PETA Video Is a Tribute to New and Past ‘First Dogs’

For Immediate Release:
January 28, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

With dogs back in the White House—including Major, the first “first dog” (FIDO) to be adopted from an animal shelter—PETA’s just-released a video tribute to past FIDOs and the presidents who loved them.

These FIDOs have helped presidents win elections (King Tut appeared in Herbert Hoover’s campaign photos), chased the French ambassador up a tree (Theodore Roosevelt’s Pete), written books (George H.W. Bush’s Millie), and even been the unlikely subject of a Secret Service probe (Pushinka, a gift from Nikita Khrushchev to John F. Kennedy). Your audience might be surprised to learn that Major isn’t the first rescued dog to end up as a FIDO: Lyndon B. Johnson found his beloved mutt Yuki at a gas station in Texas and whisked him away on Air Force One to live in the White House.

“PETA is as happy as a dog with a stick to see the return of the long, proud tradition of dogs in the White House,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “We hope many more Americans will be inspired by the Bidens’ decision to adopt and will adopt from their local shelter, too.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Note: PETA supports animal rights and opposes all forms of animal exploitation and educates the public on those issues. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign in support of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.