In February 1974, Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s first published work, “Pasha Passes By,” appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, where she was then working as an assistant editor. The story, which inaugurated a children’s “Read Aloud” section in the magazine, told of Pasha’s unsuccessful attempt to escape from the White House. An excerpt:

“Once Pasha had made the hard decision about his friend, he began to dig furiously in the tiny hole he had discovered under his fence a few days before. Large chunks of soil flew out from under his paws. By the time he had enlarged the hole enough to wiggle through, he was thoroughly dirty and happy. With one last glance back at King and Vicky, Pasha popped through the hole under the fence. He was free!”

The breed first appeared at an 1861 bench show in England as the Broken-Haired Scotch Terrier (named for the dog’s Scottish ancestors); by 1874 it had been christened the Yorkshire Terrier.

The Yorkshire Terrier was introduced in the United States in 1872, and the first Yorkie was registered with the American Kennel Club in 1878. During the late Victorian era, the Yorkshire Terrier quickly became a popular pet, but the breed’s popularity dipped in the 1940s. For several years the Yorkshire Terrier has occupied the No. 2 spot on the AKC’s annual list of the most popular breeds in America.

Little-known fact: The “Toto” of L. Frank Baum’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is believed to be a Yorkie. Although the book does not specifically state Toto’s breed, it describes him as “a little black dog with long silky hair.” Most people recognize Toto as a Cairn Terrier from the 1939 film version. The illustrations in Baum’s original book, however, have led many to conclude that Toto is a Yorkshire Terrier, as this breed was very popular at the time of publication.

Laddie Boy sat in his own hand-carved chair during Cabinet meetings. The White House held birthday parties for the dog, invited other neighborhood dogs to join, and served them “cake” made from dog biscuits and icing. In an “interview” with The Washington Post in 1921, Laddie Boy advocated an eight-hour workday for guard dogs.

After Harding’s death in office in 1923, newsboys all over the country collected 19,314 pennies to be remelted and sculpted into a statue of Laddie Boy. Harding’s widow died before the statue was completed in 1927 and the statue was presented to the Smithsonian Institution, where it currently resides.

The first Airedale exported to the United States was named Bruce. In 1881, shortly after his arrival, he won the terrier class in a New York dog show.

Two Airedales were among the dogs lost with the sinking of RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, including Kitty, who belonged to John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest passenger aboard the ship. (One story has it that Astor was the one who released all the dogs in Titanic’s kennels, some of which survived.)

During World War I, Airedale Terriers were extensively used to carry messages to soldiers behind enemy lines, transport mail, and help the Red Cross find wounded soldiers on the battlefield. There are numerous stories of Airedales delivering their messages despite terrible injuries. Before the German Shepherd Dog became the breed of choice for law enforcement work, Airedale Terriers often filled this role.

After the war, the popularity of Airedales increased dramatically, thanks to stories of their bravery on the battlefield and also because Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren Harding all owned Airedales. “An Airedale,” Teddy Roosevelt once said, “can do anything any other dog can do and then lick the other dog, if he has to.”

Pugs were brought to Europe in the late 16th century by the merchants and crews of the Dutch East Indies Trading Company. (Their name may come from the Old English pugg, or “puge,” which were affectionate terms for a playful little devil or monkey.) In 1572 a Pug saved the life of William, Prince of Orange, by barking at an assassin, and the Pug later became the official dog of the House of Orange. A Pug traveled with William III and Mary II when they left the Netherlands to ascend to the throne of England in 1688. The 17th century also saw Pugs become a popular breed in other European countries, including Spain, where they were painted by Goya.

The Pug’s popularity continued to spread in France during the 18th century. Before her marriage at age 15 to Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette owned a Pug named Mops. Before her marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte, Joséphine de Beauharnais had her Pug, Fortune, carry messages hidden under his collar to her family while she was imprisoned at Les Carmes.

William Hogarth, the English painter, was devoted to Pugs. In 1745 he painted his self-portrait with Trump, one of his Pugs; it now hangs in London’s Tate Gallery.

In 19th-century England, Pugs flourished under the patronage of Queen Victoria. Her many Pugs, which she bred herself, included Olga, Pedro, Minka, Fatima, and Venus. Her involvement with Pugs helped to establish the Kennel Club, which was formed in 1873. Victoria favored apricot and fawn Pugs, while the aristocrat Lady Brassey is credited with making black Pugs fashionable after she brought some back from China in 1886.

Pugs arrived in the United States in the 19th century. The American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1885.

While Frank looks like a normal Pug, he’s actually an extraterrestrial (a Remoolian) in disguise. In both films he was played by a well-trained pug named Mushu, with Tim Blaney, a puppeteer and voice actor, providing his voice.

“I wound up liking that little dog,” Tommy Lee Jones, one of the Pug’s co-stars, told an interviewer. “He really earns his T-bones. . . . That dog will run across a room, hit a mark and stop and sit down or stand up, look in whatever direction you tell him to.”

By the time of the sequel, Mushi, then 7, was showing enough gray to warrant a special make-up job to hide it. When not attending red-carpet functions and otherwise enjoying the full star treatment, the animal actor reportedly romped around in what his owner called “puppy heaven,” a massive tree-lined yard in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles complete with its own fire hydrants.