Dog-Cam A Runaway White House Hit

The White House's "Barney-cam" is a holiday Web hit, drawing 24 million online tourists on the first day of its dog's-eye view of the White House Christmas decorations.

The video was taped at Barney's eye level as President Bush's little Scottish terrier scooted around the White House state rooms. Its debut last Thursday marked the third-busiest day for the White House website - after Sept. 11, 2001, (44 million hits), and last month's launch of the "Life in the White House" online video series (38.5 million hits).

How can the White House be sure all those hits weren't the self-promoting mischief of Barney himself?

"Barney is what you might call a 'publicity hound,"' spokesman Ari Fleischer deadpanned. "But he was unable to watch his own video because he hit the 'paws' button."

Barney is just one of the White House pets who is featured in this year's holiday decorations at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Workers in the White House residence spent about four months making replicas of various first family pets that are now on display as part of the Christmas decorations.

"Our pets have been such a source of comfort and entertainment to us," said First Lady Laura Bush, who chose the theme. "This holiday season I thought it would be fun and interesting to learn about the animals that belonged to other presidents over the years, and there are some very interesting ones."

In addition to Barney, replicas of Bush pets Spot the dog and India the cat are among the menagerie, along with others from past First Families, including an alligator John Quincy Adams received as a gift from Marquis de Lafayette and Caroline Kennedy's pony, Macaroni, a gift from Lyndon Johnson.