POTUS' Pets Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fido

Although somehow I expected more creativity from our 16th President, the family dog was named Fido. Fido was a yellow, mixed breed dog who would go into town with Lincoln prior to his becoming president. When Lincoln was elected, all the noise and ceremony from the fireworks and cannons scared Fido, so the family chose to leave their beloved dog in Springfield, Illinois with a friend, rather than take him to the White House.

The photo of Fido must have been taken before the Lincolns left for Washington, probably as a memento to remember him by until they could all be reunited.

Answer: Cleopatra

John Adams named his favorite horse Cleopatra, presumably after the Egyptian queen. She was known for her beauty and her affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony - the tabloids would have loved her! President Adams built the first White House stables to accommodate his animals.

His wife, Abigail, owned two mixed-breed dogs called Juno and Satan, but apparently had a helluva time training them.

Answer: Herbert Hoover

King Tut was Herbert Hoover's Belgian shepherd dog. Actually, Hoover had a number of dogs (perhaps to help overcome depression); there was Pat, the German Shepherd, who kept trying to occupy the Belgian shepherd's space, and two fox terriers, Big Ben and Sonny. Hoover also owned a Scottish collie, an Eskimo dog, a collie, a wolfhound, a setter and an elkhound - looks like the country was 'going to the dogs'.

The most surprising of his pets were two alligators owned by his son, Allan Henry, who allowed them to crawl around the White House grounds.

Answer: Mockingbird

Yes, the 3rd President of the United States had a mockingbird named Dick, perhaps to help keep his affairs in order. Jefferson also owned a horse named Caractacus, two bear cubs and two Briard dogs during his tenure as president, i.e., 1801-1809. He owned slaves too, but publicly denounced slavery and proposed bills to make slavery illegal.

Answer: Amy Carter

Amy Carter had a Siamese cat named Misty Malarky Ying Yang (but she was quite young at the time). Misty would be the last cat to occupy the White House until 'Socks', belonging to the Clintons, arrived. Amy Carter lived in the White House from the age of nine; she roller skated around the East Room and had a treehouse on the South Lawn.

In 1995 she illustrated her father's children's book "The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer" (which almost makes Misty Malarky sound normal). She married James Wentzel in 1996 and they had a son, Hugo, in 1999.

Answer: Portuguese Water Dogs

Sunny and Bo were both Portuguese Water Dogs. Bo was known as the 'First Dog of the United States' (FDOTUS) and Sunny has been called Bo's little sister. Portuguese Waters Dogs are from Portugal (duh!) and they have a coat of non-shedding hair which makes them both hypoallergenic and easy to maintain.
BTW - the other choices were all breeds owned by President Reagan, i.e., Lucky, Peggy and Taca, respectively.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt/elephant

Andrew Jackson had a parrot (arrrg!) named Poll; Woodrow Wilson had a little ram named Old Ike; George Washington had a pet donkey named Royal Gift. Theodore Roosevelt, for whom the teddy bear was named, did not own an elephant but he did own guinea pigs named Admiral Dewey, Dr. Johnson, Bob Evans, Bishop Doan and Father O'Grady - now that's creativity! Aside from the usual pets, Roosevelt also had a lion, hyena, wildcat, coyote, bears, zebra, lizard, etc.
Noah (of ark fame) would have been proud!

Answer: Old Whiskers

I thought all the answers would be pretty good for a goat, but Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the US (1889-1893) and grandson of the 9th president (William Henry Harrison) named the billy goat 'Old Whiskers'. The goat actually belonged to Ben's son, Russell. Old Whiskers, like many goats, was quite ornery and one day took off through the White House gates while still attached to his cart which contained President Harrison's grandchildren.

This caused the president to run down the street holding his top hat, waving his cane and yelling at the goat. I guess that's what they mean when they say "he got his goat"!

Answer: Lyndon Johnson

Calvin Coolidge did, in fact, own dogs and even had lion cubs which he named 'Tax Reduction' and 'Budget Bureau' (what a card, that Silent Cal was!); FDR had the famous Scottish terrier, Fala, and President Eisenhower owned a Weimaraner called 'Heidi'; but it was LBJ who owned Yuki and Him and Her.

After Johnson moved into the White House in December 1963, he had the White House doghouse redesigned and expanded. In 1964 the president caused a major outcry when he was photographed picking up Him by his ears, causing hundreds of angry dog lovers to write and phone in to complain, forcing the president to issue a public apology.

Answer: Canary

The Kennedys had dogs and horses, a cat, hamsters, and a rabbit named Zsa Zsa, but Robin was a yellow canary; apparently, they were fairly literal in naming a bird with the name of a bird. In the spring of 1962, when Caroline was 4 years old, Queen Farah of Iran was visiting the White House (times were different then) when Caroline insisted that her mother take the queen to the back yard to visit Robin's burial site.

The bird had died the day before and the burial, at Caroline's request, had taken place near her play area.