United States presidential pets

History of White House pets

List of presidential pets

George Washington

• Sweetlips, Scentwell and Vulcan – American Foxhounds
• Drunkard, Taster, Tipler, and Tipsy – Black and Tan Coonhounds
• Royal Gift – Andalusian donkey, a gift from King Charles III of Spain
• Nelson and Blueskin – horses that were Washington's wartime mounts
• Snipe – parrot said to have been owned by First Lady Martha Washington
• Cornwallis – greyhound named for General Cornwallis
• Samson, Steady, Leonidas, Traveller, and Magnolia – stallions

John Adams

• Juno, Mark, and Satan – dogs
• Cleopatra and Caesar – horses

Thomas Jefferson

• Dick – mockingbird; Dick was the favorite from among at least four mockingbirds the president had while in office
• Bergère and Grizzle – shepherd dogs from France, possibly Briards
• Two grizzly bear cubs, a male and female pair given by Captain Zebulon Pike. Jefferson deemed them "too dangerous & troublesome for me to keep" and gave them to Charles Willson Peale's Philadelphia Museum
• Caractacus – horse named after Caratacus, a 1st-century British chieftain. The horse was the offspring of Jefferson's mare Allycroker and a Godolphin Arabian named Young Fearnought
• Sheep – beginning in 1807, the president bred sheep from "four of the most remarkeable varieties pro bono publico." By spring 1808, nearly 40 sheep were grazing at the president's house. One notorious Shetland ram was said to have killed "a fine little boy."

James Madison

• Polly – a parrot that outlived both James and Dolley Madison
• Sheep – grazed on the White House lawn

James Monroe

• Buddy - A spaniel belonged to Monroe's youngest daughter, Maria Hester Monroe
• Sheepdogs were provided by Marquis de Lafayette as working dogs on Monroe's farm.

John Quincy Adams

• Silkworms whose silk First Lady Louisa Adams spun.
• An alligator – Said to have belonged to Marquis de Lafayette and housed for two months in the East Room. Although this story has been widely circulated, the lack of evidence from contemporary accounts or official records suggests an apocryphal myth.

Andrew Jackson

• Poll – grey parrot who learned to swear. Anecdotally, it is said that she attended Jackson's funeral and had to be removed due to loud and persistent profanity.
• Fighting cocks
• Bolivia, Emily, Lady Nashville, Sam Patch, and Truxton – horses Sam Patch was named after the famous daredevil known as "The Yankee Leaper."

Martin Van Buren

• Two tiger cubs – It is said that Van Buren received them from Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman but Congress quickly forced him to donate the tigers to the zoo. This story, however, is likely untrue and conflated with a rumor of a similar story at the time, relating to a gift including two lions from the emperor of Morocco and the American Consulate in Tangier. Although the Sultan did send a ship with many exotic gifts, that became a point of contention within Congress, there is no contemporary reference to tiger cubs.

William Henry Harrison

• Sukey – Durham cow
• Whisker – Goat

John Tyler

• Le Beau – Italian Greyhound
• Johnny Ty – canary. Brought to the White House by Tyler's second wife, Julia Gardiner Tyler
• The General – horse

James K. Polk

• ''None''

Zachary Taylor

• Old Whitey – horse Taylor's wartime mount
• Apollo – Pony; formerly a "trick pony" from a circus, a present for Taylor's daughter Betty and resided in the White House stables with Old Whitey

Millard Fillmore

• Mason and Dixon – ponies; named after the famous surveyors

Franklin Pierce

• At least two miniature "teacup" Japanese Chin dogs, part of a gift exchange with Japan following the Perry Expedition
• Two birds from Japan, which had just opened its trading posts to the United States.

