calvin coolidge

Calvin Coolidge’s Dog, Rob Roy

January 24, 2016 By Presidential Pet Museum

“Any man who does not like dogs and want them about does not deserve to be in the White House.” —Calvin Coolidge

President Coolidge, his wife, Grace, and one of their white collies, Rob Roy, circa 1925.

President Calvin Coolidge was so widely known as an animal lover that some people began sending their unwanted pets to the White House.

As a result, our 30th president and the First Lady, Grace Coolidge, had an unsurpassed menagerie at the mansion. Animals as diverse as a pair of lions, a wallaby a pigmy hippo, and a raccoon were part of the extended First Family. However, the Coolidge’s two stunning white collies, Rob Roy and Prudence Prim, were probably their most beloved pets.

Thanks to a painting by Howard Chandler Christy — depicting a seated Rob Roy looking up at Grace Coolidge, who is wearing a striking red dress — that hangs in the China Room of the White House today, Rob Roy is also the best-known Coolidge pet.

From Wisconsin to the White House

Grace Coolidge became enamored with white collies after seeing one perform in a circus.

She purchased Rob Roy, born around 1922, from Stephen C. Radford Jr.’s Island White Kennels in Oshkosh, WI, according to the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum as well as other sources. Although the dog’s name originally was Oshkosh, the First Lady changed it to Rob Roy, after a popular cocktail. The name shows a bit of whimsy since it was the time of Prohibition in the United States.

Well-known for his hatred of any squirrel that dared to cross the White House grounds, Rob Roy slept in the presidential bedroom. Terrified of the White House elevator, Rob Roy would press himself as firmly as he could against the elevator floor for security whenever he took a ride on it.

Rob Roy frequently appeared with the president or the First Lady at public events at the White House and posed with them for photographs.

In fact, Rob Roy became the first dog to be part of an official First Family photo portrait on June 30, 1924. The portrait is poignant because shortly after it was taken, one of the Coolidges’ son, 16-year-old Cal, was in such a hurry to change his clothes that he did not wear socks. A resulting toe blister became infected, and the teenager died from the wound just a week after the photo was taken.

Rob Roy is forever immortalized in this painting with First Lady Grace Coolidge. It hangs prominently on the south wall of the China Room in the White House. — Rob Roy is immortalized in this painting with First Lady Grace Coolidge. It hangs prominently on the south wall of the China Room in the White House, and was said to be Jackie Kennedy’s favorite White House painting.

The Story Behind the Famous Painting

Because the dog was so much a part of the family, the First Lady insisted on having Rob Roy pose with her for her official White House painting in 1924.

When she debated wearing a red dress against a blue background, her husband, known for his dry wit, suggested she could also achieve a red-white-and-blue theme by wearing a white dress and dyeing Rob Roy red.

Coolidge did like the resulting painting and sent a photograph of it to the dog’s breeder, who responded, “Fine picture of dog. Send more photographs.”

President Coolidge plays with Rob Roy, Oct. 31, 1924.

Rob Roy’s Death

In September 1928, Rob Roy developed stomach problems and was rushed into emergency surgery at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Unfortunately, he did not survive.

Coolidge wrote about his fondness for Rob Roy in his autobiography:

“He was a stately companion of great courage and fidelity. He loved to bark from the second-story windows and around the South Grounds. Nights he remained in my room and afternoons went with me to the office. His especial delight was to ride with me in the boats when I went fishing. So although I know he would bark for joy as the grim boatman ferried him across the dark waters of the Styx, yet his going left me lonely on the hither shore.”

Calamity Jane

March 29, 2014 By Presidential Pet Museum

If you know anything about the Calvin Coolidge administration dogs, you probably think of white collies.

The first family had many portraits taken of themselves with their beautiful collies, Prudence Prim and Rob Roy. In fact, the Coolidges helped to make the breed popular with Americans long before the Lassie TV show.

You may not know, however, that the Coolidges also helped introduce the Shetland sheepdog, which looks like a miniature collie, to us as well.

When the news of Prudence Prim’s untimely death hit the newspapers and radio, two Michigan children wanted to send the presidential family a new dog. They sent Diana of Wildwood, a registered Shetland sheepdog, who was at first called a “Scotch collie” by the press.

Already Getting Into Trouble on Day 1

The children had chosen Diana because she was all white just like the first lady’s beloved Prudence Prim.

When the puppy arrived by plane, she appeared to be a black-and-white spotted dog. However, when the President picked up the dog, and the spots transferred to his clothing, everyone realized the “spots” were really patches of dirt and grease.

