A ‘Major’ year for change: First Dog, Major, first ever shelter dog to live in White House

Graphic courtesy of the Delaware Humane Association

He slowly put his paw on the Bible and started to speak: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States’s best friend, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend all the bones in the treat bowl.”

It might seem like something pulled straight out of a dog’s dream, but it is a reality for the two new First Dogs of the United States.

After four years without any animals in the White House, we now have two pretty pooches — Champ, who has been with the Biden’s since 2008, and Major, who has been with the Biden’s since 2018. 

Animals in the White House date back all the way back to Thomas Jefferson who owned bear cubs and a mockingbird. But Major, Biden’s youngest dog, is the first-ever shelter animal to live in the Whtie House. 

Jennifer Pickens, author of “Pets at The White House,” says “pets have played an important role in the White House throughout the decades, not only by providing companionship to the presidents and their families but also by humanizing and softening their political images.” 

Pickens hopes that Major will inspire others to adopt from shelters and rescue centers as opposed to pet stores and puppy mills. But before Major even took his celebrity spot as the first shelter dog in the Dog House, adoption numbers had been skyrocketing all over the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Shelter Animal Count, an online database, tracks around 500 different rescue facilities and shelters around the country. In April of 2020, they recorded that adoption rates went up by 36% since the year before and recorded 26,000 more adoptions throughout the year as a whole. 

On Jan. 17, the Delaware Humane Association wanted Major to feel just as important as President Joe Biden and co-sponsored an ‘indoguration,’ where they were able to raise $200,000 for their shelter. 

The DHA is proud of how far Major has come since being a dog living in their shelter and agrees that he is “barking proof that every dog can live the American Dream.”