Pride for Uga? That’s Not All These Dogs Represent
Athens, Georgia. Yes, it’s home to UGA, but it’s also home to the most fiercely loyal Georgia Bulldog fans in the nation.
We’re not just talking about UGA students and grads — we’re talking about the entire town. And it’s not just flags, signs, shirts, and knickknacks. It’s Dawgs. Everywhere. Four-foot-tall fiberglass Dawg statues.
Who’s responsible for these canine creations? A volunteer service organization called the Athens-Oconee Junior Women’s Club “let the Dawgs out,” so to speak. In 2002, the club devised a plan, commissioning artists to paint three dozen custom bulldog statues in an effort to promote the arts and raise money for AIDS Athens, an organization looking to improve the quality of life for those living with HIV and AIDS.
Bulldog Nation opened their hearts to the statues and their wallets to those in need. Their spirit, combined with the work put in by the Women’s Club during the years of the “We Let the Dawgs Out” project, resulted in a $25,000 donation to AIDS Athens. That total includes the amount raised when the Women’s Club auctioned the statues off in 2010. You’d think that once the statues were auctioned off, they’d start disappearing, but only some have found their way into people’s private collections. Many of them were purchased by individuals and local businesses, who moved them out of downtown Athens to repaint them and install them elsewhere. Today, you’ll still see some of the originals, but many others have been added to the collection. They can be found in front of local businesses and even standing guard at the police and fire stations. People are still encouraged to reach out if they’d like to add their own custom Dawg in front of their businesses.
Believe it or not, there’s a Georgia Bulldog statue map on Google — it lists the artist’s name, the name of the Dawg (each one is unique), its location, and even a description of its paint scheme. Take Dog Walker, for example: “A tribute to Herschel Walker, Dog Walker has a list of Walker’s football accomplishments, his number, and the UGA colors covering his body. This Dawg is located at the Wray Nicholson House on Hull Street. Artist: Chris Wyrick.”
These Dawgs may have started as an art project for charity, but Bulldog loyalty has turned them into fixtures you can find on every student’s bucket list — and everywhere you turn.
In the SEC, It Just Means More.
To UGA’s Hometown, It Just Means More School Spirit to Lift the Spirits of Others.
