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Canines Have Been the
Favorite Pets of
Presidents Since the Days of
Teddy Roosevelt
Of (II White Hotinc clojjn, I.nddie tiny, (he pet of the
lata J'renldrnl Warren G. Jlnrdititf , prnhnlily gained
the moHt fnme
Mrs. Calvin Coolidj;e had 1 regular
menogerie. Here hIic Ih with her
chow dog, Tiny Tim; the donkey,
Ebcnezer, and Dlunn, the whit follio
By James N. Miller
FOR Uia flrat time since the Hording
Administration the White House
kenncla are empty, Not a single bow
wow haa enjoyed the luxury of Amer
ica's No. 1 dog department house for
lo, these many montlu.
The rensona ara good enough. First,
President Roosevelt hu made no secret
of the faot that he dislikes the present
kennel aet-up and will not maintain
any canine pets until there's n new
deal in kenneldom. Furthermore, unlike
most Presidents, Mr, Roosevelt Isn't
strong for gift dogs. An expert on
canines himself, he prefer lo make hla
own personal choice In every Instance.
60 that the scores of doga of eery
breed and description that are sent him
from time to time Invarlubly are re
turned to their senders Immediately or
are given away.
A final reason la that an unprece
dented amount of bad luck or 111 health
has dogged the lot of practically every
one of the arlstocratlo canlnea housed
there since Mr. Roosevelt entered the
Executive Mansion In March, 1033.
Mujnr, giant pollee dog and the Presi
dent's favorite, and Meggle, wee Scotch
terrier and Mrs. Roosevelt'a pride and
Joy, were banished a year ago for bit
ins. Major, In addition, broke hla leg
In a mysterious accident.
Winks, mischievous setter pup, was
in a weird crash and took a quick trip
to puppy heaven. Tiny, enormous
English shepherd, seemed unhappy In
his historic environment and so was
presented to a close friend of the
Roosevelts for at least temporary
guardianship. General Grant, a gift
bull pup, turned out to be a poor
"mixer" and was given away. Jack
and Jill, universally beloved Uth
terriers belonging to the President's
grandchildren, Blstie and Bustle Dell
were too quiet and dignified tor the
exciting life at 1800 Pennsylvania Ave
nue, (to, afu-r only a very brief resi
dence there, they were sent to the
peaceful rural atmosphere of Krum
Klbow, the Roosevelt estate at Hyde
Park, N. Y.
MAJOR, a handsome buff and
block German shepherd, trained
for police work, was presented to Mr.
Rixvevrll anortly altr his election to
the riesldrnry by a troop of New Ycrk
mate police. Majors address for a
few months as Knun Klbow.
There were several other pollee degs
I here, and It as Majors Job to keep
them In coder. Ha himself had a tract
through hlch he was frequently mis
understood. He walked up to each
Ulor, look his artst firmly In hla
teeth and scrutinized him before he 1st
79 j A M
sfffl a a 1 J m
L.. yJ
doors the raccoon was kept chained, but
Inside the mansion she enjoy real lib
erty. Especially did she like the privacy
of the bathroom. In the tub she often
frolicked about with a cake of soap.
Tige and Blackle were kings of the
Coolldgo cats. Tige, a gray, striped
tomcat, was the President's favorite.
During his life of ease and comfort in
the White House Tige often strayed off,
but generally only for a night or so.
But he never failed to march right back
Into Mr. Coolidge's good graces and In
a few hours was the same meek and
affectionate kitty the President loved so
well. Finally he went on one of his
mysterious nocturnal excursions and
never came back.
Ironically enough, the highbrow
Blackle finally turned vicious. Suddenly
he started prowling around the White
House grounds and killing squirrels and
rabbits. He was also blamed for the
demise of a number of birds. Bo even
tually he was banished.