James Buchanan

• Lara – Newfoundland
• Punch – Toy terrier
• Eagle
• Two Thai elephants – Mary and Buddha; sent to President Buchanan by King Mongkut of Siam, but arrived when Abraham Lincoln was president who refused them as a gift. The elephants were then sent to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Abraham Lincoln

• Nanny and Nanko – goats
• Jack – Turkey, intended as Christmas dinner, but Tad Lincoln intervened
• Fido – dog, "assassinated" by a drunk with a knife, a few months after Lincoln's assassination; Lincoln's famous dog may have popularized the use of the name "Fido".
• Jip – dog
• Tabby and Dixie – cats. Lincoln was gifted Tabby and Dixie from his Secretary of State William Seward when it was decided that Lincoln's dog Fido would have to stay home in Illinois after his election. Lincoln once remarked that Dixie "is smarter than my whole cabinet."
• Horse
• Rabbit
• Old Bob – horse
• Pig – One lived on the White House grounds

Andrew Johnson

• Johnson fed white mice that he found in his bedroom

Ulysses S. Grant

• Butcher's Boy, Cincinnati, Egypt, Jeff Davis, Jennie, Julia, Mary, and St. Louis – Horses. Grant purchased Butcher's Boy from a butcher following an impromptu race on D.C. streets where he lost to this horse pulling a butcher's cart. Cincinnati was a thoroughbred of renowned racing pedigree.
• Billy Button and Reb – ponies
• Faithful – Newfoundland
• Rosie – dog
• Parrot

Rutherford B. Hayes

• Dot – Cocker Spaniel
• Hector – Newfoundland
• Duke – English Mastiff
• Grim – Greyhound
• Otis – Miniature Schnauzer
• Juno and Shep – Hunting dogs
• Jet – dog
• Piccolomini – cat
• Siam – First Siamese cat in the United States. First named Miss Pussy by First Lady Lucy Hayes.

James A. Garfield

• Kit – horse
• Veto – dog

Chester A. Arthur

• Rabbit
• Four standardbreds
• Indian pony – gift from the Eastern Shoshone
• Coquette – horse

Grover Cleveland

• Hector – German poodle
• Mockingbirds
• Three Dachshunds
• Gallagher – Cocker Spaniel
• Hundreds of imported fish, including exotic fish and common goldfish
• *Paradise fish – A gift from the ruler of Siam

Benjamin Harrison

• Whiskers – goat, kept at the White House for the president's grandchildren; may have belonged to Russell Harrison
• Dash – collie
• Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection – opossums, named from the 1896 Republican party platform, which includes: "Protection and reciprocity are twin measures of Republican policy and go hand in hand."
• Two alligators – According to one account, Russell Harrison kept two alligators in the White House conservatory

William McKinley

• Washington Post – Yellow-headed Mexican parrot; could whistle "Yankee Doodle"
• Valeriano Weyler and Enrique DeLome – Angora kittens; named after Spanish general Valeriano Weyler and Spanish ambassador Enrique Dupuy de Lôme
• Roosters

Theodore Roosevelt

• Admiral Dewey, Bishop Doane, Dr. Johnson, Father O'Grady, Fighting Bob Evans – guinea pigs; namesakes: George Dewey, William Croswell Doane, and Robley D. Evans
• Algonquin – "Calico pony", favored by Roosevelt's son Archie
• Bleistein – horse. The favorite of all his horses
• Baron Spreckle – hen, likely named after sugar baron Claus Spreckels
• Bill the Lizard – lizard, brought from California and described as a "horned frog" ; likely named after Lewis Carroll's Bill the Lizard.
• Blackjack – Manchester Terrier
• Eli Yale – Hyacinth macaw Named after the British merchant
• Emily Spinach – garter snake, so named by Roosevelt's daughter Alice because "it was as green as spinach and as thin as my Aunt Emily"
• Fedelity – pony
• Gem and Susan – dogs
• Jack and Pete – terriers Pete was exiled to Long Island "after chomping on one too many legs."
• Jonathan Edwards – small black bear from West Virginia named after the religious leader, an ancestor of Mrs. Roosevelt; eventually sent to the Bronx Zoo
• Jonathan – Piebald rat
• Josiah – badger During a railroad tour of the West, the president acquired two-week-old Josiah at a stop in Sharon Springs, Kansas
• Manchu – Pekingese dog
• Maude – pig
• Peter Rabbit – rabbit; was given a "proper state" funeral Cf. Peter Rabbit.
• Rollo – Saint Bernard
• Skip – mongrel
• Sailor Boy – Chesapeake Bay Retriever
• Tom Quartz and Slippers – Cats, Tom Quartz was named after a cat in a Mark Twain story.
• Bill – laughing hyena, gift from Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia
• Barn owl
• Fierce – one-legged rooster
• Lion

