Two presidential pooches are now roaming around the White House—and one of them has made history. President Joe Biden’s German shepherd Major is the first dog adopted from an animal shelter to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Major and Champ, the Bidens’ other German shepherd, are the first pets to live in the White House in four years.
Biden and his wife, Jill, adopted Major in 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. The puppy had ended up at the shelter after he got sick and his original owners couldn’t afford to keep him.
A few days before President Biden was inaugurated, the shelter held an “indoguration” to celebrate Major’s move into the White House. The virtual party for dogs raised money to care for the animals at the shelter.
Each year, shelters across the United States take in about 7 million animals, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). About half of those animals are dogs.
“The fact that Major was adopted will hopefully encourage more American families to visit their local rescues and adopt a pet,” says Andrew Hager. He’s a historian with the Presidential Pet Museum.
The Bidens have said they would like to get a cat to join their German shepherds.
“Americans love presidential pets,” says Hager. “In some ways, they become the entire country’s pets as we watch them grow.”