The political power of America’s First Dogs

From the moment Donald Trump’s presidency began, he was lacking something. But Joe Biden is about to make up for it — twice over.

Trump was the first president in more than a century not to have a dog in the White House. Biden’s German shepherds Champ, 12, and two-year-old Major will be filling the vacancy left by Barack Obama’s Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny, and continuing a tradition of First Dogs that can trace its pedigree back to George Washington.

Far from being mere political poodles, many First Dogs have made history in their own right. Calvin Coolidge’s collie Rob Roy was the first dog to feature in an official First Family portrait, which still hangs in the China Room, while George W. Bush’s Scottie, Barney, gave a dog’s-eye view of Washington life with ‘Barneycam’, a series of videos so popular they crashed the White House website.

Barney wasn’t the only First Dog with a taste for the media (sometimes too literally — he had a reputation for biting reporters). George H.W. Bush’s springer spaniel reached the bestseller lists with Millie’s Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush, outselling the president’s own autobiography. She also became a magazine cover star, posing for Life with the puppies she gave birth to in the White House — including Spot, who later returned to live there with George W. Bush.

But some presidential dogs become a little too high-profile for their own good. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Scottie, Fala, who had a secretary to manage his fan mail, earned the Secret Service code name ‘Informer’ because he drew so much attention that officials feared he’d put the president’s life in danger.

And First Dogs have no diplomatic immunity from the doghouse. Another of FDR’s dogs, Major, reportedly tore the seat from Ramsay MacDonald’s trousers during a state visit.