Every Pet In The Kennedy-Era White House

The downside to Irish wolfhounds is that they only have an expected lifespan of between six and eight years, which means that getting one implies heartbreak isn't too far down the road. They're typically known for being not just massive (weighing up to 180 pounds), but also for being gentle giants. They're great dogs, but the Irish wolfhound gifted to the Kennedy family and — again, predictably — named Wolf, was fine with most people ... but hated other dogs. 

Wolf was a gift from a Dublin priest, and when it came time for Traphes Bryant to find places for the dogs at the Kennedy homestead in Hyannis Port, Wolf was relegated to the garage. He and Charlie didn't get along, and when Brant recounted a particularly harrowing experience in his memoir, "Dog Days at the White House," he was holding the leashed of Wolf and the German Shepherd, Clipper, as they growled and snarled at each other. 

It was Wolf who featured in Bryant's last memories of JFK. He wrote that he had been walking the wolfhound when JFK told him that Charlie had snapped at Jackie Kennedy: "That was the last time I heard his voice. Two days later he was dead. I thought I could never feel emotion about a President again, never laugh with one, never feel close to one. ... At first everything reminded me of Kennedy."