William Howard Taft

• Caruso – dog, a gift for Taft's daughter Helen from opera singer Enrico Caruso; after a White House performance, he decided that cows were not appropriate pets for a little girl
• Mooly Wooly and Pauline Wayne – cows. Pauline was a Holstein of considerable fame; she "went missing" for two days.

Woodrow Wilson

• Davie – Airedale Terrier
• Puffins – cat
• Bruce – Bull Terrier
• Songbirds
• Sheep – The flock, numbering 48 at its peak, kept the White House lawn trimmed "in the most economical way", which was framed as helping the war effort. Their wool was sold to benefit the Red Cross
• * Old Ike – ram, the herd sire of the flock of sheep.

Warren G. Harding

• Laddie Boy – Airedale Terrier
• Old Boy – Bulldog
• Petey – canary
• Bob – canary
• Numerous canaries, names not recorded
• Pete – squirrel

Calvin Coolidge

• Rob Roy and Prudence Prim – White collies
• Peter Pan – Wirehair Fox Terrier, the Coolidges' first White House dog;
• Paul Pry – Airedale Terrier, half-brother of Warren Harding's Laddy Boy
• Calamity Jane – Shetland Sheepdog
• Tiny Tim and Blackberry – Chow Chows
• Ruby Rouch – collie
• Boston Beans – Boston bulldog
• King Cole – Belgian Sheepdog
• Palo Alto – A black and white English Setter, a bird dog that Coolidge soon gave to Colonel Starling, chief of the Secret Service detail in the White House
• Bessie – collie
• Rebecca – raccoon, Rebecca was intended for a Thanksgiving feast; First Lady Grace had a tree-house built for her instead
• Reuben – A male raccoon acquired as a companion for Rebecca; soon escaped and not recovered
• Ebeneezer – donkey
• Nip and Tuck – canaries, both olive green in color; the Coolidges' first birds
• Peter Piper and Snowflake – Two more canaries; Snowflake was white
• Goldy – A "yellow bird"
• Do-Funny – a trained songbird from South America; said to be Mrs. Coolidge's favorite bird
• Enoch – goose
• Smoky – bobcat
• Blacky and Tiger – cats
• Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau – lion cubs from Johannesburg, South Africa
• Billy – pygmy hippopotamus, full name: William Johnson Hippopotamus
• A wallaby – Promptly given to a zoo
• A duiker – Also sent to the zoo
• Bruno – A black bear from Chihuahua, Mexico; Mrs. Coolidge promptly sent him to a zoo
• Pekin ducks – Thirteen ducklings were received as an Easter gift; Mrs. Coolidge attempted to raise them in a White House bathroom, but eventually sent them to a zoo

Herbert Hoover

• Mr. Cat – a cat
• Billy Possum – A wild opossum that occupied Rebecca's vacant tree-house and was "adopted" by the Hoovers; temporarily filled in for a local high school's missing mascot. The name likely derives from a nickname used for the 27th president, William Howard Taft.
• Caruso – A Roller canary
• King Tut – Belgian Shepherd
• Pat – German Shepherd
• Big Ben and Sonnie – Fox Terriers
• Glen – Scotch Collie
• Yukonan – Canadian Eskimo Dog
• Patrick – Irish Wolfhound
• Eaglehurst Gillette – Setter
• Weegie – Norwegian Elkhound
• Alligators – Owned by his son Allan

Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Fala – Scottish Terrier
• Major – German Shepherd Formerly a police dog from the New York State Police After a number of White House biting incidents, he was sent to live at Roosevelt's private residence in Hyde Park, New York.
• Meggie – Scottish Terrier
• Winks – Llewellyn Setter
• Tiny – Old English Sheepdog
• President – Great Dane
• Blaze – Bullmastiff

