Dogs returning to the White House: Biden’s German shepherds

Just as Vice President Joe Bid en was wrapping up an interview with “60Minutes” in2015, he turned to an observer sitting quietly to the side, to pose a question of his own: Was there any interest ingoing outside to play?

“He’ s a talker,” Biden said of his German shepherd, Champ, who by then had erupted into excited howls, readyto leap past the doors as soon as Bid en grabbed a golf club.

Along time presence in the federal government, Bid en took the famous line literally: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. Now, his two German shepherds, Champ and Major, areexpected to join the president-elect and Jill Bide nat the White House following his inauguration in January.

At 12 years old, Champis the elder of the pair, while2- yearoldMajor, who will becomethe first shelter dog to live at the White House, was adopted a few months before Biden announced his latest run for the presidency. The German shepherds will fill an empty role at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave .: President Donald Trump was the fifirst occupant in more than a century not town a pet of some kind.

Like Ba rack and Michelle O ba ma, the Bidens did not initially own a dog during the 2008 ObamaBiden race for the White House. But Jill Bid en had promised her husband, whohas long had German shepherds, that they would get a puppy after the campaign, according to Politico, and they bought one shortly thereafter from a breeder in Pennsylvania.

Although their grandchildren chose the name“Champ,” it carried special sig ni fifi can ce for Bid en, whose father would often tell him to “get up, champ” during tough moments, a common refrain inhis speeches on the campaign trail.