Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the July issue of Tifton Scene magazine. Click here to read the complete issue.

TIFTON — Take a drive around Tifton and you’re bound to see a familiar bulldog standing guard in several spots around the city — although he might not always be wearing the iconic red and black.

Statues of the University of Georgia’s canine mascot Uga have become common sights throughout the Friendly City, taking up spots in front of several prominent businesses, organizations, and spaces on both the university’s Tifton Campus and the greater community.

Currently numbering in the twenties and steadily counting, the pack of Dawgs began as the “Call the Dawgs to Tifton” initiative, meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the university’s local campus in 2018 and taking inspiration from the similar statues that decorate UGA’s main campus in Athens.

Local artist Jill Whitley, the artist responsible for painting the bulldogs, reports that the university reached out to her to paint the original two statues, which would be stationed on the Tifton Campus, but she has remained involved with the project since then.

A muralist by trade, Whitley was responsible for the mural depicting UGA’s Athens and Tifton campuses in the NESPAL building lobby on the UGA Tifton Campus, as well as a mural for Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Agricultural Sciences Building. She was working on a mural for the Georgia Peanut Commission when UGA approached her regarding the statue program.

“I thought that’s all there was to it,” Whitley said. “And now, twenty or twenty-two Dawgs later, it’s still going!”

Indeed, after the first pair, UGA opened the initiative up to the Tiftarea community, inviting local businesses and organizations to purchase and personalize the statues to decorate their establishments and join the university’s celebration.

After a statue is purchased, Whitley meets with the new owner to discuss what design they’d like for the Dawg, from the colors of the fur and the style of clothes to special accessories like glasses, medals, and hats.

She makes sure to take every detail into consideration, especially if the client is basing the statue on a personal pet, striving to present the final product as accurately to their vision as possible.

“The most personal ones are more challenging to me,” Whitley said. “Because you’ve got to get them just right.”

However, this diverse, creative input on behalf of the clientele has led to a wide and colorful spectrum of bulldogs dotting the map around Tifton, with no two being exactly alike.

Each Dawg sports its own name, usually referencing the place they’ve been set up or the sponsor that brought them to Tifton.

Some still wear the red and black, but bear their own personal touches, like Downtown Tifton’s Farm Dawg wearing overalls over his jersey or the Henry Tift Myers Airport’s Pete donning a pair of pilot goggles.
Others go in an entirely new direction, with their colors, clothing, and accessories more closely representing their owners and sponsors — the King Firm’s Justice wears a striped suit, Gear trades the red and black for purple and gold to match the colors of Planet Fitness, and Boo Boo of Tiftarea Pediatrics sports scrubs, a stethoscope, and the handprints of the owner’s children.

Whitely’s creative process doesn’t often get so hands-on as it did with Boo Boo, but it’s certainly in-depth. 

Once she receives the statues, which begin as pure white fiberglass, she undertakes a process of “groundwork,” as she calls it, which involves painting skin and spots on the statues like a bulldog would normally have. It might not be the prettiest sight, but she asserts it’s a vital step to ensuring the Dawgs look more realistic.

After the feet, face, and neck are given this dash of realism — the main body is usually skipped over as it’ll be covered by the bulldog’s clothes — other details like the colors, clothing and accessories are added in, eventually resulting in the statues commonly seen around Tifton today.

At seven years in, both Whitley and UGA have asserted that the “Call the Dawgs to Tifton” initiative will be continuing for the foreseeable future, with Whitley reporting that at least two more bulldog statues are in progress.

The artist has asserted that she plans to stay on the project as well for as long as she can. Murals might be her main practice, but as long as Tifton wants them, she’s happy to keep bringing Dawgs to the Friendly City.