Getting to Know LBJ's Dog

President Lyndon B. Johnson is a great lover of dogs. Despite his presidential duties and his responsibility to the nation and his family, LBJ finds time to take care of several of man's best friends. LBJ's dog is well taken cared of by the president himself. He more particularly likes beagles more than any other dog breeds.

Two of the famous dogs of LBJ are Him and Her. They are duly registered beagles born in 1963. They are also the most photographed dogs during those times. Back then, the president is frequently seen enjoying his pets and playing with them in his free time. It also became an issue before when the president was caught on camera lifting the dog named Him with his ears as he greets a group of people on the lawn of the White House.

Dogs Him and Her were able to produce a good set of puppies. Even the president's daughter Luci had kept her own share of pets from their offspring. LBJ's dog became one too many, as Him produced two cuddly puppies, which were named Freckles and Kim. Freckles used to be called Pecosa. But it seems like the dog wants the name Freckles better so that one stuck instead. Luci took Kim and Freckles under her care but when she got married and have to move to Texas, she only took Kim with her. Freckles stayed at the White House and it went on to be LBJ's dog.

Her died in 1964 because she accidentally swallowed a stone. Him, on the other hand, was hit by a car when he chased a squirrel on the lawn of the White House. That left the president with Freckles. But eventually, he was adopted by a staff of the White House when the president has to step down after his term.

But that didn't leave LBJ without a dog. When Him died, J. Edgar Hoover, who was then the FBI director, gave the president a new beagle to be his pet. Hoover used to be the president's neighbor so they were good friends, technically. The president named the dog J. Edgar, after Hoover himself. However, the J in its name was eventually dropped and the dog was just called Edgar. Edgar was LBJ's dog when he stepped down as a president. It moved with him at the LBJ Ranch when he left the White House.

LBJ had another dog called Blanco. Blanco was born in 1963 and he was given to the president as a gift. A little girl from Illinois presented the dog to him. Blanco stayed in the White House during the president's term. However, he was given to a doctor in Kentucky when the president stepped down from office. Blanco died nine years later due to heart attack.

LBJ had another dog named Yuki. Yuki is a dog of mixed breed and it was found by Luci abandoned at a Texas gas station. It was Thanksgiving when Luci found the dog. Yuki got its name from the word Yukimas which means snow. Luci had officially adopted the dog and it stays at home with her. But then, the president grew fond of Yuki when Luci takes it to the White House during special occasion. Luci saw that and gave Yuki to his dad. Yuki soon became the president's most faithful companion. Yuki lived with the president in the White House for the rest of his term. When LBJ left, Yuki boarded the Air Force One with him. President Johnson lived with Yuki until the later days of his life. When the president died, Luci took Yuki back home and it lived with her and her family since. In 1979, Yuki died.

These are the stories of each and every one of LBJ's dogs. Lyndon Blair Johnson is one American president whose heart is most touched by pets, more particularly this four-footed animal. LBJ had created history not only for the his excellence in leading America for the entire length of his term, but for showing everybody that dogs are very faithful companions that you can always count on. By showing the rest of the nation as well as everybody else in the world that dogs deserve the love and companionship in the same way as humans, people began loving and living with their pets in the same harmony as the president does with his dogs.