In early 2023, an animal shelter in Collierville, TN spread the word that one of their dogs, a two-year-old 65 pound Australian Shepherd mix named Waffle House, looked like a dog version of Jewish actor Paul Rudd. The dog became a celebrity with the help of a resident of Collierville, who created a collage with photos of the dog and the actor side-by-side, exhibiting similar mannerisms and facial expressions. The shelter called the dog Pawl Ruff.
On Valentine’s Day, the Town of Collierville posted the collage on Twitter and attempted to get human Paul Rudd to adopt his doggy doppelganger by tweeting:
While making love connections between pets and people today, we discovered that one of our dogs is meant to be with Paul Rudd. We have nicknamed him Paul Ruff. Paul doesn’t have a Twitter handle, but Ant-Man does, And honestly, what is more heroic than adopting a shelter pet?
While Rudd didn’t adopt Waffle House/Pawl Ruff, all of the attention did lead to the dog being adopted. A resident of Collierville adopted the dog, and she reported that in a short time he was already getting acclimated to her home and her family. His mom gave him a new name: Rowdy. But to Mazel Pups he’ll always be Rowdy AKA Pawl Ruff, as a reminder of his famous Jewish doppelganger.
