Bulldog mascot schools are educational institutions that have chosen the bulldog as their representative symbol and mascot. The bulldog is a breed of dog known for its muscular build, determined stance, and distinctive wrinkled face. It is often associated with strength, toughness, and tenacity. These schools display their affinity for the bulldog through various means, such as using the image of a bulldog as their logo or incorporating bulldog-related themes into their team names and sports uniforms. The presence of a bulldog mascot aims to create a sense of pride, identity, and unity among students, athletes, alumni, and fans. The choice of a bulldog as a school mascot can be attributed to several factors.
The Bulldog Mascot: The Most Popular Mascot Costume
Great mascot costumes often become cultural icons, but there is one that leads the pack – the world’s most popular mascot, the mighty bulldog. More organizations have a bulldog mascot than any other type. It’s been used to represent several things, from branches of the military to colleges, to even entire countries. That should come as no surprise, as according to the American Kennel Society, French bulldogs ranked as America’s second most popular dog breed in 2020. But why has this breed become one of the world’s most popular mascot costumes?
In 1890, Yale University decided that a bulldog mascot was the best representation of their school’s core values and beliefs, and nearly 20 generations later, ‘Handsome Dan’ is still donning Yale’s colors. Since then, thousands of high schools, colleges, companies, and organizations have agreed that the bulldog best represents their core values, too. But what core values do these hearty canines represent?
Yale's first Bulldog mascot, Handsome Dan - 1889Although the word bulldog is enough to strike fear into the opposing team, don’t let it fool you. These rugged pups are the second most popular breed for a reason, and it isn’t because they are scary. They’re known for being loyal, calm, friendly, and great with kids. So how does this translate to a mascot costume? Well, our sturdy friends have all the makings to be a trustful and loyal companion, especially when defending their own. They are welcoming and friendly when meeting new people. They are stoic, remaining calm in almost any situation. On top of all that, they are one cute dog.
With all that going for them, it’s no wonder 43 universities have a bulldog mascot, 15 of which are NCAA Division 1 Schools. Mascot costumes are incredibly important to the college experience. It’s a great way to build recognition and sociability, which is why a bulldog is a great ambassador for a college or university.
Here, at Olympus, we have a lot of experience with our friend the bulldog. For over 50 years, we’ve made several bulldog mascots for high schools, colleges, and more, some of which you may recognize when watching College Game Day. We know there are tons of directions you can go with your bulldog mascot, so if you are looking to get a brand-new mascot costume, or looking to upgrade your existing one, here are some ideas to get you on the right track:
- Bulldogs are fierce but also friendly. You can make your mascot feared on the field, or it can be a kid’s best friend. Keep in mind your mascots intended uses and design you mascots personality accordingly. This will also influence how your mascot performer behaves and engages with the audience.
- Bulldogs are couch potatoes but can also run up to 15 mph! So, keep in mind how active your mascot performer will be. Will they be running on the field, or cheering from the sidelines? Balancing your mascots functionality is very important. Read more here.
- Bulldogs are no stranger to outfits and accessories. Your mascot can wear anything from your team jersey to a spiked collar, so make sure to factor in accessories. Read more on whether accessories are right for you.
- Luckily, bulldog breeds come in all sorts of colors and sizes, so you can easily make your bulldog mascot match perfectly to your school colors.
It’s no surprise that so many choose the bulldog mascot to represent their organization or school. For more mascot ideas, pay a visit to our gallery where we have catalogued hundreds of past projects. You may even recognize a few! If you feel like the bulldog is right for you, Olympus Mascots can make your ideas come to life.
How Yale got the nickname 'Bulldogs': The true story
While the nickname "Bulldogs" is far from a unique mascot in college athletics, the specific nickname of Yale's bulldog is one-of-a-kind: Handsome Dan. Yale is represented by a live bulldog mascot, the lineage of which includes nearly 20 living, breathing bulldogs.
Here's what we know about the origin and history of the Yale Bulldogs.
What was Yale called before the 'Bulldogs'?
Yale students have also been called "Elis" after Elihu Yale, who was the namesake for Yale in the early 1700s.
Do any other schools have the nickname 'Bulldogs'?
Yale is one of 17 current or former NCAA Division I schools to have the nickname "Bulldogs," along with schools like Alabama A&M, Bryant, Butler, The Citadel, Drake, Fresno State, Gardner-Webb, Georgia, Gonzaga, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State, UNC Asheville, Samford and South Carolina State.
What makes the Yale Bulldogs — specifically the living, breathing Handsome Dan bulldog — different?
"Well, of course, he was the first," said Judy Schiff, the Chief Research Archivist at the Yale University Library, "and he was a real one."
