Renowned Delaware philanthropists Tatiana and Gerret Copeland, the shelter’s top supporters, have created Reggie’s Fund in memory of a beloved dog they adopted from DHA. What can we do to keep pets and people intact and happy together?” Shelters are really transitioning to becoming full-service resource centers for pet owners because the whole focus is keeping them in their home rather than bringing them into a shelter. “It highlights why it’s so important to remember that not only that you can adopt from a shelter, but that shelters need you, whether it’s to foster or to volunteer, and that the shelters are a resource in the community for veterinary care, for vaccinations or for food assistance. This past November, the Bidens announced that a First Kitty would also be joining the 1600 Penn pack at some point.įor DHA, Major’s adoption “highlights the work that we do every day, not only at Delaware Humane but all shelters throughout the country,” Carroll says. Major and Champ made a splash on campaign social media with slogans like “Build Bark Better.” “I may be a little biased, but I think that Champ and Major would make great First Dogs,” Biden posted on Instagram. 17, 2018, after fostering the puppy for several months. Joe Biden formally adopted Major from Delaware Humane Association on Nov. Biden very much wanted Champ to be recorded as a member of the family, and they set up something at the Naval Observatory where they had the names of all the previous vice presidents who had lived there and their family members, and on the Bidens’ plaque they also included Champ.” The Bidens are longtime animal lovers, Hager says, and made sure Champ was front and center during Biden’s time as veep. “The presidents and their pets usually reflect Americans’ attitude toward pets at that time, and I think you can see that with the Bidens, and the fact that Major is a rescue. “I think it’s really reflective of the trend in America over the last 30 or so years to move toward adoption rather than breeders and puppy mills,” Hager says. Having a shelter pet in the White House is significant, the pet museum’s Hager says. So that was a really special moment for everybody, I think.” He was very clear about, ‘I don’t have a lot of time,’ but he was very gracious and very giving of his time and his attention to everyone. I’ve heard people say, Secret Service or his staff may say, ‘This is how this is going to go,’ but then he does a different thing. “Lots of staff did selfies with him and he was there well over an hour. Kathy, the adoption counselor, said that he talked about cancer, because he obviously has been affected by that with his son Beau, and how they were training dogs to identify cancer in people.”Įveryone got a chance to meet him, Carroll says. He sat there and everyone gathered around him and asked him a lot of questions and he shared a lot of information. In typical Biden fashion, “He was not really acting like he was in a hurry,” Carroll says. They had gotten into a toxic substance, so it was fixable, but it just took time, money and medical treatment.” Thankfully, the hospital called DHA and said, “‘Rather than elect for euthanasia, can you help us with this puppy and give it a new start?’ So we ended up with all six of the puppies,” Carroll says. However, when he continued to grow sicker, they realized they could not afford the medical care he needed. They wanted to surrender the five 11-week-old female puppies in April 2018 but keep the lone male-Major. “They were concerned because they had a health issue and they were declining.” “Someone in the community had a litter of puppies and they reached out to us because they needed to give some of them up,” explains Patrick Carroll, DHA’s executive director. 17, 2018, after fostering him for nearly seven months. The Biden family adopted Major from the no-kill Delaware Humane Association (DHA) on Nov. Major embarks on his DOTUS journey alongside his brother Champ, 12, a pawlitical veteran with eight years of experience sniffing out Beltway hot spots as Second Dog. In a pawsitive step for rescue pets everywhere, German shepherd Major Biden, 3, makes history as the first shelter dog to live in the White House, confirms Andrew Hager, historian-in-residence at the Presidential Pet Museum. Photo courtesy of DHA / Stephanie Gomez Carter Major-the nation’s first ‘First Dog’ adopted from a shelter-joins big brother Champ in the White House.
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