RICHLAND, MI -- While their owners are feasting on turkey, the puppies adopted by a group of Vicksburg men on a bachelor party to Tennessee can be thankful for thanks a year's supply of dog food donated to them and their mother.
The men and dogs went Saturday, Nov. 19 to pick up the 216 bags of Loyall and Loyall Life brand dog food by Nutrena feeds at The Feed Bag, 8532 N 32nd St., in Richland.
"It was fun, it was very nice having them here," said Jeremiah Wert, sales associate at The Feed Bag. "The puppies are cute, and there's all different colors and sizes."
Customers who came to the store Saturday afternoon had a chance to meet and play with the puppies and chat with their owners.
The supply of dog food is also intended to help the men care for the dogs they already owned when they opened their hearts and homes to the seven abandoned puppies and mother dog they found while on a four-wheeling trip to Tennessee last month, said Tamara Caruso, marketing communications lead for Cargill in Albany, N.Y. "They have lots of canine mouths to feed now," she said.
Mitchel Craddock said he and his his friends have gotten lots of encouragement and support, as well as questions, since they discovered the litter of dirty, flea-infested pups in a den in the woods during a bachelor-party trip last month for Craddock, who was married in October.
The group adopted the mother dog and all seven puppies, bringing them back to Michigan to new homes with the guys and their relatives.
Guys adopt stray dog and puppies that crash bachelor party
When news of their story broke, country singer Toby Keith named the friends "TK Cowboys in Action" on his Twitter account, and the puppies have appeared on Good Morning America and other national news programs as well.
The pups have their own Facebook page, with fans from as far away as The Netherlands and New Zealand.
Loyall Life has a mission of supporting therapy, service and rescue dogs, a company spokesperson said.
A statement from the company said: "We can't think of a better rescue situation than this one. On behalf of Nutrena and Loyall brand of pet foods, we are happy to donate food for all of these dogs that were rescued from a situation where they probably wouldn't have survived otherwise.
"We are grateful to these young men who took it upon themselves to do the right thing and rescue Annie and her pups. It's exciting to know that these dogs all now have loving homes and people to call family."
Craddock said the attention has died down a bit, and the pups are getting big and developing individual personalities.
His mother, Joanne Craddock, has been posting profiles of each of the pups on the Facebook page.
