Blackberry was an aptly named black Chow Chow who belonged to President Coolidge and his family. The Coolidges acquired Blackberry on their 1927 trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota, where their summer home was and where they often campaigned.
One of Blackberry’s claims to fame was his tendency to howl at everything! Blackberry was known to howl at trees, the moon, the ceiling, you name it. After enduring this for some time, the President finally had had enough. Blackberry was gifted to son John Coolidge’s fiancée, Florence Trumbull, who was the daughter of the governor of Connecticut. But Miss Trumbull admired Blackberry a great deal and was thrilled to add the Chow to her household.