France's Presidential Pup Nemo Takes a Tinkle in the Palace During an Interview

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French President Emmanuel Macron and his dog, a labrador-griffon named Nemo, depart the Élysée Palace on August 28. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Wee, wee, monsieur? Non, non!

France's first dog, Nemo, broke up a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and his ministers on Sunday by peeing on a fireplace in Paris's Élysée Palace on Sunday.

As Macron discussed investing in cities with junior ministers, Nemo tinkled on a gold-embossed fireplace in the corner of the room. Brune Poirson, Benjamin Griveaux and Julien Denormandie, ministers who work on ecology and local government issues, turned their heads to the room's corner and laughed at the unabashed black lab–griffon mix, a video of the incident shows.

"You have triggered completely unusual behavior in my dog," Macron joked to them.

Nemo's water break capped a big week for dogs. The world sent love to Lulu, the disenchanted CIA bomb-sniffing dog; dogs saved people from natural disasters; and UPS drivers shared pictures of their furry friends.

Macron and his wife, Brigitte, adopted Nemo from a shelter in August and named him after Captain Nemo, a character in the Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Having a "first dog" is a French (and an American) tradition in the highest house of government, and sometimes the pressure of the spotlight becomes too much for a good boy. The dogs of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy were known to stir up trouble from time to time. During Sarkozy's presidency, they reportedly damaged valuable furniture that cost thousands of euros to repair.

Before that, President Jacques Chirac's dog Sumo was banished to the countryside after "becoming so depressed about leaving the presidential palace that he began routinely savaging his master" in their post-presidential apartment, The Guardian reported. Sumo was put on antidepressants after he bit Chirac, but his episodes seemed to only worsen.

In the U.S., first families usually have dogs (or raccoons, in the case of President Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace), but the Trumps are breaking with tradition and are the first presidential family in modern history to forgo furry friends. When Trump was married to Ivana, the couple had a poodle that seemed to clash with him, the former Mrs. Trump wrote in her memoir, Raising Trump.

The future president, she said, simply doesn't like dogs.

pic.twitter.com/CUCkgksqdG

— Summer Anne Burton (@summeranne) April 5, 2015

The Obama White House was home to American icons Sunny and Bo, who were known to throw shade and bite the occasional White House guest or two.

But sources say that Nemo, despite yesterday's mix-up, is still a good boy.

Uncommon Knowledge

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About the writer


Melina Delkic is a staff writer for Newsweek covering the guns and drugs beat. 

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