A New Name

The lively young Sheltie continued to rummage into things and get herself dirty in and around the White House — so much so that the first lady renamed her Calamity Jane in honor of the American frontierswoman.

Calamity Jane the dog routinely got so dirty, in fact, that President Coolidge had a dog bathing tub specially built for the White House, primarily for the purpose of giving her the daily baths she needed.

Shetland Sheepdogs Rise in Popularity in the 1920s

Already enamored of the collie breed thanks to the Coolidges, many Americans turned to the Shetland sheepdog as a better alternative as a house pet because of its smaller size.

Also, after learning of the Coolidges’ problems with keeping Calamity Jane clean, preferences for tri-colors, sables, and merles eclipsed the all-white version of the breed. Even the AKC standard for Shetland sheepdogs says that those with more than half white color will be essentially eliminated from competition.

Calvin Coolidge’s Dog, Prudence Prim

January 4, 2014 By Presidential Pet Museum

Prudence Prim and Grace Coolidge at the summer home in Black Hills, South Dakota, during the summer of 1927. This was shortly before the dog died. — Prudence Prim and Grace Coolidge at the summer home in Black Hills, South Dakota, 1927. Sadly, the beloved dog would later die that summer. (Photo from a postcard by Rise Studio.)

The Coolidge family’s beautiful white collies, Prudence Prim and Rob Roy, were a striking pair.

Following on the heels of her predecessor, Florence “Flossie” Harding, First Lady Grace Coolidge enjoyed the new idea of White House photo opportunities, and she often posed with one or both of her collies.

A fan of animals of all sorts — including a raccoon named Rebecca — Mrs. Coolidge had a particular fondness for Prudence Prim. The feeling was mutual. The dog, about 1 year old when she arrived at the White House in October 1925, demonstrated her endless patience by enduring a straw bonnet decorated with ferns and ribbons tied onto her head for a White House garden party.

The First Lady even had calling cards designed that featured Prudence Prim. When she made a visit, she would leave her own card and the dog’s card behind.

“We always had more dogs than we could take care of,” President Coolidge wrote in his autobiography. “My favorites were the white collies, which became so much associated with me that they are enshrined in my bookplate, where they will live as long as our country endures.”

A “Best Friend and Confidant”

Prudence Prim was purchased from breeders Thomas and Olive Shover of Shomont White Collies in Monticello, Iowa. Here’s an advertisement for Shomont from 1926:

Justin Shover, grandson of these famous breeders, tells the Presidential Pet Museum that Prudence Prim was probably the Coolidges’ favorite of all their many pets. “I have numerous photos that the president sent my grandparents in correspondence letters praising Prudence Prim, and speaking of their great admiration for her,” said Shover.

“Prudence Prim was Grace’s best friend and confidant,” Shover said. “The morning routine for the Coolidges included Prudence bounding in the room, finding her chair, and sharing the president’s cereal while most of a roll and bacon strip went to Rob Roy.”

After humorist Will Rogers visited the White House, he later remarked: “At one time it looked to me like the dogs was getting more [food] than I was. I come pretty near getting down on my all fours and barking to see if business wouldn’t pick up with me.”

According to one account from 1926, “The President is not greatly concerned about the ‘discipline’ of his dog[s]. He holds that there is not much sense in having a dog unless you make a friend of it.”

Grace Coolidge with Prudence Prim (in bonnet) at a garden party, June 3, 1926.

Whistling for the Dogs

According to an account by Ike Hoover, an usher at the White House, the Coolidges used whistles to summon the dogs. Although the First Lady could whistle well, the president usually used a tin whistle.

When he did not have the whistle with him one evening, President Coolidge sputtered at trying to whistle on his own.

“What’s the matter, Poppa?” the First Lady asked. “Don’t your teeth fit tonight?”

President Coolidge, right, with Prudence Prim. (Photo courtesy Justin Shover.)

“A Common Sorrow”

When Prudence Prim died during the First Family’s June–September 1927 summer trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota, Grace Coolidge wrote in a letter: “Rob [Roy] and I shared a common sorrow.”

In his autobiography, President Coolidge mentions the prized dog’s death: “We lost her in the Black Hills,” Coolidge wrote. “She lies out there in the shadow of Bear Butte where the Indians told me the Great Spirit came to commune with his children.”

(The Coolidges had brought along both Prudence Prim and Rob Roy — as well as another dog, Blackberry, plus the First Lady’s cherished pet raccoon — on their extended, cross-country summer vacation.)

