the funny reactions of people to the ice-cold dousing and the increasingly creative ways people used to dump the water.
Young celebrities, including Selena Gomez, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, joined in the ice-bucket challenge and called out their high-profile friends to do the stunt. At the end of August, Forbes reported that the ice bucket challenge had raised more than $100 million for the previously little-known ALS Association, which focuses on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
At least one person has called on a celebrity to chomp on a canine cookie. At the end of her video, sharing Blue Buffalo biscuits with her dogs Ellsworth and MacDougall, SPCA public relations associate Bethany Kloc noted, “If my lady love Betty White would do it, that would make my dream come true.”
Getting celebrities involved propelled the Ice Bucket challenge to its stratospheric success, said Ram Bezawada, an associate professor of marketing in the University at Buffalo School of Management.
“Early on, they were able to attract celebrities,” said Bezawada. “Many people follow football players, actors, singers, so once those people issued challenges and posted them on YouTube, Facebook pages or Twitter, it created a lot more interest.”
Another part of the challenge’s appeal is that “it was kind of fun to get a bucket of ice water and pour it on yourself, or pour it on someone else, especially in the summer,” Bezawada said. “It went with the summer theme of cooling down and at the same time, raising awareness of ALS.”
Bezawada pointed out that the SPCA challenge “kind of mimics” another pop culture fixture, the challenges of eating disgusting things on such competitive reality shows as “Survivor” and “Fear Factor.”
Kloc got the idea for the local campaign from the Oregon Human Society, which had a similar challenge in the spring, raising $20,000.
“We started asking whether people would do this,” said Browning. “I thought, well, people in this community have helped us in the worst cruelty situations … and they have come through for us when we needed donations the most. I thought I had no doubt that they would put their money where their mouth is, literally, by simply eating a dog biscuit,” she said.
Anyone who remembers the era when dog treats included “animal byproducts” and only a feral younger brother would crunch on a dog biscuit might be surprised to learn that the trend toward pure and natural ingredients has spread from human food to canine cuisine.
In the Petique, “We have gluten-free biscuits here, we have vegan ones here with all-natural ingredients,” said Browning. The Zuke’s Skinny Bakes that Zyglis sampled are “vegan, wheat-free, soy free,” she said, reading the packaging. “This is healthier than the stuff I ate for breakfast. It’s like going to Russell’s every night for these dogs.”
John Griveas, co-owner with Jackie Lovern of Fetch Gourmet Dog Treats, said all the ingredients in the company’s locally made biscuits are human-grade. And the treats, which are sold in local farmers markets and shops and include organic pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pretzels, as well as peanut butter treats, look and smell good to humans.
“Everybody wants to joke about it at the farmers markets,” said Griveas. “They come up to our stand and they say, ‘Wow, this looks good enough to eat!’ and our response always is, ‘You can – we have!’ We have tried each and every one.”
Dog treats, designed to clean dogs’ teeth, can be dense and hard. Barbara Carr had to soften the vegan biscuit she chose with a splash of water before she could break off a piece, much to the dismay of her Irish wolfhound, who looked on with incredulity as Carr ate the treat.
“Our peanut-butter based treats have a cracker-like crunch, almost like a graham cracker,” said Griveas. “Our pumpkin treats do bake up a litle bit harder, and the best way to describe them is like a biscotti. And, of course, they are dog treat, they are a little dry, a litle bland, because we don’t add any sugars, no syrup, nothing unnatural.”
While the strict terms of the challenge enable people to make a donation, skip eating the biscuit and still challenge others, Browning said just discussing that option “forces us to ask whether there are really people who have at some point in their life considered tasting a dog biscuit and just never had a good enough reason. Are there people who think, ‘That sort of smells good,’ but then they say, ‘How low have I sunk to actually taste this?” and so they don’t do it even in the privacy of their own homes. So if you have always wanted to taste one and just never wanted to admit that about yourself, now you are noble for doing it.”