White House officials baffle reporters with multiple clarifications of hero dog Conan's gender

The White House over the course of several hours has provided numerous different accounts of the gender of a dog President Trump praised as a "tough cookie." Just another normal one in Washington.

Trump honored Conan, the military dog who chased down Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a raid last month, at the White House Monday, referring to the very good pup as a "he." But pool reporter Hunter Walker provided the very important update that actually, according to a White House official, Conan is a female dog.

The story, believe it or not, would not end there, with Walker hours later issuing another update citing a White House official as saying Conan is a male dog after all. "Multiple officials had previously said Conan was female," Walker reported.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"I can't believe I've spent so much of my day trying to confirm the gender of a canine," CBS News' Kathryn Watson wrote, while CNN's Kyle Feldscher observed, "this 'no one knows if Conan The Hero Dog is a boy or girl dog' story is easily one of the most absurd things to happen in Washington in the last 4 or 5 hours."