December 2020

• The Bidens’ 2-year-old German shepherd, Major, will be the first shelter dog to take up residence in the White House.

• French bulldogs were the most popular breed in San Francisco in 2020, according to the American Kennel Club. Frenchies are descended from an ancient Greek livestock guarding dog, the Molossus of Epirus. They are believed to have come to France during the Industrial Revolution when British citizens with toy bulldogs settled in Normandy. Some Frenchies have been crossed with terriers, enabling them to grow to a maximum of 28 pounds. 

• Francis Galton invented the dog whistle in 1876.

• Scraps, the dog in Charlie Chaplin’s A Dog’s Life (1918), was played by a rescue dog named Mut with one ‘t’. The dog became so attached to Chaplin that it passed away from a broken heart when Chaplin left town after filming to sell war bonds.

• Ginger, the German shepherd seen on Dragnet’s 1969 episode about using dogs to detect pot, was not a show business dog, but was employed by the L.A. Police Department.