One of Mr. Coolidge's closest compan
ions was Rob Roy, the snow-white collie
Probably the prize of all White House pets were the sheep which
roamed the spacious grounda during the regime of the late President
Woodrow Wilson
Major, Preaident Franklin D. Roosevelt's favorite pet, had
been trained In pnlire work, and when he put his training
Into practice at the While House, it became neeeasary to
aend him away
him go. Tills made Mnjor unpopular
with some visitors. But really he didn't
mean any harm. It wns presumably
part of his training as an alert police
dog.
Unfortunately, Major brought his
"fake bite" with htm to Washington,
and it was sadly out of keeping with
his newly acquired title of America's
No. 1 dog. What had been regarded
as a Joke at worst In Albany was noth
ing short of a serious canine crime In
the While House.
Poor MaJorl He soon found that a
dog's life is Just that In the Execu
tive Mansion. Only a few days after
Mr. Roosevelt took nlllce In March,
103!, the hapless dog sinned his long
series of crimes by biting senator
lliillle Caraway, of Arkansas on the
arm while she was attendli't a IVxwe
velt party.
Later he tore Prime Mii'i.nt rtamsay
MacDonald'e trousers dun '.ie British
ttatesman'e visit to Wxni;igton. And
Just for variety he bmkt, his leg soon
afterward and, bare recovered from
that, had to have su operation on his
back.
One day earl' thai September Major
nipped another stranger and ss im
prltoned In the doghouse near the
south portico for several days. And
when finally released he was further
humiliated by being forced to wear a
inutile. The very last straw was an
incident that occurred some weeks
later. A certain Washlngtonlan was
passing the White House when he saw
Major cavorting about on the other
side of the fence. The man readied
throunh to pat the dog. Major rc
aponded by biting his hand. Seven
stitches were necessary. Small wonder
the police dog was deported to Hyde
Park.
Even so Major haa a better record
than sonio of his White House predeces
sors. The prize for annoying visitors
still belongs to Pete, pet bulldog of
Teddy Roosovelt. One f.ne day Peta
turned on French AmvaMndv-"' Jusse
rand and tore out p"t of that distin
guished diplomat's i.ouscrs. Straight
away the Ambassador sought safety In
the low-tumglng limbs of a nearby tree.
Mr. Harding's Laddie Boy nipped at
dignitaries and finally wns stmt away.
Mr. Hoover had Shamrock, a great
Irish wolfhound that bit so many White
House policemen and marine guards at
Hapldan Can p that he had to be de
stroyed. BESIDES housing all these biting dogs,
the Executive Mansion has served
as a veritable menagerie of peta of al
most every eonoelvable sort Mr. Taft
kept a eow nam ad Pauline as a mem
ter of the "kitchen cabinet." Mr. Cool
Idie at varlnua times had a raccoon, a
donkey and a couple of frisky tomcats.
Probably the prise pet of then all
however, were Mr. Wilson's sheen. Dur
ing Oie World War Dr. Cary T. Oray
son. Presidential physician, bought them
to mow the White House lawn to save
manpower when labor was scarce. Four
teen sheep were brought to the lnclosure
Just south of the mansion. In 1920, with
conditions becoming normal after the
war, Mr, Wilson gave the animals to a
close personal friend for his farm near
OIney, Md.
Winks, tiny English, setter, was only
a few months old when he was pre
sented to President Roosevelt at Warm
Springs, Osk, In the Fall of 1933. When
the setter had matured somewhat he
was brought to the White House to re
place Major. Since Winks was the
only dog In the kennels, you might sup
pose he would behave himself. Instead
he got In trouble almost from the very
first. On February 36, 1934, He was In
dire disgrace for having eaten the break
fasts set out In the servants' dining
room for nineteen servants!
Winks had finished and was lick
ing his chops over his enormous repast
of steaming bacon, eggs and toast. Just
as the first of the servants arrived tor
the morning meal And was ha em
barrassed? He put his tall between his
legs, lowered his head and made a
sixH'dy getaway.
