Butkus’ Tragic Story: Sylvester Stallone, the Dog Sylvester was Forced to Sell before ‘Rocky

Rocky was one of the few films that changed Hollywood’s sports drama landscape. Fans still have vivid memories of the movie. But there was also a star four-legged in Rocky. No one can forget his role. We are referring to Butkus (Sylvester Stallone’s dog). American investor Joe Pompalino shared an image of the dog with Rocky Balboa via a series tweets. This post was a simple representation of the relationship between Sylvester Stallone, Butkus Stallone. Few people are aware of the terrible things that the dog went through before becoming an integral part Rocky 1 and Rocky 2!

Butkus: Who were you and how did you become a part of Rocky?

Butkus Stallone was Sylvester Stallone’s bull mastiff. He was better known as the mononym “Butkus”. The mastiff was six weeks old when he received the puppy in 1969. Butkus became an integral part of the Stallone clan.

Rocky Balboa, who was the main character in Rocky 1, needed a pet when filming began. The budget for the film was extremely tight and a pet would have required a huge expense. Stallone was asked by the producer if his dog could be brought to set. The Butkus was then introduced to the story. The rest is history.

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Sylvester Stallone was forced to sell Butkus prior to ‘Rocky.

Stallone was surrounded by love and affection but had to make the most difficult decision of his life. To help his poor situation, he sold his dog friend, the pawed pet, in return for $25. It is not clear how much money Stallone got from selling his dog. We all know that Stallone lived in one the smallest apartments of New York City once and that he was having the most difficult time in his life. He only had $106 to his name.

He was fortunate and Rocky 1 became the most successful movie of all time. This gave him enough cash to buy his friend back. He got $25000 to write Rocky and $15000 from that money to purchase Butkus.

Joe Pompalino stated, Sylvester Stallone was confident in his acting abilities and accepted $25,000 instead of $360,000 for the script on the presumption that he would keep the lead role. He added: “Stallone spent $15,000 to purchase his dog back.”

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The story tells the tale of how two best friends, a dog and a human, came together. Although it was difficult for Butkus to end his life, in the end everything turned out well. Butkus was killed in 1981 from a heart attack. Stallone wrote an emotional letter to his friend. Do you agree with their bonds? Comment below.