A Redmond six-year-old Golden Retriever will be featured in next spring’s Alpo “Real Dogs Eat Meat Handbook” for getting down and dirty.

A candid photo of Coda relaxing and enjoying the elements of a mud pit won him a spot in the handbook, a first-of-its-kind, how-to manual to help dogs be dogs.

Coda’s owner, Beth Roberts, who lives in Redmond with her husband, Ray, two sons and daughter, took the photo of Coda in 2006, when the family was building their new home on English Hill.

“During the construction, we had no grass, it was just dirt and mud,” Beth said. “For a long time, I didn’t let him go in the yard. I didn’t want him tracking all that mud into the house. Then one day, I just gave in, I let him go to town. It was complete filth, but he was so happy.”

Beth caught Coda’s happiness on film, wrote up a short description and sent it to Alpo after her father told her about the Real Dogs contest.

“It was the first contest I ever entered,” Beth said. “It was a happy moment I was able to catch. It showed his inner dogness in the mud. I actually thought it was an e-mail scam at first when they told me he won. I was skeptical at first and very surprised we won.”

Dog expert and contest judge Brian Kilcommons picked the top 20 winners, including Coda, “based on their description of a ‘real dog’ behavior, as well as the originality and creativity of the entry,” according to an Alpo press release.

Beth, whose husband, Ray, is a former NFL offensive lineman and the current football coach at Lake Washington High School, said the yard now has nice green grass, where Coda enjoys frolicking also.

But Beth pointed out that Coda enjoys a good mud pit over swimming, any day.

“We have a pool and he swims like a scared chicken,” she said. “But he loves getting dirty.”

To see all the winning entries, go to www.alpotellitlikeitis.com.