A School Is Training Its New Team Mascot. It’s a Puppy.

And so someone carried Butler’s next ambassador inside for his lessons under the bright lights of the Bark Tutor School for Dogs. It takes practice to perfect sitting and staying. There are many displays of such skills to come for Blue IV, the English bulldog primed to spend much of this decade as the plodding, slobbering symbol of Butler University after a winter in school himself, learning the basics of puppyhood so he can meet the rigors of mascot life. He will take over in May after a process — of planning for his predecessor’s retirement, of evaluating, of selecting, of training — that will have lasted more than a year.