Monday, February 17, 2014

President's Dog's Day

Hi Everybody, It's me Fudge. 
Today is President's Day but I asked Mom when the dogs in the White House have their day and she didn't know. So I decided that today should be President's Dog's Day. 

I did a little research and found that most of our Presidents have lived with dogs. Some had it better than others, though. Let's start at the beginning, George Washington is credited with founding the American Foxhound. He used some Coonhounds and bred them to use for hunting. I don't know if he ever had a favorite or a house pup. He had some weird names for his dogs, Drunkard, Tipler and Tipsy. Do you think old George had a problem?
John Adams, who is related to our mom, was the first pres to live in the White House. He had several mixed breed dogs including Satan and Juno. His wife Abigail once wrote, " If you love me... you must love my dog." Our Mom feels the same way.

Thomas Jefferson had some Briards which are herding dogs. They worked his flock and also lived in the house with him. They didn't get to live in the White House, but stayed home at Monticello, which is a pretty nice place to live.
Hey Woos, James Madison had a Siberian Husky.

Abraham Lincoln had a yellow dog named Fido. When the Lincolns moved to Washington, Mr Lincoln paid a family to take good care of his dog back in Illinois and insisted that the dog live in the house. When Mr Lincoln died, Fido went to watch the funeral procession go by.
James Buchanan and Ulysses Grant and Rutherford Hayes all had Newfoundlands. That's a lot of dog.
Listen up, Ruby and Mitch and Molly, all these Presidents had Airedales, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

Calvin Coolidge must have really liked dogs, he had lots of them including a couple of white Collies named Rob Roy and Prudence.
Herbert Hoover had a bunch of dogs, too. This one is King Tut, a Belgian Shepherd.
Franklin Roosevelt had several dogs but the most famous one was Fala, a Scottie.
Dwight Eisenhower had a Weimaraner named Heidi.
John Kennedy had a whole bunch of dogs, maybe as many as we have. Maybe the best known was Charlie, a Welsh Terrier.
Lyndon Johnson 's best known dogs are his Beagles, Him and Her, but he also had a Mutt names Yuki that his daughter found roaming at a gas station.
Richard Nixon had Checkers, a Cocker Spaniel and King Timahoe, an Irish Setter.
Gerald Ford had Liberty, a Golden Retriever.
Jimmy Carter had an Afghan Hound named Lewis Brown, but I don't think he ever lived at the White House.

Ronald Regan had Rex, a King Charles Spaniel.
George H.W. Bush had Millie, a Springer Spaniel.
Bill Clinton had Buddy, a chocolate Lab.
George W Bush had Barney and  Miss Beazley, a couple of Scotties.
And guess what. The current canine residents of the White House look just like us. That's because they're our cousins. Both Bo and Sunny Obama are Portuguese Water Dogs. 
We know that they're loved because they get to play ball with the President .....
And they sit on the First Lady's lap for story time.
 We think we might like to visit the White house, to run in the big halls and swim in the fountains, but we think we'd rather live here together with our Mom and Dad. Happy President's Dog's Day to all of you in Blogville.

Your pal, Fudge

12 comments:

Marjie said...

Hey, I'm related to old JA, too, somehow, so I guess your mom and I are like really distant cousins!

My mother in law never mentioned seeing Silent Cal walking his dogs in Master Chew Sits when she was a child, but she probably knew them. Cal liked her because she was a redhead, like him.

Happy PResident's Dog's Day!

Two French Bulldogs said...

What a cool post. Those Coon hounds are pretty cool dogs
Lily

Dexter said...

That was very interesting. I think a dog is important if you are president. It would be the only being you could tell everything to.

Mango Momma

Anonymous said...

Yep, us puppers probably had a better time in the White House then those peeps!
Barney, was our Hero! We even have a picture of him at the podium in the press conference room, giving his first press conference!

The Mad Scots

Molly the Airedale said...

What an interesting post, Fudge! George Washington sure did choose crazy names for his pups!

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly

Ruby said...

Yups, and President Harding's Airedale 'Laddie Boy' was the furst Presidential Doggie STAR!! He even had his own chair for Cabinet Meetings!!! Now that's POWER!!! BOL
I wonder what kinds of laws Laddie Boy helped write?? A Bone in Every Bowl I'm sure!
FABulous postie!!
Kisses,
Ruby ♥

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

There is/was a display in the Media Museum in DC with all the President's dogs.....

We don't think we'd like to live in the White House, looks like you can't get dirty.

XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

SissySees said...

What a fun post!! It was neat to see some of the First Dogs. We think Sunny & Bo should invite you to their house for a swim-in.

Jo's World said...

This is a great post, Fudge, I enjoyed every word of it. Most of the dogs I knew but some I didn't.

This is sort of directed at Mango Mamma because I once heard that maybe Harry Truman told the next in line, that if you want a friend in Washington, Get Yourself a Dog!

Cheers,
Jo, Stella and Zkhat

Matilda the Boxer said...

I'm relieved to hear that so many Presidents have had dogs. I don't really trust anyone who doesn't like dogs. But HELLO, out of all of those Presidential dogs, where are the BOXERS?! This is a grievous oversight. I'm going to start a campaign to put a boxer in the White House!

Taffy said...

Great post!

Lapdog Creations said...

I love your informative, historical posts!