One of the most recognizable mascots in college football spends his Saturday afternoons between the hedges.
In 1956, the first UGA started prowling the sidelines for the University of Georgia.
A second installment of the book "Damn Good Dawgs" just hit the shelves. Sonny Seiler made a stop in town and chatted with us about UGA IX, Russ's tenure at Sanford Stadium and what it takes to wear the collar.
The UGA nation has a new book to wag their tails over.
"This book starts with UGA VI and takes you through the life of VI, VII, VIII and Russ," Seiler said.
Russ is the brown-spotted sub that's taking up residence in the dog house these days.
"Russ is UGA VII's brother," Seiler said. "He's filled in to the point where he now has his own fan base. He's a big dog over 65 pounds. He's not a solid white male but there's no criteria that says that has to be and he's doing a great job."
When the excitement heats up on the field, well Russ is somewhat laid back about the whole thing. Seiler says the Bulldog nation will have to rely on that quiet confidence for the season. "We will probably continue to use him through the year because if we selected UGA IX right now as a puppy, he would be too small to fulfill the kind of role that he needs to be able to be a mascot, but we hope to have one selected during the season," Seiler said.
The UGA line has had a rough couple of years: UGA VII died because of a heart valve problem, and UGA VIII developed cancer. Seiler says both deaths tore him up, but you can tell criticism of the selection process also affected him.
"We have never inbred. We always use a female dog completely removed from the UGA line and we just hit it bad with the last two," Seiler said.
The next bulldog bound for Athens will spend a week at the University of Georgia vet school. Seiler says it's a standard drill.
"We leave him there for a week," Seiler said. They do all the tests. I don't know what else we could do to ensure ourselves or the Georgia nation that we have the right dog."
That right dog will one day probably get his own pages in the "Damn Good Dawg" book series.
You can get the second edition by stopping by the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.