Baxter ( – March 29, 2016) was the former first dog of

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

who greeted visitors of the Blaine House. Baxter, a Jack Russel Terrier mix, was adopted by Paul LePage's daughter Lauren LePage in 2008 from an animal shelter in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The LePage family changed his name from the shelter-given name "Snickers" to "Baxter" following adoption. He moved to the Blaine House in 2011 when

Paul LePage Paul Richard LePage (; born October 9, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 74th governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the mayor of Waterville, Maine, from 20 ...

became

Governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is J ...

. Baxter often welcomed daily visitors of the Blaine House, many of which were children. Baxter was also the subject of a

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

written by Paula Benoit from April 2011 to June 2012, Blaine House Director and Assistant, to interest viewers in the Blaine House's history and current events. Each post featured photos of Baxter maintaining his role in the Blaine House, sometimes accompanied by text simulating Baxter's viewpoint on a Blaine House event. Baxter was also the subject of the book ''Baxter in the Blaine House'' and two

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pages, each simulating Baxter's viewpoint on events. He died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

at age 11 on March 29, 2016. His death was announced by Brent Littlefield, Paul LePage's political adviser, a day later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LePage, Baxter Individual dogs in the United States 2005 animal births 2016 animal deaths Maine culture