FDR’s Old English Sheepdog, Tiny

Tiny was an Old English sheepdog belonging to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The name “Tiny” surely must have brought a few chuckles from White House visitors, considering that males of this breed can reach 100 pounds or more. The book First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Best Friends describes Tiny as “big” and “clumsy.”

Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Tiny. One website, OES.org, reports that Tiny, or “Tiny Tre,” had been given to the Roosevelts by a woman named Helen Roesler on April 30, 1933.

Just a few months later, according to the website, Tiny was gifted to Adm. Cary Grayson, a friend of FDR’s and a physician, on Jan. 9, 1934.