Buddy

Breed	Labrador Retriever
Sex	Male
Born	(1997-08-07)August 7, 1997 Federalsburg,Maryland,U.S.
Died	January 2, 2002(2002-01-02) (aged 4) Chappaqua,New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Hit by a car
Occupation	First Dog of the United States
Years active	1997–2002
Known for	Being the pet of theFirst Family of the United States
Owner	Clinton family
Appearance	Brown fur

Buddy (August 7, 1997 – January 2, 2002), a male chocolate-coloredLabrador Retriever, was one of two pets kept by the Clinton family whileBill Clinton was President of the United States. The Clintons' other pet was a cat namedSocks.

Clinton adopted Buddy as a three-month-old puppy fromCaroline County, Maryland, in December 1997. He named him after his great-uncle, Henry Oren "Buddy" Grisham, who had died the previous June and whom Clinton often cited as a major influence on his life.^[1][2]Socks did not get along with Buddy, who was frisky, so the White House had to keep the two in separate quarters. Since this arrangement would be no longer possible in the Clintons' smaller home in New York, Socks was left under the care of Bill Clinton's secretary,Betty Currie.

According to a police report, Buddy was killed by a car while "playfully chasing a contractor" who had left the Clinton home inChappaqua, New York, on January 2, 2002. The Clintons were not home at the time of the accident; their home was being watched bySecret Service agents. The agents rushed Buddy to an animal hospital where he was pronounced dead.^[3][4]

In June 2002, Clinton acquired another chocolate Labrador whom he named "Seamus".^[5]

First LadyHillary Clinton wrote a children's book calledDear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets in 1998.^[6] It included excerpts from more than 50 letters written to the First Pets by children and more than 80 photographs of Socks and Buddy.

Buddy was a central character inRick Cleveland's 2005 one-man showMy Buddy Bill,^[7] relating the writer's fictional friendship with Bill Clinton, which began when both men discovered their common interest in dogs.

• United States presidential pets
• List of individual dogs
• List of Labrador Retrievers

• Noveck, Jocelyn (April 17, 2009)."This man is White House dog's best friend".USA Today. RetrievedMarch 29, 2010.

• 1997 animal births
• 2002 animal deaths
• Bill Clinton
• Caroline County, Maryland
• Hillary Clinton
• Road incident deaths in New York (state)
• United States presidential dogs
• Labrador Retriever
• Hillary Clinton's tenure as First Lady of the United States
• Presidency of Bill Clinton

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