Grace Coolidge later penned her feelings about animals in general. “I am unable to understand how anyone can get along without some sort of pet.”

Calvin Coolidge’s Dog, Tiny Tim

January 4, 2014 By Presidential Pet Museum

President Coolidge with Tiny Tim, a red chow.

Although President Coolidge had a soft spot for dogs. In fact, about a dozen dogs — and a menagerie of other animals — made their home at the White House during his administration.

Here is what the president himself had to say about the White House pet population:

“A great many presents come to the White House which are all cherished, not so much for their intrinsic value as because they are tokens of esteem and affection…. But some of the pets that are offered us are more of a problem. I have a beautiful black-haired bear that was brought all the way from Mexico in a truck, and a pair of live lion cubs now grown up, and a small species of hippopotamus which came from South Africa.”

Tiny Tim was a red chow puppy who was a birthday gift for the president. Apparently the dog and President Coolidge shared the same birthday — the Fourth of July.

Although some accounts report that Tiny Tim earned the nickname “Terrible Tim” for his household antics, the dog was still very much part of the family after the Coolidges left the White House.

tiny-tim-calvin-coolidge-dog — Photo from *The Milwaukee Sentinel* showing Grace Coolidge holding Tiny Tim, a chow.

In a March 7, 1929, Associated Press article, Coolidge is reported to have opened his front door on his first morning back to being a private citizen to get his newspaper and to let “Tiny Tim, the Coolidge Chow dog, out for a bit of exercise, and then stood on the porch for several minutes inhaling the fresh air. He then whistled to the dog and went in to breakfast.”

The Coolidge family, who also had a chow named Blackberry, was instrumental in introducing the breed to most Americans. Although a chow named Takya was the first chow to be exhibited in the United States and won third prize in the Miscellaneous class at a Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in 1890, it wasn’t until people saw photos of Tiny Tim that the breed a became popular choice for a pet here.

Calvin Coolidge’s Pet Raccoon Rebecca

January 4, 2014 By Presidential Pet Museum

Grace Coolidge with Rebecca, a cherished pet raccoon.

The Calvin Coolidge White House was justifiably called The Pennsylvania Avenue Zoo.

One of the best-known four-legged White House residents during the Coolidge years — a raccoon — had actually been meant to be eaten.

She was sent from Mississippi to be part of the White House Thanksgiving meal in 1926, but the Coolidge family found her to be friendly and docile and decided to keep her as a pet instead.

The president (who mistakenly called her a “he”) announced the raccoon’s arrival in one of his regular press conferences. “I don’t think he is quite grown yet,” Coolidge told reporters. “He is very playful, very interesting, and seems very well trained and well behaved.” The president also asked the press to help him come up with a name for the new pet.

Rebecca, as she came to be called on Christmas Eve of that year, soon became a favorite of the president and First Lady Grace Coolidge, and was a frequent sight at White House events, including Easter egg rolls.

There’s a Raccoon in the President’s Bathtub

“We…had a house made for her in one of the large trees with a wire fence built around it for protection,” wrote Mrs. Coolidge.

“We kept her chained when out of doors, but in the house she had her liberty. She was a mischievous, inquisitive party and we had to keep watch of her when she was in the house. She enjoyed nothing better than being placed in a bathtub with a little water in it and given a cake of soap with which to play. In this fashion she would amuse herself for an hour or more.”

President Coolidge was known to walk around with Rebecca draped around his neck, while photos show his wife cradling the raccoon in her arms like a cat. The raccoon was clearly very special to the Coolidges.

Not Everyone Was a Fan

Members of the White House staff reportedly disliked the raccoon, since she often ripped both clothing — especially expensive silk stockings — and upholstery.

Once when Rebecca had clawed her way up the leg of the First Lady’s social secretary, Mary Randolph, the president commented, “I think that little coon could bite if she had a mind to.”

A male raccoon, Reuben, was given to the Coolidges in 1928 as a companion for Rebecca, but newspaper reports reveal that the two did not get along well.

The rambunctious Rebecca escaped from the White House grounds a few times, and the president and his wife eventually decided to give her to the Rock Creek Zoo (now the Washington Zoo).

Tiger

July 22, 2013 By Presidential Pet Museum

Officer Benjamin Fink holds Tiger, Calvin Coolidge’s tabbie cat, at the White House on March 25, 1924. Calvin and Grace Coolidge literally had a zoo at the White House. Among their other pets were other cats and a raccoon.