Winks wasn't punished. But he
didn't linger long In his historic en
vironment. Less than five months after
hit hunger march the setter got Into a
peculiar crash. He was plnylng on the
White House lawn with another dog be
longing to a Secret Service man. Sud
denly Winks got all excited about the
fun he was havtmj and failed to keep
his eyes front. He cracked Into an iron
fence and died of concussion of the
brain. The pup now rests tn a special
canine coffin In Silver Spring. Md.
President Roosevelt became fond of
Tiny, big. shaggy English sheep dog
presented to hlro early tn IMS. The ord
inal plan was to send Tiny to the
Roosevelt farm at Warm Springs, Cia
Be lor so doing, however, he was turned
over to Admiral and Mrs. Cary T. Dray
ton, close Mends, to keep temporarily,
a doubt had arts?n oier the advisabil
ity of sending such a heavy-coated dog
to such a warm nhmala Until a Anal
decision has been made as
to his future, Tiny will re
main with the Graysons
The Hoovers kept eight
dogs during their residence
in the White House. King
Tut, the President's favor
ite, was a magnificent
police dog, raised from a
pup by the Hoovers. Tut
assumed the throne of the
kennels when his master
and 'mistress moved from
S Street to 1600 Pennsyl
vania Avenue.
So faithfully and reli
giously did Tut assume the
task of patrolling the
regularly assigned beats of
the policemen about the
rear grounds that he
thought of nothing else. He
gave up all notions of play
and paid little attention to meals or
sleep. Pretty soon, at the skc of 8, he
passed away, presumably from sheer
exhaustion.
Probably the Coolldges had the queer
est assortment of pets of any Presiden
tial family. They kept a gentleman
donkey, a lody raccoon, two cats and
something like seven doss. Just where
the donkey came from secmt to be a
mystery. Anyway, the First Lady grew
fond of him, named hini Ebcneeser and
housed the beast in a sixcial pen.
Official records are conflicting as to
just when the raccoon Joined the White
House family. One notation says
Thanksgiving, 1026, and another asserts
tluit Christmas of the same year was
the proper date. Anyway, the animal
was the gift of an admirer who intended
her for the President's holiday dinner
to replace the traditional turkey. But
Mr. Coolidce took a fancy to tt little
tlT'ti're the moment be saw her arriv
ing at ttt W hite rouse and named'her
Rebecca. Soon this .'"illng grew Into a
real attachment.
Mrs. Coolidce also became fon of
Rebecca and had a house built for her
in a hose tree with a wire fence around
It In the rear grounds. While out of
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Dejected? Contrite? Or Just plain ashamed
of himself? Anyhow, this la the way V, inks
looked after he had helped himself to nine
teen breakfasts on the aervants' table
which supplanted the Harding I i;ldie
Boy as canine boss of the White V.y.iiC.
Rob quickly worked himself In'. 3 the
affections of the President. Often wiicn
his master retired to his office eTicr
luncheon the handsome collie 1.1 '..d
along to take a snooze In front 0.' t'le
fireplace, curl up In a leafier ch'. 'r nt
the President's elbow or look out 0.' t it
window, yearning, perhaps, for a run
around the yard or out In the a: ot
where he wouldn't have to observe r. let
White House rules of etiquette. K n
during mealtime the faithful collie g n
erally was near the chair of his ma r
and always profited to the extent of
getting choice morsels of food.
Another Coolldge favorite was Paul
Pry, frisky alredale and half-brother
of President Harding'! Laddie Bey, Paul
waa a big. overgrown, awkward puiw
when first he entered the White House.
Mrs. Coolldge tied him to a lush and
managed to calm htm down somewhat.
Nevertheless he never quite grl o- rtu.
habit of galloping.
Other well-known Coolldge dos were
Diana, a white collie: King Cole a
blark B-'.jian dog, and Bessie, a ycl'.ww
collie.
CwimM
PACE
TWO