It’s been less than a week since Joe Biden took office as president, and his White House is already going to the ground.
“Champ and Major joined us at the White House!” first lady Jill Biden tweeted Monday.
German shepherds arrived at the White House on Sunday, said a spokesman for Jill Biden. The move puts an end to a four-year dog drought on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“The First Family wanted to settle down before bringing the dogs from Delaware to Washington,” said Jill Biden’s office, noting that the pair is adapting to their new life quickly. “Champ is enjoying his new dog bed by the fireplace and Major loved to run on the south lawn.” your office said.
The Bidens hired the now-oldest statesman Champ as a puppy in 2008, shortly before moving into the vice president’s official residence at the Naval Observatory. Biden was inspired by his name on his father, who said: “Whenever you are knocked down, champion – get up!”
Major, for his part, is the first shelter dog to enjoy life at the White House.
The Bidens adopted him from the Delaware Humane Association in 2018 after he and five other puppies were exposed to a toxic substance. Biden did not speak publicly about the Major’s name, but the president-elect’s late son, Beau Biden, was a major in the Delaware National Guard.
The playful pair may have more company soon – the Bidens said they plan to buy a cat too. Asked about a possible first feline, Jill Biden spokesman Michael LaRosa told NBC News, “Stay tuned!”
Animal additions are of particular importance because Donald Trump was the first president to not have a pet since Andrew Johnson in the 1860s, according to the Presidential Museum of Pets.
Previous presidents didn’t just have dogs and cats – Calvin Coolidge had a donkey and a lynx, Teddy Roosevelt had a badger, a flying squirrel and a one-legged rooster, and John Quincy Adams had a crocodile, a gift from the Marquis de Lafayette, said the pet museum.
