Casting Bulldogs: Starkville company finds demand among MSU fans for concrete statues

When Chris Pollan started Mississippi Decorative Concrete in 2014 to complement his promotional company, Pollan Promos, he wasn’t sure which concrete statue would sell the most.

But he quickly discovered that out of every item on his shelves, the ones resembling the Mississippi State University mascot, Bully the Bulldog, became the most popular.

“We used to have bird baths and planters and all types of different variations of decorative concrete,” Pollan said. “Eventually, we got to the point that a lot of it wasn’t selling, and we noticed the Bulldogs were the number one seller.”

Pollan said since he started the business, he and his team have easily sold thousands of bulldog statues, ranging from paw prints and 10-pound dog statues to 1,000-pound and even 5,000-pound bulldogs.

“We’d like to say that we can meet everybody’s budget, but the prices really range from $10 for the small dogs and up to $6,000 for the 5,000-pound dog,” Pollan said.

When the company started, Pollan said he used third-party concrete casters to make the dogs, ship them to his office at 506 Academy Road, and sell them there. In 2018, though, he decided to begin casting them himself.

The latex molds for the concrete are purchased from other vendors. Pollan turns the molds upside down and pours the concrete before placing the molds into a cast to settle. After 30 days of curing, the mold is peeled off the concrete, and – after a soak in a tub of water to help harden – the statue is ready to sell.

Pollan said most of his customers have been MSU fans and alumni looking to have their own bulldog at their homes and businesses. The statues can be seen all over Starkville, including Brewskis, Rosey Baby and Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux.

But Pollan’s statues have made it much farther than Starkville city limits, and customers have come from several other states, such as Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. Though Pollan does not ship the statues, he does allow out-of-state customers to order and pick them up at an agreed date.

“I mean, literally, we’ve had people from all around the world stop here,” he said.

Over the years, Pollan said there have also been several interesting customers coming through the door. One MSU alumni bought several bulldogs for friends who let him stay at their house as he and his family traveled throughout the Southeast.

“As they were visiting with their classmates and friends and family, a lot of them wanted them to spend the night at their houses rather than being in a hotel,” he said. “When they left, they wrote a card and put a ribbon on the Bulldogs and left them with each person’s house that they stayed at.”

Pollan said there have also been several customers who have brought their pet’s ashes to be encased into a mold of the famous bulldog.

“We call those the memorial dogs,” he said. “Every bulldog owner that I’ve talked to over the years that saw that mold of the dog laying on the floor said their bulldog layed exactly like that. So some of the die-hard Bulldog owners, as the dogs have passed away over the years, they brought the ashes to us. We’ve probably placed the ashes and maybe about six or eight dogs now.”

STORY BY GRANT MCLAUGHLIN

PHOTOS BY RORY DOYLE