# Dog duty at the White House **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-duty-at-the-white-house/45110 "2000-12-12T00:18:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rjv42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@rjv42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjv42)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-duty-at-the-white-house/45110/1 "2000-12-12T00:18:35Z")
Who is responsible for the First Family’s dog? Who takes him out to relieve himself? Do they let him run loose on the grounds? Does he get trained to go to the door when he needs out? Is there a doggy door? Does he get Secret Service protection? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-duty-at-the-white-house/45110/2 "2000-12-12T00:35:36Z")
_Millie’s Book,_ written during the Bush administration, covers a lot of this. Millie went through obedience training before coming to live with the Bushes (when George was still VP). She was allowed to run loose on the White House grounds (I don’t know whether this was supervised or not, although she sometimes got into trouble for digging in the flowers). Whoever was available would let her in and out – sometimes SS or the house staff, or the family if they were with her, I imagine. There’s a great picture of two staff members helping Mrs. Bush with Millie’s pups – one looks like he enjoys the job, and the other not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-duty-at-the-white-house/45110/3 "2000-12-12T14:25:32Z")
I’ve always wondered that myself. Are there staff members who follow **Socks** around to keep her from scratching priceless national heirlooms, like Dolley Madison’s drapes or Lincoln’s bed? Or was she required to be declawed when she came to live at the White House? **Fala** , **Lucky** , **Socks** , **Buddy** …how many Presidential pets can we name? Was **Checkers** still alive when Nixon moved back to Washington in 1968? ---
**Author:** ![retsin2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@retsin2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retsin2000)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-duty-at-the-white-house/45110/4 "2000-12-12T15:00:20Z")
WAG - I bet Socks was declawed before moving into the Arkansas governor’s mansion. As far as other first pets go don’t forget **Him** and **Her** , LBJ’s beagles. He got into a little trouble when he showed the press that they could be picked up by their ears. He claimed they didn’t mind. I don’t think I’ll be trying this with our beagle mix to find out. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-duty-at-the-white-house/45110/5 "2000-12-12T16:30:25Z")
He didn’t actually pick them up by their ears - he pulled on “Him”'s ears to encourage him to stand up on his hind legs which never left the ground. Still not a reccomended procedure. “Him” and “Her” got all the press, but LBJ’s favorite was actually a stray mutt that he named Yuki. Background on LBJ’s dogs, including a picture of the “ear” thing: [http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/FAQs/dog/doghouse.asp](http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/FAQs/dog/doghouse.asp) Somebody did write a history of presidential pets, going all the way back to the founding fathers. What sticks in my mind was that the only thing he could dig up on John Quincy Adams was that, although he didn’t keep any pets, he was amused by the antics of the mice that had infested his office, and put out food for them. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-duty-at-the-white-house/45110/6 "2000-12-13T03:19:24Z")
according to “dear socks,dear buddy” socks has a bed in the engineer’s room. there is always an engineer on duty. buddy spends time in the oval office or on the south lawn. he sleeps in the residence with the pres. and first lady. socks and buddy don’t have their own secret service agents. socks stays on a cat leash when he is outside. the pres. sec. tends to keep an eye out for socks inside the white house. from the pictures socks still has his claws. mrs clinton doesn’t say who cleans up after the two fur faces. however from reading the chapter again it appears that the white house engineers have a lot of interaction with both buddy and socks. they are on duty 24\7 and mrs clinton stated that they watch after buddy when they are away. so i would conclude that the family when they are home take care of thier pets, when away or otherwise occupied the white house engineers. no dog door, and neither buddy and socks are allowed to roam free on the grounds due to security concerns.