CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — President-elect Joe Biden and future first lady Jill Biden aren’t the White House’s only new residents come January. They’re also bringing along their two German shepherds, Major and Champ.
Biden adopted Major from a rescue shelter in Wilmington, Delaware, two years ago. But Major won’t be the first rescue dog of an American president.
Jennifer Pickens, author of “Pets at the White House,” told NewsNation that Lyndon B. Johnson also had a rescue dog, named Yuki.
Johnson’s daughter found the dog at a gas station in Austin, Texas, When they weren’t able to track down its owner, his daughter kept the dog, and gave it to Johnson.
“It was a favorite of his,” said Pickens, who also wrote, “Entertaining at the White House: Decades of Presidential Traditions.”
She said that Americans have an “insatiable appetite for pets at the White House.”
“I think it’s a way to relate to our presidents,” Pickens explained. “It softens their political image. It’s something that just humanizes them.”