Canines back at White House: Joe Biden to bring 2 dogs, including rescue pup
President-elect Joe Biden is poised to restore a time-honored tradition back to the White House this January: first pups.
President Donald Trump didn’t have a pet during his four years in office. But Champ and Major Biden, both German shepherds, will join the elite ranks of Socks Clinton, Barney Bush, Macaroni Kennedy and Rebecca Raccoon Coolidge, among others, this January when they move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Champ joined the Biden family during the presidential transition in December 2008, weeks after Biden became vice president-elect.
“With Barack inquiring about would I be willing to get vetted, Jill said, ‘I’ll make you a deal: if you get the vice presidency and get elected, you can get a dog,'” Biden told campaign reporters aboard his plane on Election Day 2008.
Major joined the Biden clan almost eight years later. The Bidens fostered Major from the Delaware Humane Association and made his adoption official in November 2018.
Major isn’t the first rescue pet to land in the White House. The first was Yuki, a mixed breed pup abandoned by his owner at a gas station in Texas and rescued by President Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughter Luci. The Clintons’ cat, Socks, was also a rescue.
Champ is mostly light brown with a dark snout, and Major is mostly black with light brown paws. News of the new first pets was welcomed on social media: A Saturday post from the popular account “We Rate Dogs” rated both dogs 14 out of 10 received more than 355,000 likes on Instagram.
The tradition of keeping pets in the White House dates back to Thomas Jefferson, who kept a mockingbird and a couple of bear cubs during his presidency. Throughout the years, presidential pets became celebrities of sorts.
President James Buchanan was reportedly given a herd of elephants, and President Martin Van Buren received a pair of tiger cubs. Congress made Van Buren give the cubs to a local zoo, according to Andrew Hager, historian in residence at the Presidential Pet Museum, a collection of presidential pet memorabilia located outside Baltimore.
President Woodrow Wilson kept a flock of sheep and a ram on the White House lawn, and President William Taft had a Holstein cow, Pauline Wayne, who later retired to Wisconsin, according to the DC History Center.
President Theodore Roosevelt had nearly 30 pets, including a bulldog named Pete who made headlines and nearly caused an international incident when he tore the pants off a French ambassador.
The modern White House pet
In more recent years, presidential pets have been more traditional, mostly dogs and cats.
George W. and Laura Bush’s Scottish terrier, Barney, starred in a series of “Barney Cam” videos alongside fellow terrier, Miss Beazley. There was so much demand for Barney content that the White House created a website, “Barney.gov.”
And Portuguese water dogs Bo and Sunny Obama were frequent fixtures at White House events.
