But, Mr Trump aside, the White House actually has a rich history as a home to beasts of all kinds, as do many other presidential residences around the world, whose occupants have often taken refuge from the stresses of high office by spending time with a beloved pet.“If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog,” Harry Truman famously said through a world-weary grin, and the advice still stands.Prior to Champ and Major’s brief residency – during which time they have already been unfairly smeared as “dirty” by one right-wing Newsmax commentator – Barack Obama was the last president to keep canines at the White House.
He owned two Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny, the former a gift from his mentor, the late Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy.Bill Clinton ’s cat, Socks, was known to walk around the South Lawn on a leash, Barbara Bush’s English springer spaniel Millie once published a book (!) while a number of Republican presidents have patrolled the grounds in the company of dogs with typically macho names, from Ronald Reagan ’s King Charles spaniel Rex to Gerald Ford ’s golden retriever Liberty.The laziest American president at naming his pets was surely Lyndon Baines Johnson, who just christened his beagle puppies Him and Her. Much more inventive on this score was Caroline Kennedy, JFK’s daughter, who named her pet pony Macaroni.Make Your Own DIY Refillable Water Bowl. Are you filling up your dog water bowl multiple times a day? Create your own DIY refillable water bottle bowl.
John F Kennedy and his children, John and Caroline, play with Macaroni the pony in 1962(Getty)
In between, Westminster cats with notably more inventive names have included Ramsay MacDonald’s Rufus of England (AKA “Treasury Bill”), Neville Chamberlain ’s Munich Mouser and the stolidly heroic Nelson and Wilberforce, who served under Winston Churchill and from Ted Heath to Margaret Thatcher respectively.Overseas, two dogs that have made notable political contributions of late include French president Emmanuel Macron ’s black Labrador-griffon Nemo and Brazilian firebrand Jair Bolsonaro ’s loyal hound Nestor.Here's an ingenious leash that has a built-in waste-bag dispenser and a compartment for keys, cards, phone, and treats.
The former appeared in a video appeal over Christmas to urge families to think carefully before adopting a new pet while the latter helped his disciplinarian master sign a bill into law in October introducing stiffer penalties against those who abuse animals.
Russia’s authoritarian president Vladimir Putin , naturally, is an animal lover and has four shepherd dogs at present, all of which were gifted to him by subservient foreign leaders.Pasha, the newest addition to the pack, was given to him by Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia in 2019, while Verni came from Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmenistan’s leader, in 2017 while Yume was a present from Japan as a thank you for Russia’s help following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, his name translating as “Dream”.The last, Buffy, was named by a five-year-old competition winner in 2010.The quartet were preceded by Konni, who passed away in 2014, gave Mr Putin “good advice” and who frightened Angela Merkel when the duo met in Sochi in 2007, the German chancellor having been scared of dogs since being bitten by one in 1995, a fact she believes Mr Putin knew at the time.Once your dog has removed all of the fabric from the ball, you can stuff the scraps right back in!
Angela Merkel looking uncomfortable throughout her meeting with Putin as his large black labrador wandered around the meeting room(Getty)
Also offering a political explanation for the Russian premier’s love of dogs was Jan Kubik of Rutgers University, who speculated to The Washington Post that Mr Putin intends to project the message, “I love animals. So, I am not such a heartless dictator, as the Westerners tend to think”, while also implying: “I have a heart, but my love is tough, manly”.It should not go unsaid, however, that the Kremlin leader’s love of animals doesn’t appear to extend to strays, and he ordered the execution of the entire stray dog population of Sochi ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The winner though when it comes to presidential dogs is surely Boston terrier Lennu, owned by Finland’s president Sauli Niinisto , or Irish president Michael D Higgins ’s Bernese mountain dogs Brod and Misneach.
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Very good boys indeed.