Panera Is Celebrating National Dog Day With This Adorable Ambassador

While many may think that "dog days of summer" is just a metaphor applied to any particularly hot, humid stretch of weather during the season, The Old Farmer's Almanac reveals that they actually encompass the approximately five-week period between July 3 and August 11. Who knew this term was so oddly specific? Old farmers, evidently. Anyway, National Dog Day is an entirely different animal, as it takes place on just one day — August 26 — and marks the date that the holiday founder's family adopted their first shelter dog, per the holiday website. While anyone under the spell of their own canine companion would argue that every day is dog day, we Canis familiaris fans will take any excuse to celebrate our favorite species.

While Panera Bread is primarily known for its extensive menu of people food, it seems they have a soft spot for doggos, too. In honor of the day's festivities, the brand has changed its Twitter handle to "Pawnera Bread," and it seems its Instagram's gone to the dogs, as well (via Twitter). Two dogs, to be exact: the regular brand ambassador and a furry friend.

As "Pawnera" shared on Twitter this morning, its regular brand ambassador is an adorable doggo named Bagel, and he'll be taking over that account for National Dog Day. Bagel cheerfully agreed to do his doggie duty, tweeting: "it is usually my jOB. 2 bark when the delivery purson comes 2 the door. today, I tweet on bird app." He later updated his status by sharing, "i am such a gud boy. why wont mom share her bagel with me. I AM NAMED Bagel" and also provided the breaking news update "SQUIRREL," (via Twitter).

Over on Instagram, Panera didn't have Bagel do the talking (or typing), but the brand did share a winsome "who wore it better" photo pairing of Bagel and another good boy named Ollie, both in Panera logo baseball caps. As the common thread made clear, the pawesome twosome tied in a photo finish. While a few grumpy Instagram users tried to hijack the thread to air their customer service complaints, we suspect they're probably cat lovers or — horrors — perhaps not pet people at all! Well, complainers gonna complain, but let's just scroll past the negativity and back to the comment that speaks the undisputed truth about Panera's pups: "OMG THEYRE SO CUTE!"