Trump Explains Why He Doesn’t Have a Dog

It’s well known that President Donald Trump is unique among modern presidents in that he has no pets.

And he recently provided some explanation as to why.

Trump said at a campaign rally in El Paso, TX, that he’d like to have a dog, but his schedule is too packed, Time reports. He was speaking after watching German shepherds  that work for the Secret Service show off their drug-detection abilities.

He then asked the crowd if he’d look good walking a dog across the White House lawn, before dismissing the idea.

“Feels a little phony, phony to me,” he said.

Presidents have kept a wide variety of companion animals in the White House in a tradition that dates to the Thomas Jefferson era, according to the article. Presidential pets have included not only dogs and cats, but also more exotic creatures, from bears to sheep to, in the case of John Quincy Adams, possibly an alligator.

Vice President Mike Pence’s family, on the other hand, has owned several pets, including cats, dogs and a rabbit.

Read more at Time