Trump reveals why he never got a dog in White House as he mocks Biden’s ‘vicious’ pooch

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Donald Trump stands apart from more than a century of White House tradition as the only President to go without owning a dog, and now, he’s finally revealing the reason behind that choice.

The 79-year-old President was attending the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches' annual dinner as a special guest on Friday, April 1, when he got on the topic of dogs by calling attention to the efforts of Florida state Representative Meg Weinberger, a key sponsor of the legislation to rename Southern Boulevard, the street in front of Mar-a-Lago, 'President Donald J Trump Boulevard.'

'And she loves animals, right?' Trump said. 'That usually is very good for votes.'

The event marked his second appearance in Florida that Friday and, notably, his first time stepping out from the safety of the White House since the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner just days earlier.

Trump mocks Biden’s dog

During the appearance, he recalled how he was pressured by his administration to get a dog when he first entered the White House in 2017.

"You know, they all wanted me to buy a dog. When I went to the White House, they said, 'Sir, you'll be the first President in 68 years, or something, that doesn't have a dog,'" he said.

“I said, ‘It's not going to work for me,’” Trump added, before bringing attention to the photographs of former President Joe Biden walking his dog.

“But his dog was a vicious dog. Biting our Secret Service people. We have 28 bite problems. This was a violent dog,”

“That's not a dog I'd want,' the President remarked, garnering laughs from the audience,” Trump continued.

The last president without a dog was William McKinley, the 25th president. He did, however, have kittens, parrots, and roosters as pets.

Joe Biden’s dog problem

Two of the three German Shepherds kept by Biden during his presidency were involved in biting incidents with members of the Secret Service. First was Major, the first rescue dog to ever live at the White House, who was rehomed in December 2021.

The Bidens then adopted Commander, who reportedly bit US Secret Service agents on at least 24 occasions between October 2022 and July 2023.

In one June 2023 attack, Commander tore into a female agent’s arm at the president’s Rehoboth Beach, Del., vacation home, causing a “severe deep open wound” with loss of “a significant amount of blood,” requiring at least six stitches.

Talking about the dog problems, Trump said most of the presidents owned dogs just for votes. “But for 60 years, I guess even longer, every President has had a dog, because they do it for votes. Some of them do it because they love the dog -  probably most of them do it for votes,” he said before adding, “I thought it would be quite fake.”

He then asked the audience to picture what he would look like with a fluffy pooch. “Can you imagine, Donald Trump has purchased a lovely, lovely little poodle,” he said. “And he walks him religiously on the White House grounds.”