When did Yale get the nickname 'Bulldogs'?
Yale alum and former football and crew athlete Andrew Graves, a member of the class of 1892, bought a dog from a blacksmith for $5 and it was named "Handsome Dan," becoming Yale's first bulldog mascot in 1889, according to the school's website. The school was reportedly the first university in the U.S. to have a mascot.
A story published in the Hartford Courant in 1894, headlined "Yale Oarsman Married," reported "Mr. Graves was a very popular man in college and rowed in the victorious '91 and '92 Yale crews. He had inherited a large fortune from his father."
However, this story isn't totally true.
"I'm glad you called me, actually, because I went back to check the Yale website, the athletics department, and I don't know what it is but every time I try to point out the error of their ways, they seem to put up a website that has even more errors about Handsome Dan," said Schiff, the Chief Research Archivist at the Yale University Library. "I don't know whether it's deliberate or someone is joking around or what it is. You know, legends get to be true after a while. It's OK."
"There was another bulldog before Handsome Dan," Schiff said, "but Handsome Dan is the one who was revered as the first one."
The original Yale bulldog, according to Schiff, was named Harper.
"In 2014, it was Handsome Dan's 125th birthday and I felt we should celebrate it and by that time, they had just, or not too long before, I guess, completed digitization of all of the old issues of the Yale Daily News," Schiff said. "So when I looked up Handsome Dan, and of course Yale being the oldest, claiming to be the oldest college paper that goes back to 1878, here was this story about the other bulldog. I really researched it very carefully."
In a column titled, "A tale of two bulldogs," that Schiff wrote for the Nov./Dec. 2014 issue of the Yale alumni magazine, "Old Yale," Schiff wrote, "The issue of November 22, 1890, announced: 'Harper the Champion English bulldog will be taken to Springfield today as a mascot to the Yale team.' It was not until 1892 that there is any record of Dan as mascot. The June 23, 1892, issue of Forest and Stream noted that Dan would be 'the Yale mascot this year in the place of the champion Harper.'"
After Harper came Handsome Dan, and Handsome Dan's accepted origin story isn't totally accurate, either. Schiff said he was a show dog — "none of them would've been foundling dogs that came from any blacksmith's shop," she said.
"As far as Handsome Dan, he had a pedigree and he was shown in dog shows, too," Schiff said. "I don't know if it's still displayed the same way, I haven't been to the bar at the Yale Club in a while but they always had a sort of framed display of the dog show medals that Handsome Dan had won back in the 1890s."
When commanded to "speak to Harvard," Handsome Dan was trained to "bark ferociously and work himself into physical contortions of rage never before dreamed of by a dog," reported The Philadelphia Press. After Yale beat Harvard in 1893, "some Harvard humorist got a big dog of red cloth, stuffed wit rags," according to The Morning Journal-Courier. "He was displayed with this placard: 'Where's Dan?' After the game the Yale dog tore the dummy to pieces, and evidently relished the job."
A 1893 story published in The Morning Journal-Courier noted how the captain of Yale's baseball team grabbed Handsome Dan from the team's bench and ran around home plate in an effort to bring good luck to the team before it was Yale's turn to bat in the seventh inning amid a scoreless tie.
"In personal appearance, he seemed like a cross between an alligator and a horned frog, and he was called handsome by the metaphysicians under the law of compensation," wrote the Hartford Courant in the dog's eulogy in 1898 after Graves and Handsome Dan went to England. "The title came to him, he never sought it. He was always taken to games on a leash, and the Harvard football team for years owed its continued existence to the fact that the rope held."
The original Handsome Dan's taxidermied body used to be in Yale's old gymnasium and it's enclosed inside Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
It was quite some time until Handsome Dan II came around after his predecessor's death. "Handsome Dan II did not come into creation until 1933 because they had no concept you could have more than one," Schiff said.
The "Handsome Dan" mascot also inspired the naming of guns that were aboard a naval cruiser ship called the "Yale," whose other gun was named "Eli." According to a 1898 story published in the Hartford Courant, the two guns were sent to Yale's campus, where they were to be placed in the school's gym and potentially be used for effect during home football games.
Today, Yale is represented by Handsome Dan XVIII, who took over as the school's mascot in Nov. 2016.
When was 'Bulldogs' first officially used in publications?
The first reference of "Yale bulldog" that NCAA.com could find on the newspapers.com database was on May 31, 1891 in the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Daily Times in a story about four women living together in an apartment, where one woman painted a pastel portrait of the school's mascot.
The oldest reference we could find to "Handsome Dan" — the mascot and not a person, because it was a fairly common nickname back then — was in the Oct. 5, 1891 edition of The Morning Journal-Courier in New Haven, Connecticut, where Yale is located.
