Since March 23 is National Puppy Day, people are wondering why President Donald Trump doesn't have a dog or some other pet. After two months in the White House, the president has filled a lot of positions except the one for a pet. There is no legislation that says the President of the United States should have a pet, but almost all presidents before Donald Trump have had pets. While most of them owned a dog, others owned cats and a variety of other animals. Records show that only three former presidents didn't have pets.
A dog for Trump
Lois Pope had promised to give Trump her goldendoodle named Patton (pictured above).
However, the 83-year-old Florida philanthropist decided at the last minute that she didn't want to part with Patton. Trump told her not to worry about it because he is frequently flying between Washington, New York and Florida and he wouldn't have time for a dog anyway.
It is probably a good thing that Pope's dog wasn't given to Trump because he doesn't consider a dog to be man's best friend. He has insulted several people by describing them as a dog in some way. According to the Washington Post, while Trump was on the campaign trail, he said Ted Cruz was "choking like a dog." He said Marco Rubio was "sweating like a dog." He said men like Glenn Beck, Mark Cuban, David Gregory, Bill Maher, and Chuck Todd should be fired “like a dog.”
Pets of presidents
Some of the presidents had more than one pet.
President George Washington had Polly the parrot along with 36 hounds and some horses. More than half of the presidents had dogs in the White House, and some had cats. Unique pets included Thomas Jefferson's two bear cubs, John Quincy Adams' alligator, William Taff's cow, and Andrew Jackson's white mice. Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama, had two Dogs, Bo and Sunny.
When 10-year-old Barron Trump moves into the White House in June, perhaps the president will consider getting a pet of some kind. As of now, Donald Trump is the first pet-less president in 150 years.
