The letters VPI stand for Veterinary Pet Insurance. They are the pet insurance company that does the annual Hambone award. Their website also has tons of helpful information for pet owners, and an interesting blog. They just put together a brief list of Presidential pets.
It makes a certain amount of sense for VPI to compile a list of Presidential pets on their blog, right in time for Presidents Day. Washington’s birthday is just a few days away. That makes Presidential pets a very timely topic. One cannot assume that all of the pets mentioned on the VPI blog were necessarily insured by VPI, but, there is potential that a few of them could have been.
Over the years, there have been several different types of pets owned by Presidents and their family members. I have decided to just focus on the dogs, simply for the sake of keeping this blog from becoming incredibly lengthy. If you are curious, you can read full details at the White House Pets portion of the Presidential Pet Museum website.
Our current President, Barack H. Obama, has a dog named Bo. Bo is a Portuguese water dog. This dog was given to the Obama family in 2009, when she was six months old. Bo was a gift from Senator and Mrs. Kennedy to Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia.
The previous President, George W. Bush, had three dogs. Barney is a Scottish Terrier who was a gift to Laura Bush from New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman. Mss Beazley, who also is a Scottish Terrier, was given to Laura Bush as a birthday gift. The dog was given by Bill Berry, who is a breeder of Scottish Terrier puppies. Former President George W. Bush also had a dog named Spot. She was an English Springer Spaniel, and she passed away this year.
Spot is the daughter of another Presidential pet, a dog named Millie. She also was a Springer Spaniel, and she had puppies while her owner, former President George Bush, was in office. He kept one of Millie’s puppies, which was named Ranger, and gave another puppy, Spot, to his son, George W. Bush.
Former President Bill Clinton had a chocolate Labrador Retriever named Buddy. The dog joined the Clinton family at the White House in 1997. Former President Ronald Reagan had a Bouvier des Flandres dog named Lucky. He later had a King Charles Spaniel named Rex.
Former President Jimmy Carter had a dog named Grits. This dog was given to his daughter, Amy, as a gift from her teacher. Former President Gerald Ford had a Golden Retriever named Liberty. I cannot think of a more appropriate name for the dog of a United States President. Liberty had a litter of puppies while Ford was President.
Image by Charles McCain on Flickr