Donald Trump was the first president since 1897 to have no pets in the White House. “I wouldn’t mind having one but I don’t have the time. Besides, how would I look like walking a dog on the White House lawns?” Asked the still president of the United States at a rally in February 2019.
Now the question will remain unanswered, but the tradition of having a “first pet” will return to what it was on January 20 when Joe Biden and wife, Jill, settled in the White House. The president-elect and the first lady will take with them Champs and Major, the two German shepherds in the family who thus become the “first dogs” – the affectionate name given to presidential dogs in America.
Champs was the first to arrive at the Biden home in 2008. During the campaign for that year’s presidential campaign, Jill managed to get Joe to promise her that if the Americans elected Barack Obama to the presidency, and himself to be vice president, he would arrange a dog. And the teacher took the promise so seriously that over the weeks she would paste pictures of several dogs on the back of Biden’s front seat on the plane so he could go over the options.
But the choice of Champs ended up generating some controversy, since the Biden bought it from a breeder in Pennsylvania, instead of adopting an abandoned animal. The name was chosen by the granddaughters of the then vice president.
This did not stop the German shepherd from living happily at the One Observatory Circle, the vice president’s residence in Washington. “Of all of us, Champs is the one who will be most surprised to leave this house,” Jill confessed to the Washington Post in January 2017. “Champs won a family here, with employees and security staff always having a cookie on hand for him” .
In November 2018, the Biden decided to find a mate for Champs. That was how Major came to the family. When Joe learned that the Delaware Humane Association (DHA) had received a litter of German shepherds who had been poisoned, he wasted no time. First they stayed with Major’s guardianship for eight months and then ended up adopting him.
When he arrives at the president’s residence, Major will be the first search and rescue dog in the White House.
When last January he was asked why it is important to have a pet, Biden said: “Dogs remind us of the importance of living in the present moment. They love unconditionally and enjoy every moment with us. When I am with the Champs and the Major, I live in the ‘now’ and I take advantage of the simple fact of throwing a ball or taking a walk “.
If they are ever going to be as famous as Buddy, Bill and Hillary Clinton’s brown lab, or as Laura and George W. Bush’s Barney and Miss Beazley, and Michelle and Barack Obama’s Bo and Sunny (just to name a few) some recent examples), that only time will tell. But for now, Champs and Major have already started to attract the attention of the media – American and international.
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