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Power walk: Bill and Hillary Clinton take their dogs for a stroll

Wow. Bill and Hillary look so happy walking along together with their dogs in East Hampton, N.Y. It kind of makes you think: Remember when the Clintons were cat people?Socks, a former stray, reigned as First Cat in the White House for eight years. He captivated the nation with his loveable demeanor; sometimes the press described him as “doglike.”Was that a sign of things to come? Perhaps. In 1
Bill and Hillary Clinton were spotted walking their dogs Tuesday in East Hampton, N.Y.
Bill and Hillary Clinton were spotted walking their dogs Tuesday in East Hampton, N.Y.Matt Agudo / Splash News

Wow. Bill and Hillary look so happy walking along together with their dogs in East Hampton, N.Y. It kind of makes you think: Remember when the Clintons were cat people?

Socks, a former stray, reigned as First Cat in the White House for eight years. He captivated the nation with his loveable demeanor; sometimes the press described him as “doglike.”

Was that a sign of things to come? Perhaps. In 1997, President Bill Clinton took in a playful chocolate Labrador retriever puppy named Buddy. Buddy was frisky and exuberant -- and a bit too much for then-8-year-old Socks to handle. The Clintons had to keep the two pets apart while residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. (“You know, I did better with the Arabs, the Palestinians and the Israelis, than I’ve done with Socks and Buddy,” President Clinton once quipped.)

Fast forward a few years: Buddy died young in 2002 after he dashed into traffic and got hit by a car. Socks died in 2009 at the old age of 20 after receiving treatment for throat cancer.

Bill Clinton eventually got another chocolate lab in 2005 and named him Seamus. Seamus is pictured here as happy as can be on his walk; photographers also captured Seamus walking on the beach in East Hampton with Bill Clinton on Aug. 19, the former president’s 66th birthday.

This blissful photo of the Clintons was snapped just two days later on Aug. 21. Could this mean the Clintons are officially dog people now? 

TODAY.com writer Laura T. Coffey is both a cat person AND a dog person and doesn't think there's anything wrong with that. Here’s where to find Laura on Facebook and Twitter.

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