France gets First Dog: Macron adopts labrador mix Nemo

PARIS — In keeping with time-honored French presidential tradition, Emmanuel Macron has given the country a First Dog.

The 39-year-old president and his wife Brigitte adopted a black labrador-griffon mix at the weekend, whom they have named Nemo after the captain in Jules Verne's science fiction classic, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his dog, a labrador crossed griffon named Nemo, leave at the Elysee Palace to greet a guest in Paris, France, August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Nemo—who is aged between one and two and was adopted from a shelter for abandoned dogs—was glimpsed on Monday scampering around the Elysee Palace in a red collar, under the watchful eye of footmen in frock coats.

French President Emmanuel Macron's dog, a labrador crossed griffon named Nemo, is seen at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Every post-war French president has had a dog, who has the run of the palace's expansive gardens.

Most have picked a labrador, though World War II hero Charles de Gaulle had a pint-sized corgi—a gift from Britain's Queen Elizabeth.

Nemo succeeds Philae, a labrador named after the European Space Agency's comet lander that was gifted to ex-president Francois Hollande as a puppy by Montreal-based French war veterans.

Across the Atlantic, torrents of ink were spilt on ex-president Barack Obama's pet dogs Bo and Sunny. — Agence France-Presse