Harry S. Truman

• Feller – Cocker Spaniel, because the Trumans "preferred to be a pet-free family" he was given as a puppy to Truman's personal physician and claimed to not be a "pet lover"
• Mike – Irish Setter

Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Gabby – parakeet
• Heidi – Weimaraner
• Dzimbo – baby Forest elephant, sent by the French Community of African Republics, sent away to the National zoo

John F. Kennedy

• Gaullie – poodle
• Charlie – Welsh Terrier
• Tom Kitten – cat
• Robin – canary
• Bluebell and Marybelle – parakeets
• Ducks – JFK's daughter, five-year-old Caroline raised ducklings at the White House. Ongoing conflicts with their terrier Charlie prompted sending them to Rock Creek Park.
• Macaroni – pony
• Tex – bay-colored Yakut pony
• Leprechaun – Connemara pony, a gift from the president of Ireland, Éamon de Valera
• Moe – Doberman Pinscher
• Billie and Debbie – hamsters
• Pushinka – dog
• Shannon – Cocker Spaniel
• Wolf – Dog, mix of Irish Wolfhound and Schnauzer
• Clipper – German Shepherd
• Butterfly, White Tips, Blackie, and Streaker – Offspring of Pushinka and Charlie
• Zsa Zsa – rabbit
• Sardar – horse
• Spotted Salamander – given by Robert F. Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson

• Him and Her – beagles
• Edgar – beagle
• Blanco – white collie
• Freckles – beagle
• Yuki – mongrel dog famous for "singing duets" with Johnson for White House guests
• Hamsters
• Lovebirds
• Little Beagle Johnson – had the family initials LBJ

Richard Nixon

• Vicky – poodle
• Pasha – Yorkshire terrier
• King Timahoe – Irish Setter
• Checkers – Cocker Spaniel
• A fish

Gerald Ford

• Liberty – Golden Retriever
• Misty – Liberty's puppy, born in the White House
• Shan – Siamese cat

Jimmy Carter

• Grits – Border collie ; Given to his daughter Amy by her teacher, but quickly returned after snapping at several White House visitors
• Lewis Brown – Afghan hound
• Misty Malarky Ying Yang, Amy's pet – Siamese cat
• Shanthi – Sri Lankan elephant; officially a gift from the children of Sri Lanka to those of the United States. Symbolically gifted to Amy.

Ronald Reagan

• Lucky – Bouvier des Flandres
• Rex – Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
• Victory – Golden Retriever
• Peggy – Irish Setter
• Taca – Siberian Husky
• Fuzzy – Belgian sheepdog
• Horses at Rancho del Cielo
• Cleo and Sara – tortoiseshell cats at Rancho del Cielo

George H. W. Bush

• Millie – Springer Spaniel. Millie "wrote" a #1 best-selling book with proceeds donated to the nonprofit Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and earning her a Guinness World Record for "Best-selling book by a canine author."
• Ranger – one of Millie's puppies

Bill Clinton

• Socks – Cat
• Buddy – Chocolate Labrador Retriever

George W. Bush

• Spot "Spotty" Fetcher – female English Springer Spaniel named after Scott Fletcher; puppy of Millie; euthanized after suffering a series of strokes.
• Barney – Scottish Terrier.
• Miss Beazley – Scottish Terrier; nicknamed "Beazley Weazley"; 2005 birthday gift from George to his wife.
• India "Willie" – cat
• Ofelia – Longhorn cow

Barack Obama

• Bo – Portuguese Water Dog.
• Sunny – Portuguese Water Dog.

Donald Trump

• ''None''

Joe Biden

• Champ – German Shepherd
• Major – A German Shepherd rescue. Sent to live with family friends in Delaware by December 2021 after several White House biting incidents.
• Commander – A German Shepherd given to the Bidens as a puppy by the president's brother, also removed from White House after biting incidents.
• Willow – A gray tabby cat who was adopted after the cat jumped onstage during a rally in Pennsylvania in 2020. Willow, who Biden described as having "no limits," often slept on top of the president's head during his term.