On Thursday morning, Aimey Tello walked into Jeff Sherven’s office at UB’s Center for the Arts, asking where the costumes dressing room is.
She is instantly greeted by a campus celebrity.
Dixie, affectionately known as the most well-known pug on UB’s North Campus, runs at Tello and walks beside her as the two go to the dressing room.
“Oh my god, she’s adorable,” Tello, a freshman criminology major, said.
With her adorable Instagram account run by her owner Sherven, Dixie is a frequenter of the CFA’s hallways and classrooms on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Ray Kaminski, a senior fine arts major, says that in class, Dixie is often “running around trying to see who’s new. If somebody new comes in, she’ll go up to them, and that’s her new favorite person for two minutes.”
Sherven got Dixie back in 2016 while mourning the loss of a previous pug.
His wife, Brooke, told Sherven about a Buffalo News advertisement for a pug and called the advertiser right then and there despite the time of the call: 5 a.m.
The rest was history; Dixie became the newest member of the Sherven household.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, Sherven began bringing Dixie to school more frequently and she soared to fame on campus. It isn’t uncommon for Dixie to be walking down the hallways of the CFA and students will call her name out like a friend.
Sherven says that he has seen firsthand Dixie make students become more accepted.
“When you come to the university or a college setting or something like that, this is a transitional phase. It's not just about the learning, formal learning in the classroom,” Sherven said. “You learn more about the informal learning that you're doing all around you, where you live, who you're hanging out with, the experiences you have, both, you know, social, educational, academic, everything. And those things help you open up and become who you are.”
Rachel Hunt and Kendra Jones, senior dance majors, say Dixie runs to them just by recognizing their voice.
Rachel Macklin Olszewski, the administrator of UB’s art department, called Dixie her “favorite employee.”
“Dixie’s our favorite little mascot in the department,” Olszewski said.
Dixie certainly has many adorers, but it was within the last year that she found her best friend: Angel Thammasithikoun.
Thammasithikoun, who had a pug named Cupid in childhood, says that Dixie became her “ridiculously stubborn and a brilliant sister” that she never knew she needed.
“She’s been right by my side since junior year,” said Thammasithikoun, who graduated from UB in spring 2025 with a degree in graphic design.
Thammasithikoun made Dixie her primary theme for her final semester at UB, including a piece that detailed Dixie’s routine walk throughout campus.
“It was easily one of the most fun and challenging projects I’ve ever done,” Thammasithikoun said.
Dixie greatly enjoys going to Starbucks, but it’s not for the drinks.
“Don’t let her fool you if you think she’s thirsty,” Thammasithikoun said. “She’s strictly in it for the pup cup.”
From giving students a comfortable space to being the favorite employee of the art department, Dixie’s impact on everyone she meets is undeniable.
“You're taking away that moment where you're focused on all these things that really seem overwhelming, and realize, ‘Wait, I just need to relax and not have this,’ and she can take that away,” Sherven said.
For more paws-itively adorable photos, check out The Spectrum’s photo gallery of Dixie.
Jacob Wojtowicz is the senior features editor and can be reached at jacob.wojtowicz@ubspectrum.com.
Alyssa Ramos is the senior multimedia editor and can be reached at alyssa.ramos@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
