Lucky taking Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for a walk.
The dog most of us associated with Ronald Reagan is Rex, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel that William F. Buckley Jr. gave to him when as a Christmas present.
However, before Rex, there was Lucky, a wild Bouvier des Flandres. It was given as gift by a supporter as a small puppy– which later developed his herding instincts and charged after the press pool. I guess it wasn’t a fan of the liberal media.
Lucky once bit Reagan so badly that it drew the blood.
And the herding dog was sent to the Reagan Ranch.
If a Bouvier bites you seriously, it does more than “draw blood”. I never heard that the injury required stitches. Reagan wasn’t a dog trainer and a Bouvier is a large, serious dog that really NEEDS a good trainer to behave well. From what I understand the dog did fine on the ranch. Herding doesn’t involve charging at the press — it’s more likely the dog’s protection type (guard dogs, working police dogs) genetics played a role in that behavior.
However, the issue of “Lucky” brings clearly to point the error in getting a dog for someone without carefully checking out if the dog will meet the individual’s lifestyle and handling skills. I’m not a fan of Obama, but he did do the right thing in carefully selecting a dog and in getting help to make sure it was a good canine citizen in an environment sure to involve a lot of public interaction.
Peggy Richter
I think he got the dog thinking it was an Old English sheepdog from Belgium!
[…] Remember Lucky the Bouvier des Flandres? That was President Reagan’s first White House dog. Given to him as a puppy, he kept the dog at the executive mansion until it proved too unruly to keep around. At one point, the dog even bit him to the point of drawing blood. Eventually, the Reagans had to get rid of the dog and banish him to the ranch in California. They replaced Lucky with Rex, a smaller, tamer dog that eventually stayed with them well beyond his presidency. You can read more about Reagan’s dogs here. […]