Furry Tails: From The Shelter To The White House
By: KDKA-TV Digital Producer Heather Lang
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- From the Delaware Humane Society to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The long history of presidential pets will continue this winter when the Bidens move into the White House.
But this time will be a little different.
That's because Major Biden, the family's youngest German shepherd, is the first-ever "first dog" adopted from an animal shelter.
The impact of President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden's adoption of Major was a big one. On the day of Major's adoption in November of 2018, the Delaware Humane Society's Facebook post went viral. Now it has nearly 36,000 reactions and more than 27,000 shares.
The Delaware Humane Society remains very proud of their former resident. Reposting a photo of Major over the weekend, with the caption, "First Dog Elect."
The post has gained over 4,000 reactions and shares so far.
RELATED STORIES:
- CBS News: Biden's German shepherd Major will be first shelter dog in the White House
- Furry Tails: First Pets
Major may be on his way to the most famous house in America, but life did not start out so well for him.
According to USA Today, Major and his five brothers and sisters were put in grave danger as puppies. They were exposed to "something toxic" in the home they were living in, and then surrendered to the Delaware Humane Society.
Thankfully, the shelter was able to get them the help they needed at a veterinary emergency clinic. After recovering, the pups returned to the shelter and that's where fate stepped in for the future first dog.
The Biden's daughter, Ashley, saw a Facebook post about them from the Humane Society and called her dad, Buzzfeed reports.
President-elect Biden called the shelter. Soon after, he and Dr. Biden ended up fostering Major from March through his official adoption this month two years ago.
Click here for more photos of Presidential Pets!
Major and his doggy sibling, Champ, even played a role in Biden's presidential campaign. They were featured in several posts on the future first couple's social media pages.
"Let's put dogs back in the White House," one of the posts read.
Major and Champ will now be part of that long tradition of presidential pets. President Lyndon B. Johnson's dog, Yuki, paved the way for Major. That's because, according to Buzzfeed, Yuki was the very first presidential rescue dog.
Yuki was a stray found by President Johnson's daughter in Texas. He took in the mixed breed, saving him from a life of wandering the streets.
Now Major will carry on that tradition, furthering it as a former shelter dog.
Representing all shelter dogs through the soon-to-be first family.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Stay tuned animal lovers for more Furry Tails! You can follow me on Twitter at @HeatherLang24
