What dog did George Washington own?
George Washington's foxhound was Vulcan, one of more than thirty hounds Washington bred and named himself at Mount Vernon. In this episode of Our Next Collar, Vulcan returns to tell what Washington was really like, from the whole smoked ham he stole off the dinner table to the kennel Washington visited every single day, war or no war.
History remembers the famous. Their pets remember the person. On Our Next Collar, a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee reaches the pets of history. One of them tells what they really saw. Tonight, a foxhound who watched the most serious man in the country come stand with his dogs every single day. True, surprising, and funnier than history has any right to be. Great for curious kids and the grown-ups listening with them.
Transcript
[A Virginia evening. Crickets. A creek nearby. Far off, a whole kennel of hounds singing at the moon, then settling. A big, easy voice, already sniffing the air.]
Opening
Prince MoRee: Tonight, we gather again, talking with pets from the past. Moose, are we ready?
Moose: I'm ready! For what, I'm not sure.
Prince MoRee: Tonight we call to a fellow pet across the years and through the veil. A pet, just like us, who had a seat at the table when history happened.
Moose: I hope it's a dinner table. Tonight, we call for Vulcan.
Moose: And I am sitting. And it's not easy.
Prince MoRee: Just a bit longer, Moose. Here we go. Or here he comes, from Mount Vernon. A big foxhound dog.
Moose: How big?
Prince MoRee: A boy could ride him like a pony.
Moose: That is big!
Prince MoRee: Vulcan of Mount Vernon. Hound of General George Washington. Join us!
Vulcan: Oh. Hi. Wow, that was weird... Hi, I'm Vulcan. But you knew that already.
Moose: (immediately) THE George Washington?
Vulcan: That's the one. People get real excited about that part, and I'll tell you right now, the General was a good man who checked on his dogs every single day,[5] and also, um, I once took an entire ham off his table and I regret nothing. Not one thing.
Moose: Okay, let's talk about the ham!
Prince MoRee: Let's start from the beginning.
The ham
Vulcan: Or the Ham. Mount Vernon, this is after the war, before he goes off to be President. Kitchen's got a ham. Whole smoked ham, just sitting there in its dish, smelling the way a ham smells, which is to say, it was, well, it was calling my name. Just calling it.
So I go in and I take it.
Moose: You just, you just took it.
Vulcan: Well, the kitchen staff did not approve, there was a lot of running, a lot of shouting, a lot of grabbing at me. They fought me for it, honest and fair, but I'm the size of a pony and I've got a ham, and there's no force on this earth that separates a foxhound from a ham he's already committed to. Carried it straight to the kennels.[1]
Moose: Hmmmm. Ham.
Vulcan: Moose. It was the best thing that ever happened to anyone. Ever.
Moose: Best. Thing. Ever. Writing that down.
Vulcan: So here's the part people remember. They told the General. Figured he'd be furious, right, most serious man in America, war behind him, whole country ahead of him.
Prince MoRee: And?
Vulcan: He hears his enormous dog stole the family dinner and outran the entire kitchen staff, and he laughs. Laughs so hard he tells the story to his own dinner guests. The dinner I'd already eaten. Told it like a victory.[1]
Moose: Because it kind of was.
Prince MoRee: And that counts as history in the making?
Moose: It's in my history book now.
Vulcan: That one's on the record, a grandson wrote it down.
Close
Prince MoRee: The most important person in the country, and he really did walk down to a kennel every single day to stand with his dogs. Even the one who robbed him of his ham.
Moose: Was he, was he happy?
Vulcan: I think the kennel was where he got to just... be. Didn't have to be the General down there. Just had to be the man the dogs already loved.
Prince MoRee: (quietly) Go on, we're about to close it up.
Vulcan: He could have punished me after the ham. He didn't. Came back the next morning, same as always, looked me over, and didn't mention it. That's the kindest thing a person can do. Pretend they didn't see the ham.
Moose: Thank you, Vulcan. For your service. And the ham.
Vulcan: The honor was mine. Oh, and if you want the true kennel stories, the daily visits, the trip to Philadelphia, ask Sweet Lips. The General's favorite. That story is hers to tell.[5]
Moose: Wait, can we call Sweet Lips?
