The University of Washington is excited to introduce today – National Puppy Day – the newest member of the Husky family and UW's 14th live mascot, Dubs II.Born on January 4, 2018, Dubs II has been adopted by a local family of UW alumni. His training to learn his mascot duties is already underway, and will begin his role as official mascot in 2019.The school received more than 90 applications to be the caretakers of Dubs II.Like his predecessors, Dubs II is an Alaskan malamute, the largest and strongest of all Husky breeds. The new Dubs is a distant relative of the current Dubs, as they share the same grandfather.The current Dubs, who began his tenure in 2009, announced in a tweet that the 2018 football season will be his last year as official mascot. In retirement, he will continue to live with his family in Seattle.There will be plenty of opportunities for Husky fans to say their goodbyes to Dubs I this year, including "Bark in the Park" Night at baseball, scheduled for Friday, May 25 at Husky Ballpark. Click here for more information.The first public appearance by Dubs II is still TBD, and will be contingent upon his training development.In September 2008, the school announced an initiative to search for an appropriate name for its live mascot that would remain an ongoing UW tradition. A contest was launched on GoHuskies.com and fans were asked to submit their favorite name for the live Husky dog.More than 1,400 different nominations were received and a committee that consisted of campus and community representatives narrowed the field to a reasonable list of finalists, including: Admiral, Dubs, King, Koda, Legend, Reign, Spirit and Sundodger. More than 20,000 votes were received in two rounds of online voting via GoHuskies.com, with Dubs emerging victorious.