The “hush puppy” that graces boxes and advertising materials for Hush Puppies footwear is a basset hound. The dog and the brand have become cultural icons. More than 17 million pairs of these shoes are sold around the world annually. The Hush Puppies name and logo were created by the company’s first sales manager. On a business trip, he learned that farmers typically threw a southern food known as hush puppies to barking dogs to quiet them. Hence, the sales manager came up with the name Hush Puppies to describe the comfortable shoes that soothed aching feet, or “barking dogs,” as they were often called at the time.

Source: Reference