Donald Trump has broken a White House by becoming the first US President in 150 years not to have a pet. Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton, Trump's immediate predecessors, all had dogs with them during their stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

According to the Presidential Pet Museum, Trump would be the first president without a dog since 1901, when President William McKinley, who had two kittens, roosters and a Mexican parrot, but no dogs, was assassinated.

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The last West Wing occupant without pets was President Andrew Johnson, who was impeached in 1868.

Admittedly, plans for Trump to adopt a pooch had been put in place but they fell through.

Lois Pope, a philanthropist and a long-time friend of Trump began searching for a poodle after the latter won the election in November last year.

"Every president has had a first dog, and he did not have a dog," Pope told the New York Post. "I wanted to find a dog with a great disposition, and I didn't want a small dog. He's a guy who is 6-foot-2. He doesn't want a small dog."

Apparently Pope had picked a golden retriever-poodle mix with a burnt-orange coat, and named him Patton after Trump's favourite military hero.

"He's a great dog. He's intelligent. He doesn't forget things. You tell him 'no' once, and he stays put," Pope said of the dog. "Even ladies like him because he doesn't jump all over them."

The 83-year-old sent Trump an owner's certificate and brought pictures of the canine along when she joined Trump's family for Thanksgiving dinner in at the President's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

"Show it to Barron. He's going to fall in love with him," Trump said, according to Pope, referring to the president-elect's 10-year-old son with wife Melania Trump.

However, Pope soon realised she had grown so close to the dog that she could not face giving him away.

"I couldn't sleep, and the reason I couldn't sleep was because I fell in love with the dog," she said. "I thought, what am I going to do? I'm going to have to get him another dog."

"I walked over to him, through the Secret Service, and I told him, 'Donald, I'm sorry. You can't have Patton,'" she said.

As it happens, Trump also thought having a dog might not be a good idea, due to his hectic schedule.

"Donald said, 'But, Lois, I can't take the dog.' He said, 'Look at what I do. I'm here, I'm in New York, I'm in Washington. What am I going to do with the dog?' And I said, 'Well, you can't have him!'"

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