Just three days after her star-turn at the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, Babydog has gotten the nod for her own bobblehead.
“Babydog made a real impression in Milwaukee,” Phil Sklar said.
Sklar is the co-founder of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is also located in the city that hosted the GOP gathering at Fiserv Forum this past week.
West Virginia’s First Dog accompanied Gov. Jim Justice on the stage for his remarks during Tuesday’s second night and immediately set out charming the crowd with her mellow, jowly presence.
“I know that a lot of you want to meet my little buddy,” Justice said, as the 60-pound pooch sauntered out.
The bobblehead hall also produces its own commemorative bobbleheads and is now gearing up for its latest run with its newest star.
A total of 2,024 Babydog bobbleheads will be produced and are expected to ship in December, Sklar said. Cost is $30. Visit bobbleheadhall.com/ for ordering information and other particulars.
Babydog, meanwhile, began her life as a family pet in the Justice household and in turn became a household name in West Virginia in 2021.
That’s when the governor enlisted her for his “Do it for Babydog” COVID vaccination campaign, which featured prize giveaways and a visit with the pup for those who won in drawings after rolling up their sleeves for the preventive jab.
“Hey, she’s way more famous than I am,” Justice chuckled to The Dominion Post that year after one such Morgantown appearance during which the crowd acknowledged the bulldog — before the governor.
Babydog’s bobblehead isn’t an exclusive response to the convention, Sklar said. More on that.
Sklar and a college buddy, Brad Novak, started up the museum 10 years ago. It opened to the public in 2019.
Novak worked in promotions for a minor league baseball team and Sklar, who has an MBA and worked as a senior auditor and financial analyst for a number of nationally known firms, loved the game.
As a kid, Sklar collected baseball cards and branched out into collecting bobblehead depictions of his favorite stars from America’s Pastime.
Not long after the museum’s founding, they decided to create a commemorative bobblehead for Michael Poll, a Special Olympian raising money to compete in that organization’s 2018 Summer Games in Seattle.
“We took off from there,” Sklar said.
At the height of the pandemic, the pair created an Anthony Fauci bobblehead that remains their best-seller to date.
Sales from that one went to buy protective gear for first responders tending to patients suffering from COVID in those pre-vaccine days.
Nod once for …
Today, their bobblehead roster also includes 15 governors and Sister Jean Delores Schmidt — “Sister Jean” — the 103-year-old Roman Catholic nun and chaplain of the Loyola men’s basketball team that made a serious go for the NCAA Tournament two years ago.
Bernie Sanders and his mittens (of meme fame) became a fun Sklar-Novak creation also, along with West Virginia First Cryptid, Mothman.
Babydog first popped on the museum’s horizon during the pandemic.
“We’ve known about her since 2021,” he said, referring to the “Do it for Babydog” campaign.
A museum associate promptly called Sklar Tuesday night after Justice and Babydog took the convention stage.
“We need to do a Babydog bobblehead,” the person said.
“I know,” Sklar said.
He also knows he’s happy to be living his version of the American dream — by way of what he’s doing now.
Which, said Sklar, who earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and immediately moved into high-profile jobs in his field, might have been a little shaky.
At first.
“I just wasn’t having any fun in corporate finance,” he said. “Follow your bliss — and your bobblehead.”
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