ABOVE: Surrounded by her collection of presidential memorabilia, Claire McLean is founder of the Presidential Pet Museum In Lothian. RIGHT: Ms. McLean displays a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan's dog Lucky created by her mother, using some of the pet's actual fur.

Driven, as most would be, to snag some memento of her White House assignment, Claire McLean secreted some of the coiffed fur clippings into a bag which she stuffed in her purse, then slipped out right under the nose of the Secret Service. A museum was born.

It all started with a haircut - or more accurately, a groommg. Claire McLean, a breeder of champion shaggy Bouvier des Flandres canines, got an invitation back in 1985 to care for Lucky, the Bouvier belonging to President and Nancy Reagan.

Driven, as most would be, to snag some memento of her White House assignment, she secreted some of the coiffed fur clippings into a bag which she staffed in her purse, then slipped out right under the nose of the Secret Service.

Voila! A museum was born.

Well, the idea anyway. The idea "far-mented" for some 14 years before taking shape in 1998.

"I donated the fur to the American Bouvier des Flandres Club for a fund raiser. Then my mother had an idea," she said.

Dorothy De Silva, who started the Bouvier breeding concern, DeeWal Kennels, nearly 50 years ago, took the black snippets and made a portrait of Lucky festooned with its own fur.

The framed work hangs on the wall of the Presidential Pet Museum, housed in two rooms on the side of a cinder block building on her property off Wrighton Road in Lothian.

The 4-year-old museum, open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday from April to November, consists of a ragtag menagerie of presidential and White House pet memorabilia collected over the years.

From online sales, flea markets and trips to presidential museums across the country, she has gleaned all sorts of presidential knickknacks, newspaper and magazine clippings of presidents and their furry friends, placards and campaign memorabilia, including thank-you notes from presidents to her mother and herself.

There is a clipping of President Lyndon B. Johnson picking up his beagle, Him, by the ears, and a picture of Caroline Kennedy riding her pony, Macaroni.

There Eire books for sale as well, like former President Bush's dog's autobiography, "Millie's Book," and another tome called "All the President's Dogs. 19

The museum will hold a grand -reopening fund-raiser on Saturday at 10 a.m. featuring a barbecue with potluck dessert, all-breed puppy show, petting zoo and training class for kids.

While she still breeds Bouviers and Portugese water dogs, Mrs. McLean is slowly putting that aside to concentrate on the museum and related ventures.

"Here I am in my 60s, the grandmother of eight, CEO of a nonprofit foundation," she said. "Five years ago I did not know what the Internet was."

The notion really stuck when former President Clinton's dog,

Buddy, was killed by a car in January.

"All the TV news people found me through the site and came down here to interview me. They were down here all day.

"I thought maybe this isn't such a silly idea after all."

Mrs. McNeal looked out the window, to a pea-gravel lined dog run she hopes to convert to a petting zoo if there are enough visitors to warrant the move.

Someday she hopes to move the museum to a site in Washington.

She reports the White House has been home to over 400 pets over the years, and an exotic mix at that: a bobcat, an elephant, an alligator, even a tobacco-eating goat belonging to President Woodrow Wilson.

"This is a great way to get kids interested in presidents," she said.

Ask a child if they want to learn about presidents and you will get little interest, she said. "But ask them if they want to learn about presidential pets and they get excited."

pfurgurson@capitalgazette.com