Laddie Boy (dog)

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Laddie Boy with President Harding and two children.

Laddie Boy (1919-January 23, 1929) was an airedale terrier owned by US President Warren G. Harding and was a celebrity during the Harding administration. Laddie Boy was a faithful kind of dog. When the president played golf and hit a tree, Laddie Boy would run up the tree and get it. Laddie Boy had his own hand carved chair to sit in during cabinet meetings. The White House held birthday parties for the dog, invited other neighborhood dogs to join, and served them dog biscuit cake. Newspapers published mock interviews with the dog. Laddie Boy was so famous, he even has a caretaker. Purportedly, the dog howled constantly the 3 days prior to the President's death at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, knowing of his master's imminent demise. In memorial of President Harding, newsboys collected 19,134 pennies to be remelted and sculpted into a statue of Laddie Boy. Harding's widow died before the statue was completed in 1927 and the statue was presented to the Smithsonian Institution where it currently resides today.