Joe Biden and Major Joe Biden’s German Shepherd Major is no longer living at the White House.
Bo Obama wasn’t the only new pup roaming the halls of the White House in 2009. Champ Biden, a German Shepherd, was also a newcomer shortly after Joe Biden assumed the vice presidency. Sadly, Champ passed away in July 2021 at age 13.
Three days before Biden’s 2021 inauguration, the Delaware Humane Society hosted a virtual fundraising event — dubbed the “indoguration” — for the new president’s adoption of a German shepherd, Major. The animal rescue’s goal was to raise $10,000, but after Josh Groban performed a song and Today correspondent Jill Martin emceed, more than $200,000 was raised, and Major was set to head to his new home on Pennsylvania Avenue.
But things didn’t go as planned, as Major became known for jumping and charging at staff and security — and was involved in two biting incidents.
After undergoing more extensive training, Major is now living with a family friend in a quieter and less stressful environment than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Bidens also added a new German Shepherd, Commander, to their brood.
Rutherford B. Hayes and Duke President Rutherford B. Hayes (right) and First Lady Lucy Hayes with dog Duke.
The Hayes family had several dogs, but their most famous was Duke, who Hager suspects was an English mastiff.
Hayes had an odd presidency — the Republican vowed to serve only one term, from 1877-1881, and his wife refused to serve alcohol in the White House — but he was an outspoken animal rights activist through and through.
During his 1878 address to Congress, which is now called the State of the Union Address, Hayes said, “The abuse of animals in transit is widely attracting public attention. [I urge Congress to consider] the enactment of more efficient laws for the prevention of these abuses,” a radical statement in the mid-19th century.
Hillary Clinton bought Seamus, then a 4-month-old puppy, from a breeder in Maryland and presented him to her husband as a Father’s Day gift in June 2002. “He was surprised with the dog when he woke up on Father’s Day,” a spokesman told the Associated Press. “The dog helped wake him up.”
Hillary Clinton got her toy poodle mix, Tally, after she fell hard for one belonging to a neighbor, according to an aide. “She just kept saying, ‘I want a little dog!’” the aide said, according to People.
Despite some media reports to the contrary, we believe Tally is the black-and-white dog, the smaller of the Clinton dogs. She looks like a shih tzu/toy poodle mix, which we suppose would make her a “shih-poo.”
Here’s an August 2012 photo of the Clintons with Seamus and the dog we think is Tally. In other photos we’ve seen, this dog appears to have a docked tail.
Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Maisie, but we do have a wild guess about where the name came from: Hillary Clinton is a big fan of the bestselling novel Maisie Dobbs, about a World War I field nurse turned detective. If we’re right about the name, and Hillary Clinton is reading this, maybe she’ll grant us an interview so we can learn more about these fascinating, possible future presidential pets!