The White House
Goes to the Dogs



JFK with Charlie, a Welsh Terrier. Charlie was a cousin to the dog "Asta" that is featured prominently in "The Thin Man" movies. JFK owned at least four other dogs, including an Irish Wolf Hound given to him by an Irish priest.

 

Warren G. Harding with the Airedale "Laddie". In his day, this was quite a famous dog, and it even had its owned "cabinet chair." The Smithsonian Museum has a statue of the dog.

 



The Eisenhower family with the Jack Russell Terrier "Flip".
This picture was taken around 1907 and the tall young "Ike" is standing with white shirt at the back. While President, Ike had
two Scottish terriers and a Weimeraner.

 

Theodore Roosevelt, with family and "Skip," a small cross-bred feist that Roosevelt adopted while on a bear hunting trip out West. This dog is the origin of the America Rat Terrier breed. >> To read more.

 

A very young Gerald Ford with a Boston Terrier, about 1916. In the White House, he owned a Golden Retriever named "Liberty".

 

Nixon on the beach with a Yorkshire Terrier jabbering at his side. This picture is all Nixon: a man wearing dress pants and shoes at the beach, uncomfortable, the picture askew. Nixon's other two dogs were a French Poodle and "King Timahoe," a brain-befogged Irish setter.

 

FDR riding with the Scottie "Falla" in 1940. Falla went everywhere with FDR except for the trip to Yalta, and became the most famous of the White House dogs. The statue of FDR at the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. has an enormous bronze Falla sitting at his side. FDR also had eight other dogs.

 

LBJ with his two beagles, named "Him" and "Her."  Johnson was a Texan and liked to lift the front end of the dogs up by their ears and hear them yip in consternation; the ASPCA disapproved, but Johnson hardly cared. "Her" died after swallowing a rock, and "Him" was run over when chasing a squirrel. Johnson owned three other dogs while at the White House -- a small mongrel found loose at a gas station, a white collie, and another beagle given to him by J. Edgar Hoover.

 

Grace Coolidge with a pet raccoon at a White House Easter Egg event. Calvin Coolidge had many exotic animals at the White House, including a Pygmy Hippo, two lion cubs, a wallaby, and a bear. They also had 10 dogs, including 3 Collies, an Airedale, and a Fox Terrier.

 

George W. Bush with the Scottie "Barney." Bush's other dog was named "Spot" -- a brilliant flash of originality  and imagination in the world of naming.

 

Kermit Roosevelt with a Manchester terrier by the name of "Jack" or "Black Jack" on the White House lawn in 1902. Teddy Roosevelt had over 31 animals at the White House -- a record unlikely to ever be broken. One of the dogs, a Bull Terrier named "Pete," ripped the pants of the French Ambassador.