Cincinnati-area St. Bernard featured on Budweiser’s annual holiday beer cans

If you’ve purchased a six or 12 pack, or maybe even a case of beer this holiday season, you may have noticed the friendly face of a large St. Bernard on Budweiser’s annual holiday cans.

That St. Bernard’s name is Wilson and he’s a resident of Liberty Township, just north of Cincinnati.

Wilson is just 2-years old, and his owners, Kelsey Dempsey and Colin Black, say he’s a 160 lbs. of love.

"If we're sitting on the couch, he'll come and he wants to get up and cuddle with us for a bit, and he just sits on your belly. And that's a lot of weight," says Black.

Dempsey adds, "Yea’ he thinks he’s a lap dog."

Earlier this year Kelsey and Colin heard about Budweiser’s ‘Pupweiser holiday photo contest.’

On a whim, they reposted a holiday pic of Wilson on Instagram using Budweiser's contest hashtag - The St. Bernard sporting a festive Christmas wreath around his neck.

"And then a couple of days later, they messaged me and said, Hey, by the way, you're a finalist," says Dempsey.

Competing against 3 other dogs, Wilson pulled out the votes in a social media competition over the next week.

Besides getting his picture featured on the holiday beer cans, the canine recently got a private tour of Anheuser Busch in St. Louis where he met with the beer-makers famous clydesdales.

There are four holiday Budweiser cans featuring the clydesdales, the traditional dalmatian, and of course Wilson.

The latter has more than 14,000 followers on Instagram.

Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, photo shoot. [Kelsey Dempsey]

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