Dogs on the vice-presidential run: Meet the pups of candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance

Vice-presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz have constant companions at the rallies, interviews and meetings making up the 2024 presidential campaign: their dogs.

Meet America's canine campaigners: Atlas and Scout. The two doggos may be polls apart in age and breed, but their mission is the same – to help their owner win the election.

Both dogs have been highly visible during the monthslong campaign and have even gotten some press coverage of their own.

Here's what to know about the MVPs – the most valuable pooches – of the veep nominees' campaigns.

Atlas: J.D. Vance

Atlas is a German shepherd, who will celebrate his first birthday on Election Day, Nov. 5, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder told USA TODAY this week. The family purchased the dog from a local breeder.

Atlas has been a constant companion as former President Donald Trump’s running mate campaigned across the U.S. Pictures and videos of him accompanying Vance have been widely shared on social media, leading to claims that the Republican nominee rented the dog to make him seem like "a dog fan."

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Addressing the claim in an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, Vance, whose hand was on Atlas, joked: “So, this is Atlas, which I found out on the internet a few weeks ago that he’s actually a rent-a-dog that was given to me by the campaign to make me seem like I’m a dog fan."

Vance continued: "It's actually hysterical to hear these lefties be like, ‘Oh, that dog, that's totally not his dog.’ Of course, we got him when he was an 8-week-old puppy, and we love dogs, and he's been our little guy. But he’s so well-trained and so normal. It's shocking to me that anybody would think that he's not our puppy, but here we are."

Atlas loves lamb and blueberry dog food, and his favorite human food is anything, including “any meat scraps” he can get his paws on, the Vance campaign told the New York Post. As for his favorite toys, he loves "any plastic or stuffed toy he’s lucky enough to find lying around the family’s house – whether it belongs to him or not."

Scout: Tim Walz

Five-year-old Scout is a former shelter dog, whom the Democratic Walz calls a “lab mix,” as the dog is a cross between a Labrador Retriever, Boxer, and Chow Chow.

"Scout is a gentle giant, a big softie, who loves ice-cream, his sister Honey the cat's food, catching frisbees – and us," the Walz family said over email to USA TODAY. "We wish we could tell him that he rescued us as much as we rescued him."

The Walz family adopted Scout from Minnesota-based nonprofit Midwest Animal Rescue and Services after the governor promised his son Gus that he would get him a dog if he won the 2018 election for Minnesota governor, according to Vogue.

When they were only 11 weeks old, Scout and nine of his littermates were found abandoned on the side of rural road in Oklahoma by a woman named Kathy. Many of the pups had crawled down and gotten stuck in a ravine right before a rainstorm. Kathy and her son helped rescue them all before the area flooded, Vogue reported. The litter was taken in by Midwest Animal Rescue and Services and given temporary names: Scout was christened Gene.

“I’m proud that Minnesota’s First Dog is a rescue dog, and I hope Scout – who has been a very good boy – serves as a reminder for Minnesotans that there are a lot of pups waiting to be adopted,” Walz had told reporters at the time, according to Vogue.

Walz later told Matt Nelson of WeRateDogs that he thinks "having a dog or pets makes you a better human."

Scout makes the news

In October 2023, Scout made national headlines after he accidentally locked himself in a bedroom. At the time, Walz had shared texts from his wife on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, alerting him that the dog had gotten locked in the bedroom. A rescue unit with ladders had to be deployed and about an hour later, they were able to successfully let Scout out, Walz told TODAY.com at the time.

"One of the windows was unlocked, so they were able to go through there and then let him out," Walz told TODAY.com. "He was unhappy about it. But he was laying in comfort, sleeping on the bed the whole time. So he's out, pretty happy and we've taken the lock off the door to not repeat it."

Walz later told WeRateDogs that Scout had snuck into his bedroom with a motive to take a nap on his bed, something that he's not supposed to do. To avoid getting caught, Scout pushed the door shut and triggered the lock, which is how he ended up getting locked in the bedroom.

In "answering" Vogue's "Dogue questionnaire," Scout said that his favorite food is anything with peanut butter on it and his favorite activity is playing frisbee with Tim.

Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were not known to own any dogs at the time this story was filed.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.