Vulcan: Check the circle again on your way out. You never know.
Prince MoRee: (a note) Here is a bit more of the true story behind tonight's guest.
(a beat)
George Washington loved dogs and kept a kennel at his Mount Vernon home in Virginia, with a creek running through it so the hounds always had fresh water. He visited his dogs every day, kept careful journals about them, and for years bred his English hounds with large French hounds, a gift from his friend the Marquis de Lafayette, working toward what became the American Foxhound.[2][3] He named the dogs himself, and the names really were wonderful: Sweet Lips, Venus, Tipsy, Drunkard, and Madame Moose all appear in his records.[4] The story of Vulcan stealing a ham from the family table, and Washington laughing about it at dinner, was written down by Martha Washington's grandson, who grew up at Mount Vernon.[1] Vulcan's war, however, remains entirely Vulcan's.
[Ambient: the kennel again, one hound starting a song, the others joining. Fading to crickets, then silence.]
Vulcan, the more than thirty hounds Washington bred and named at Mount Vernon, the daily kennel visits, Sweet Lips in Philadelphia, and the stolen smoked ham are all real. His voice is ours.
Sources and further reading
- The Vulcan ham-theft story, documented at Mount Vernon after the Revolutionary War and before Washington's presidency. George Washington Parke Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington (1860). mountvernon.org
- Washington's foxhound breeding program, crossing English and French hounds over many years toward what became the American Foxhound. Mount Vernon, āGeorge Washington and his dogs.ā mountvernon.org
- American Foxhound breed history and Washington's role in its development. American Kennel Club, breed history records. akc.org
- Documented hound names, including Vulcan, Sweet Lips, Venus, Tipsy, Drunkard, and Madame Moose, from Washington's own journals. Mount Vernon; Presidential Pet Museum, āGeorge Washington's dogs.ā presidentialpetmuseum.com
- Washington's daily kennel visits and Sweet Lips accompanying him to Philadelphia during his presidency. Mount Vernon, āGeorge Washington and his dogs.ā mountvernon.org
All historical claims above were verified in the Talking With Pets two-checker accuracy review (June 2026). This episode passed with no material accuracy issues.
What dog did George Washington own?
George Washington owned many hounds at Mount Vernon, more than thirty over his lifetime, logged by name in his own journals. Vulcan was one of them, a large foxhound remembered for a famous incident with a dinner ham. Source: Mount Vernon; George Washington Parke Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington (1860).
Did Vulcan really steal a ham from Washington's table?
Yes. The story is documented in an 1860 memoir by Washington's step-grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. Vulcan took a whole smoked ham from the Mount Vernon kitchen, and when the kitchen staff reported it, Washington reportedly laughed and retold the story to his dinner guests rather than punishing the dog. Source: Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington (1860).
What breed did George Washington help create?
Washington bred English foxhounds with French hounds for years at Mount Vernon, aiming for a faster, finer Virginia hound. That breeding program is widely credited as a foundation of the American Foxhound breed known today. Source: Mount Vernon; American Kennel Club.
What were the names of George Washington's hounds?
Washington named his hounds himself, and the journal names include Vulcan, Sweet Lips, Venus, Tipsy, Drunkard, Madame Moose, and Truelove, among others. Sweet Lips was reportedly a favorite, and Washington kept her with him even in Philadelphia. Source: Mount Vernon; Presidential Pet Museum.
What is Our Next Collar, and is it good for kids?
Our Next Collar is an educational history podcast for curious kids ages 6 to 10 and the grown-ups listening with them. A brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee reaches the pets of history, and one of them tells the true story of the person they knew. Every episode lists its sources and says plainly which parts are real and which are ours, which makes it a quiet lesson in how to weigh sources. It is a podcast from Talking With Pets.
Our Next Collar Ā· the true stories only the animals saw.
Chaco, Roxie, Moose, Prince MoRee, and Armando are getting the pilot ready. Join the founding list and we will write to you when the first episodes go live. Listen with someone you like.