The Bidens resume the tradition broken by Trump and move to the White House with their dogs 'Champ' and 'Major'

Joe and Jill Biden are not alone in the White House.

Since last Sunday, January 24, they have been accompanied by their two dogs,

and

It might seem like an anecdote, but in a country where everything that surrounds the US president, his family and his personal life is considered front line, the arrival of these two German shepherds in Washington has become news.

The question is, as in everything related to this administration chaired by Joe Biden, in the change.

Former President Donald Trump broke a centuries-old tradition by not having animals in the White House.

As the White House Historical Association reviews on its website, with six decades of history, the White House mascots "have provided company and have humanized the political image of presidents."

But Trump decided to skip that unwritten rule and not bring dogs, cats or any other companion animal to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

With Biden, the tradition has returned to fulfillment and, as it already seems the norm with him, it has been modernized.

There are two dogs that enter the East Wing.

Last Monday, when the president signed the agreement to lift the veto of transgender people in the Army, they could be heard barking near the Oval Office, according to the AP.

Jill Biden's press secretary, Michael LaRosa, recently said that the so-called

had wanted to wait to settle before bringing their dogs from Delaware, where they lived, to Washington, hence they will arrive on Sunday, four days after their owners.

"

is enjoying his new bed by the fireplace and

loves running down the South Esplanade," LaRosa told the US media, always interested in the details of presidential life.

Champ

is the older of the two German Shepherds in the family.

He began living with them 12 years ago, in December 2008, shortly after Joe Biden was elected vice president along with Barack Obama - who also had his dogs,

.

Instead,

was adopted in November 2018, about six months before Biden announced that he would run in the 2020 presidential election which he ultimately won.

Additionally,

has become the first adopted dog from a shelter to arrive at the White House.

Also, the dogs may not be alone soon.

As the first lady declared to a local Washington television station, Fox 5, "she would love to have a cat."

"I love having animals at home," said Jill Biden.

A tradition that is not strange and that goes back to Abraham Lincoln, who was the first president (in the mid-nineteenth century) to bring a cat to the White House;

in fact, it was two,

and

The Clintons also had a cat named

(socks) that lived for 20 years and inspired the celebration of International Cat and Bush Day a cat,

, named for a Texas Rangers baseball player when George Bush owned it.

More exotic have been other leaders such as the Kennedys, whose daughter Caroline had a pony named

(and also the dog

, a gift from Nikita Khrushchev to Jacquie Kennedy), or Theodore Roosevelt, lovers of animals and who had dogs, birds, ponies , snakes and hamsters.

“Pets,” wrote Jennifer Pickens, author of the book

, “have played an important role throughout the years. decades, not only providing company to presidents and their families, but humanizing and softening their political images.

Or, as President Truman said, "If you're looking for a friend in Washington, buy yourself a dog."