"LOST," read the headline of an ad in the newspaper. "A white and brindle bulldog; name, 'Handsome Dan,' on collard; a suitable reward will be given if returned to 43 College Street."
Either the first Handsome Dan mascot was missing for several months or he had a habit of running off. In the Dec. 11, 1891 edition of The Morning Journal-Courier, the paper reported "Officer George Hyde found the celebrated Yale dog, 'Handsome Dan,' wandering around Orange Street and restored him to A.B. Graves of 43 College street, a student in the scientific school."
However, Yale's athletic teams weren't universally called the "Bulldogs" until several years after Handsome Dan's death.
Schiff said, "It wasn't until something like 1906, I really traced this, that I finally found someone in writing about the Yale team called them the Yale Bulldogs and you began to sort of see this creep in as more reporters creating it, until about 1912."
"In 1906, a Yale team was finally called “the bulldogs” in print: a New York Tribune report on the Princeton football game declared, 'The Yale bulldogs came on the field with a defiant growl,'" wrote Schiff in her 2014 "Old Yale" magazine column "A tale of two bulldogs." "The Yale Daily News first used “the bulldogs” in 1909, in an article about the freshman basketball team. It was also in 1909 or 1910 that Cole Porter wrote the iconic fight song: “Bull-dog! Bull-dog! Bow, wow, wow.”
Andy Wittry has written for Stadium, SI.com, Sporting News, the Indianapolis Star, Louisville Courier-Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is a graduate of Indiana University.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.
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Bulldog mascot schools
We may take our studies seriously here at Truman, but we also know how to have fun and celebrate special ocassions. Over the years, Truman has accumulated a number of traditions.
Bulldog Mascot
Back in 1915, the student body was discouraged after the football team experienced a losing streak that lasted several seasons. To revive school spirit, a committee suggested adopting the bulldog as a team mascot because of its tenacity and ability to hold on and fight until the end. The baseball team played under the Bulldog name for the first time in the 1915 season, and the football team began using it a year later.
School Colors
Purple and white—the school colors that unite Truman students, alumni and fans—date back to 1902 when Basil Brewer wrote the University's first school song which he named "The Purple and the White." The colors were adopted as the school colors and have become a firmly established tradition.
Purple Friday
Every Friday is Purple Friday at Truman! Students, faculty, and staff demonstrate their Bulldog spirit by wearing purple on campus each Friday. Purple Friday activities include student gatherings in the Student Union Building and music on the Mall.
Homecoming
This fun week-long celebration, which occurs annually in October, has taken place on campus since 1939. Homecoming still features a pep rally, parade, and team competitions to encourage school pride and spirit. More recently, activities such as the lip sync competition, tailgate, and a 5K run/walk have become part of the festivities. Many alumni return to campus to help celebrate Homecoming, one of the University's most cherished traditions.
National Spirit Day
On the first Friday in October, everyone is invited to show their Truman pride by wearing Bulldog purple or Truman apparel and by decorating their homes, offices, and vehicles with Truman gear.
The Big Event
The Big Event has become one of the largest one-day, student-run service projects hosted nationwide.It allows students to show their appreciation to the surrounding community for their continued support. Through the help of the SERVE Center, Truman students are matched with job sites around town. The job sites included simple service acts such as trimming bushes, raking leaves and washing windows for residents of the community
Weathervane on Kirk Memorial
It’s no accident or malfunction that the weathervane atop Kirk Memorial hasn’t changed directions since July 1, 1996. When the University's name was changed from Northeast Missouri State University to Truman State University, the weathervane was welded in place to permanently point northeast in honor of the school’s history. When a new cupola was installed in 2013, its weathervane was also welded in place to continue the tradition. You can now find the original cupola near the entrance to the Ruth Town Museum and Visitors Center.
Sunken Garden Lore
The Sunken Garden—an area that marks the former location of the very first Baldwin Hall which was destroyed by a fire in 1924—is the site of many weddings. Perhaps this is because a campus myth says that if a couple first kisses at midnight on one of the benches in the garden, they will eventually marry.
Most popular college dog mascots
No doubt about it, Americans love their collegiate sports teams — and behind each loyally-followed club is a beloved mascot. In most cases, this is really just a dangerously caffeinated yell leader dressed in costume. But some, like the University of Georgia, use a real live animal (in their case, Uga) who’s there on the sidelines along with the players and coach. So how many college dog mascots are there in Division 1 athletics? The Bulldog is far and away the most popular, but we found a few surprises in the mix. No sign of any professional sports teams with dogs as their mascots…yet.
Boston University Terriers: Boston University is located in Boston, Massachusetts; the official mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier, named after Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind; the school colors are scarlet and white.
