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Sully H.W. Bush

Sully H.W. Bush

Part of a series on George W. Bush. [View Related Entries]

Updated Dec 04, 2018 at 01:51PM EST by Matt.

Added Dec 04, 2018 at 01:28PM EST by Matt.

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About

Sully H.W. Bush is a United States service dog, who previously attended to late-President George H.W. Bush.

Origin

On June 25th, 2018, the Instagram [1] account @sullyhwbush posted its first photograph that indicated that Sully would be moving to George H.W. Bush's home at Walker's Point. They captioned the photograph, "On the road to Walker's Point. Can't wait to meet my new trainer and all the new friends." The post received more than 15,000 likes in six months (shown below).


WALKERS POINT ERE


Spread

George H.W. Bush's Death

On December 2nd, 2018, following the death of George H.W. Bush, Bush's spokesman Jim McGrath tweeted [2] a photograph of Sully lying next to Bush's casket. He captioned the photograph, "Mission complete." The tweet received more than 71,000 retweets and 288,000 likes in two days (shown below).


Jim McGrath. @igm41 Mission complete. #Remembering41 4I

People responded with remorse to the photograph. Twitter user @RyanAFournier tweeted, "Sully was President George H.W. Bush’s service dog. He still hasn’t left his side." The tweet received more than 17,000 retweets and 140,000 likes in two days (shown below, left).

Over the next few days, people continued to post photographs of Sully at Bush's funeral (examples below, center and right).


Sully was President George H.W. Bush's service dog. He still hasn't left his side. Jim McGrath Ф @jgm41 Mission complete. #Remember. ng41 4I Sully among those paying respects to President Bush in the rotunda Sully says goodbye

On December 3rd, Slate[3] published an article refuting the claims that Sully was a longtime companion of Bush's. In the article "Don’t Spend Your Emotional Energy on Sully H.W. Bush," they wrote:

"There’s nothing wrong with applying sentimentality when it comes to family pets reacting to their owners’ deaths. There’s even some preliminary evidence from the small field of 'comparative thanatology' that animals notice death, and that some may even experience an emotion we might compare to grief. But Sully is not a longtime Bush family pet, letting go of the only master he has known. He is an employee who served for less than six months."

Many reacted negatively to the article, insisting that the article provided unnecessary explanations (examples below). Twitter[4] published a Moments page regarding the controversy.


It was a lifetime for Sully though. 20/10 good boy. Slate Ф @Slate Sully H.W. Bush is a service dog who had been with the president for six months, not his lifelong companion: slate.trib.al/Z5BiEye This was clearly written by a cat Slate Ф @Slate Sully H.W. Bush is a service dog who had been with the president for six months, not his lifelong companion: slate.trib.al/Z5BiEye epitome of "actually" Slate Ф @Slate Sully H.W. Bush is a service dog who had been with the president for six months, not his lifelong companion: slate.trib.al/Z5BiEye


Search Interest

External References

[1] Instagram – @sullyhwbush's Post

[2] Twitter – @jgm41's Tweet

[3] Slate – Sully H.W. Bush is a short-term service dog, not a lifelong companion.

[4] Twitter – People are defending Sully H.W. Bush after Slate told them to not spend 'emotional energy' on the dog

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