Bush gets new best friend
Yellow lab joins 41’s family as 42 stops for visit
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — Former President George H.W. Bush is welcoming a new member of the family: a yellow Labrador retriever named “Sully.”
The 94-year-old and his service dog got acquainted yesterday at the Bush compound on the coast of Maine. Bush aide Evan Sisley says the two hit it off.
Sully had been trained by America’s Vet Dogs, a nonprofit that provides service dogs.
Sisley says the dog can open doors, pick up items and summon help, but that “more than anything else the dog will be a wonderful companion.”
Bush is a dog lover. Two of his kids, Neil Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch, together have five dogs there.
Sully joins the family after Barbara Bush died April 17 with her husband at her side in their home in Houston.
A photo sent via Twitter shows Sully lounging at the feet of Bush and former President Bill Clinton, who had been visiting yesterday.
A photo posted on Twitter shows the nation’s 41st and 42nd presidents sharing a moment as Bush shows off a pair of “Bill Clinton socks.”
Clinton ended Bush’s plans for re-election in 1992 but both Bush, and his son, former President George W. Bush, are now friends with Clinton.
The elder Bush enjoys wearing colorful socks and wore socks with books on them to honor his late wife’s commitment to literacy at her funeral. Barbara and George Bush were married for 73 years.
“Special visit today with a great friend — and now, a best-selling author. Luckily I had a freshly laundered pair of @BillClinton socks to mark the occasion,” Bush tweeted.
In May, Bush sported yellow Hamilton socks with black stars to commemorate finally getting to watch the hit Broadway musical.