Butler Bulldogs: Butler University is located in Indianapolis, Indiana; live mascot is named Butler Blue II; the school colors are blue and white.
Drake Bulldogs: Drake University is located in Des Moines, Iowa; mascot’s name is Spike; the school colors are blue and white.
Fresno State Bulldogs: California State University, Fresno is located in Fresno, California; the mascot’s names are Time Out and Victor E.; the school colors are cardinal and blue.
Georgetown University Hoyas: Georgetown University is located in Washington, D.C.; mascot’s name is Jack the Bulldog; the school colors are blue and gray.
Gonzaga Bulldogs: Gonzaga University is located in Spokane, Washington; mascot’s name is Spike the Bulldog; the school colors are white and blue.
Mississippi State Bulldogs: Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science (Mississippi State University) is located in Starkville, Mississippi; mascot’s name is Bully; the school colors are maroon and white.
Southern Illinois Salukis: Southern Illinois University Carbondale is located in Carbondale, Illinois; the school colors are maroon and white.
University of Georgia Bulldogs: College is located in Athens, Georgia; mascots are named Uga and Hairy Dawg; the school colors are red and black.
Yale Bulldogs: Yale University is located in New Haven, Connecticut; mascot is named Handsome Dan; the school colors are Yale Blue and white.
The choice of a bulldog as a school mascot can be attributed to several factors. For starters, the breed's physical attributes align with qualities often associated with sports teams – attributes like strength, resilience, and a competitive spirit. Additionally, the bulldog's determined expression serves as a reflection of a school's commitment to excellence and its drive to overcome challenges.
Honorable Mention (but not Division 1)
John Jay College Bloodhounds: John Jay College of Criminal Justice is located in New York City, New York; the school colors are blue and gold.
University at Albany Great Danes: State University of New York at Albany is located in Albany, East Greenbush, and Guilderland, New York; mascots are named Damien and Lil’ D; the school colors are purple and gold.
University of Indianapolis Greyhounds: College is located in Indianapolis, Indiana; the school colors are crimson and grey.
Did we miss any? Post a comment and add to our list. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check out our list of great sporty dog names.
The team at Dogtime has been keeping tails wagging since 2008. Dogtime’s mission is to keep pets out of shelters and get them adopted to good homes by providing novice and experienced owners alike with the important information needed to make them, and their pets, very happy and healthy.
Moreover, the bulldog's historical associations can also contribute to its popularity as a school mascot. Bulldogs have long been associated with qualities like loyalty, protectiveness, and courage, which are desired traits within the context of school spirit and pride. Bulldog mascot schools often incorporate the image of the bulldog into various aspects of school life. This can include merchandise like clothing, accessories, and memorabilia, featuring the bulldog logo and related artwork. Additionally, schools may have costumed mascots dressed in bulldog attire who attend sporting events, rallies, and other school-related activities to boost morale and foster a sense of camaraderie. Overall, bulldog mascot schools use the image of the bulldog to convey a sense of strength, determination, and loyalty. They instill these values within their students, athletes, and community, creating a supportive and spirited environment. The bulldog mascot serves as a symbol of identity and pride, fostering a sense of belonging and unity among students and alumni..
Reviews for "The Psychological Effects of Bulldog Mascots on Fans"
1. Emily - 1 star
I absolutely hated my experience at a Bulldog mascot school. The constant barking, growling, and exaggerated enthusiasm during games and events was incredibly annoying and distracting. It felt like the school was trying too hard to embody this aggressive and overly masculine image, without considering the impact it had on students and the overall school environment. The bulldog mascot became the central focus, overshadowing the actual educational experience. I would not recommend attending a Bulldog mascot school if you're looking for a balanced and serious academic environment.
2. Michael - 2 stars
Attending a Bulldog mascot school was a disappointment for me. While the school pride and spirit were admirable, it often felt forced and even cultish at times. Everything revolved around the bulldog mascot, from the merchandising to the school activities. It felt like being a part of a novelty act rather than a serious educational institution. Additionally, the constant representation of aggression and dominance associated with bulldogs did not promote a positive and inclusive school culture. I would have preferred a school with a more diverse and creative mascot representation.
3. Sarah - 1 star
The Bulldog mascot school I attended had a toxic and hyper-masculine culture that was pervasive throughout the campus. The emphasis on aggression and physical dominance was engrained in the school's sports programs and overall identity. This created an environment where students often lacked empathy and compassion towards each other, instead focusing on the competitive nature associated with the bulldog mascot. It was discouraging to see the lack of diversity and inclusivity within the school community. I would not recommend a Bulldog mascot school for individuals seeking a welcoming and nurturing educational experience.