The bulldog has been around for many years and has always been a popular, if misunderstood dog. While many still associate the bulldog with the dog that was involved in bull baiting many years ago, others have discovered what a versatile and wonderful family pet the bulldog can be. In addition to being a great pet, the bulldog has served many other purposes through the years. Research has shown that music is very relaxing for dogs, specifically the bulldog. Classical music was the music chosen to make the dog more mellow and relaxed.
The Bulldog has been the symbol or mascot for many different events as well as for specific countries. Anyone that watches WWF wrestling knows of the wrestling hero Davey Boy Smith, who was called the "British Bulldog". During his tenure, he had a mascot, a British Bulldog named Matilda, who came out at each match to support him.
The Bulldog, highly revered in Great Britain, is used as their symbol. Chesty, a bulldog, is also used as a symbol of the United State Marine Corps. Numerous American universities have the bulldog as their mascot such as the University of Georgia, Georgetown University, University of Minnesota Duluth, Mississippi State University, Yale University, Louisiana Tech University, South Carolina State University and many more in addition to many high schools in the United States.
Yale University has the bulldog Handsome Dan as the mascot for all their athletic teams. In addition to being very popular in his role, Handsome Dan is also the first living mascot in America. There has been a group of "Handsome Dan's" through the years.
Another famous mascot was Uga V, a bulldog for the University of Georgia, who also happened to be the first live college mascot that was on the Sports Illustrated magazine cover in 1997. Sports Illustrated also named Uga V the College Mascot of the Year. Uga V's other accomplishments were a role in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", a movie that was directed by Clint Eastwood. Uga V once again made the news at a football game in 1996 when he took off on the field after an Auburn University receiver to try to bite the player and take him down. Uga V made quite a name for himself as well as his breed until death took him away in 1999.
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