More famous than that stupid Taco Bell Dog

Family Guy canine Brian Griffin may have dated Lauren Conrad from The Hills, but as far as the American Kennel Club is concerned, he’s still not as famous as Jack the Bulldog.

Beating out Griffin and the song “Who Let the Dogs Out,” Georgetown University’s mascot ranked eighth overall on the AKC’s list of the most iconic dogs in pop culture.

The AKC’s list ranks the 125 top dogs from every aspect of American culture, from television to literature, from sports to art. Jack the Bulldog also beat out Yale’s Handsome Dan and University of Georgia’s UGA, ranking only behind Texas A&M’s Reveille for second place among collegiate mascots.

While beloved dogs like Snoopy and Scooby Doo claimed high spots on the list, some of the rankings (the full list as a PDF can be found here) were more surprising. Long-time favorites Benji (no. 27), Rin Tin Tin (no. 46) and Toto from the Wizard of Oz (no. 24) were beat out by Eddie from Frasier (no. 4) and Griffin from Family Guy (no. 10) for the top spots in the Film and Entertainment categories.

President Obama’s dog, Bo Obama (no. 42) claimed the top spot among political dogs, ranking just above Bill Clinton’s Buddy (no. 44) and Richard Nixon’s Checkers (no. 65).

The rankings were created in honor of AKC’s 125th anniversary and announced “during a press conference in front of a special Snoopy exhibit at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.”

Via Georgetown’s Twitter Feed

Photo from Georgetown University

Dog-centric website Paw Nation is going all out for the American Kennel Club’s 125th anniversary, hosting a series of contests about the top 125 dogs in pop culture.

The current contest involves the top five college canine mascots, and our own Jack the Bulldog is one of the contestants! The competition is pretty Bulldog heavy, with the University of Georgia’s UGA and Yale’s Handsome Dan are also in the running. The other contestants are Texas A&M’s Reveille, a Collie, and Boston University’s Rhett, a Boston Terrier.

Unfortunately Jack hasn’t been faring too well—he’s currently in third place out of five contestants, with only seven percent of the vote.  Clearly the voters haven’t witnessed his significant box-battling skills…

Photo from the Georgetown University Traditions website.

Last week, the Athletic Department held tryouts for potential Jack the Bulldog mascots.  Three hopefuls—all freshmen—showed up to audition for two open spots (since there are so many obligations, three students share mascot duties).

What does it take to make a good mascot?  Dance skills; the ability to successfully execute high fives, low fives and fist bumps with limited visibility; and a high tolerance for hot, smelly costumes (one potential Jack almost threw in the towel before his audition started due to the stench).

Because the mascot’s identity is a highly-guarded secret, Vox wasn’t allowed to interview the candidates, but we are able to show you footage from their try-out routines.  Enjoy!

Videography and editing by Joe Mancino.

The Department of Public Safety published the annual Crime Awareness Report (PDF) Tuesday, but all the good stuff turned out to be clerical errors. All the good stuff, that is, except for this front page picture of Jeff Van Slyke, Director of Public Safety, and Jack the Bulldog.

There’s a reason why Jeff and Jack are getting acquainted. Yesterday, Van Slyke told me that Jack is getting deputized into DPS–seriously. He said there’s going to be a photo-op with DPS officers in the Adopt-a-Cop program, and Jack is going to come along to be sworn into the canine unit. He speculated about the possibility of using fishing line to raise Jack’s right paw for a swearing-in.

It’s weird, but it’s not student informants weird, and that’s something to be grateful for.

Is anyone else weirded out by the way Jack looks in this picture, from the 2008 Homecoming promotional materials? The drawing’s sexualized enough, what with the high school graduation attire on the girl in the picture. Why did Jack have to be looking up her skirt too?

Also, if you’re going to do a house-of-mirrors thing and have the picture inside the picture, as in the girl holding the picture of her and Jack, you have to go big. No third-picture-is-brown foolishness.