OXFORD — Tom Smith harbored two initial goals for Juice Kiffin – the yellow Labrador retriever who can be found at the side of Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin when he's not fulfilling his duties as the Rebels' unofficial mascot or posting his way to fame on social media.

Smith hoped Juice could trot alongside the Rebels during their pregame Walk of Champions tradition and spend the first quarter on the sidelines at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Smith owns Wildrose Kennels, where Juice was born, and has been training dogs since 1998. Few are more qualified to identify a good dog than he is, and when it became clear that Juice fit that description, he approached Kiffin with a more ambitious goal for his family pet.

"How about if I teach him to fetch the (kickoff) tee?" Smith recalled asking Kiffin. "He was like, 'You can do whatever you want.'"

So the duo went to work.

The process began roughly a year ago, Smith told The Clarion Ledger.

"Just doing it in the yard at the kennel," Smith said. "He was still pretty young then, and that big black tee was pretty heavy. So he had a little struggle at first, but as he got bigger he started nailing it."

Smith and Juice could be frequently spotted together at Ole Miss' spring practices. Looking to prepare the pup for the noise produced by tens of thousands of fans at Rebels home games, Smith hoped the loud music and general commotion of Ole Miss practices would give Juice the preparation he needed to allow his instincts to take over when the moment came.

Retrieving birds is natural for a Labrador like Juice, Smith explained. He just needed to ensure the dog stayed interested.

"You have to make it a game," he said. "You start off with making it a big game with a lot of praise, letting him chase it, chase it, chase it with a lot of praise and let him know that's exactly what I want. The birds they're drawn to. So now we have to shape a different behavior with something he didn't care about."

The moment to test the training arrived on Sept. 2, when the Rebels kicked off to Mercer to begin the second half of their season opener. Juice nailed it.

Not yet two years old, Juice has times for rest built into his gameday schedule. And, due to the logistical chaos that ensues as teams exit the halftime locker room, Smith decided that the optimal time for Juice to retrieve the tee is in the first quarter. So keep an early eye out for Juice when the Rebels (6-1, 3-1 SEC) welcome Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-4) to The Vaught on Saturday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network).

The trick is the latest boost to Juice's still ascending popularity. Smith, who used to dream of coaching high school football, enjoys the time he spends on the sidelines. The opportunity to tag along with Juice to community outreach events and help charitable causes has proven particularly gratifying, too.

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Now with over 50,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, there are few more recognizable dogs around. Unintentionally, Kiffin has turned Juice into a canine commodity.

"There was no plan behind that, it just kind of started morphing into that," Kiffin said. "And to be clear, most of what they do I don't even know about. This dog's gone all the time and I'll ask where he is and he's got two showings and two appointments. He's invited to grand openings and stuff, they just tell me he'll be back at 8 (o'clock). It's like having a kid or something."

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Lane Kiffin: Dog Juice fetches tee at Ole Miss football games