The Hand that Holds the Leash

She's got the stubbiest legs you've ever seen. Her face is a maze of folds and wrinkles. And her smile is, well . . . charmingly toothy. Of course we're talking about our own Talulah Mae, TLU's acting unofficial mascot.

The presence of the bulldog as the symbol of TLU goes far back into our history-long before the then "Lutheran College of Seguin, Texas" had any definite mascot at all. It was in 1926 that Coach Jack Doerfler looked to the bulldog as an example of strength and tenacity and called upon his athletes to embody those traits-aptly naming them the Bulldogs. At the time, the female athletes on campus were known as the Amazons or the Bullets, but they, too, soon settled in as Bulldogs. As for the official mascot-well, that would be Lucky the Bulldog, and you can find Lucky all over campus, on t-shirts, logos, and décor.

It wasn't until 2009 that Valerie Laubach, watching her son play football for TLU, decided that it was high time that the university had a real bulldog to call its own. "I was going to the football games and there were no live mascots," she says. She spoke to Stephen Anderson, who, at the time, was Vice President for University Relations, and asked about getting a bulldog to act as an "unofficial" mascot.

Anderson agreed. "So I started looking for a mascot," says Laubach. She visited an English Bulldog breeder and found the perfect pup. It didn't click until she brought the little guy home that the breeder's first name was none other than Lucky. Laubach figured it was a good sign, and started training her new charge. "He was a beautiful brindle," she says, recalling the dog's distinctive streaked coat. "That was Louie."

When Louie first came onto the scene, Bulldog Stadium didn't exist, so the football team played at the local high school. "They didn't allow dogs," says Laubach. "So Louis could never go to a real football game because it was on high school property. But when they built the stadium here, he was out there."

Louie was out there indeed, lending his own kind of support and bringing smiles to the students. "You know, when I had Louie, and he was at his first commencement, I heard some female students say, oh my god, they got us a bulldog. And that was it. I knew it was right." And even though Laubach works a full-time job, she takes time off whenever needed at TLU. "This comes first," she says with absolute conviction.

In 2019, Louie was ailing and needed to retire. And that was when Laubach made a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas-to a Bulldog Show-where she found another little bundle of joy: a fawn-and-white-colored baby she named Talulah. Talulah began her campus visits as a puppy, because Laubach wanted her to be comfortable around people. She's been soaking up the love and adoration of students, faculty, and staff ever since. "She'll be five on her birthday," says Laubach, a twinkle of pride in her eyes as she talks about Talulah. "She's done scent training, she's earned her Trick Dog title, and she also got her Canine Good Citizen." To all of this, Talulah can add her training in an event called "Fast CAT,"-CAT stands for Coursing Ability Test-where she runs 100 yards at top speed, chasing after a lure. English Bulldogs, Laubach explains, are faster and more agile than most people realize, not to mention very intelligent.

Back home, Talulah isn't always the center of attention. Laubach's family has other dogs as well-"two Brittanys, and a Ron." Ron is a mixed breed. "He makes a great fourth wheel,"

Laubach says with a laugh. Ron also acts as a reliable company-keeper, because if Laubach takes two dogs out of the house, there are always still two at home together. How do the four furry friends get along, you may wonder? "They push each other's buttons, but we've had no major fights. We've had some tussles."

But this story is about more than our beloved bulldogs, of course. It's about the woman shying away from the camera-Laubach-who would rather keep the spotlight on the dogs, who would set everything else aside to support Texas Lutheran University in her own unique way. She's even created a calendar featuring Talulah, which, while not an official TLU fundraiser, is dedicated to raising money for the future Verne Lundquist Student Athletic Center. Laubach is not paid to be the handler of our official-unofficial mascot, but to her, seeing the students light up at the sight of Talulah is reward enough. "Watching from students' perspectives, having a live mascot . . ." She grins. "It makes all the difference."