Service Dog 'Sully' Now With George HW Bush

Former President George HW Bush is welcoming a new member of the family: a yellow Labrador retriever who'll be his first service dog.The 94-year-old and his new companion, named "Sully" after Miracle on the Hudson pilot Chesley Sullenberger, got acquainted Monday at the Bush family compound on the coast of Maine. A photo sent via Twitter shows Sully lounging at the feet of Bush and former President Bill Clinton, who had been visiting on Monday. Sully can open doors, pick up items, and summon help, but "more than anything else the dog will be a wonderful companion," says an aide, Evan Sisley. Adds Bush rep Jim McGrath, per CNN, "he can do just about anything except make you a martini, but not to worry, he can go get you someone to make you a martini!"

The nation's 41st president uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility since developing a form of Parkinson's disease, per the AP. Bush is recovering from a recent hospitalization and is without his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, who died in April. Sully was trained by America's VetDogs, a nonprofit that provides service dogs. Bush is a dog lover who has had dogs since he was a boy, and dogs are always welcome at the family home. Want to keep up with Sully? He's got his own Instagram account.

(More George HW Bush stories.)