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Joe Biden's dog Major to be honored with virtual 'indoguration' party

One of the president-elect's German Shepherd dogs was adopted from an animal shelter, an American first.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
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Jill Biden pets family dogs Major and Champ.

 Twitter

Hail to the pooch. The Delaware Humane Association and and Pumpkin Pet Insurance will host a virtual party for dogs, which the groups have dubbed an "indoguration," to welcome German Shepherd Major Biden to the White House. President-elect Joe Biden and wife, Jill, have two German Shepherds, Champ and Major. Major is drawing more attention because he was adopted from the Delaware Humane Association shelter in 2018, and is being called the first shelter dog in the White House.

The group is asking for a $10 minimum donation to attend the virtual event on Jan. 17. The online party will be hosted by Jill Martin of the Today Show.

In an Instagram post from 2020, the ASPCA dubbed Major Biden a "very good boy," and wrote, "We're thrilled the Bidens' dog Major will be the first shelter dog ever to call the White House his home."

Major may be the first presidential pet officially adopted from an animal shelter, but as CNN notes, he's not the first rescue pet in the White House. President Lyndon B. Johnson's family and President Bill Clinton's family were among the presidential families who had rescue pets. Johnson's daughter, Luci, found their mixed-breed dog, Yuki, abandoned at a gas station.