Path: Traditions / Jack the Bulldog /
About Bulldogs
Though they are popular as mascots, English bulldogs are not particularly athletic. In fact, they are the couch potatoes of the canine world, well suited to apartment living. Their past, however, was not so tranquil. As their name suggests, bulldogs were bred to fight bulls ("baiting" bulls by holding on to their noses). Bulldogs were prized for their tenacity: they used their powerful jaws to maintain a hold on the bull even as they were being tossed around by the bull.
Jack's bull-baiting heritage can be seen in the way he likes to have fun. As students in New South can testify, Jack loves grabbing on to toys and being tossed around by people trying to get the toy out of his mouth. And, as fans of the Hoya basketball team know, Jack loves tearing apart boxes.
Because of their extended jaw, with their lower canine teeth frequently exposed, bulldogs look threatening and aggressive. However, the present day bulldog breed has none of its former viciousness. Indeed, bulldogs are one of the most docile and gentle of breeds, making them ideally suited for the mascot's role of campus schmoozer.
Some of their distinctive physical characteristics are not without problems. The signature large head of a bulldog has made it necessary for bulldog pups to be delivered caesarian. By breeding them for tenacity, bulldog owners have over time caused bulldogs to lose some of the sensitivity in their skin (because doing so gave them a higher pain threshold). However, this has led to assorted skin problems, so like other bulldogs, Jack occasionally suffers from allergies and skin infections.
But overall, the characteristic bulldog qualities have served to make them cherished as a breed. It is hard not to be charmed by the "waddle" in the way they walk (due in part to the shortness of their front legs) and the sour-mug, expressive face which their extra skin-folds and wrinkles give them. Even their tenacity -- perhaps the only temperamental quality remaining from their bull-baiting past -- gives them a stubborn goofiness which makes bulldogs so enormously entertaining.
