Maryland’s first family has a new puppy named Tucker Balti Moore

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and the first family welcomed a new addition to their household Friday night: a mixed-breed rescue puppy named Tucker.

While the dog came with the first name Tucker, the Moore family has given him the middle name Balti, the governor tweeted — Tucker Balti Moore. Get it?

The governor and his children, Mia and James, visited the Maryland SPCA in Hampden to pick up the newest resident at Government House.

“Oh my God, Tucker!” the kids exclaimed as employees brought the dog in.

The family sat down on the floor to pet and hold Tucker, who wore a bow-tie collar.

“He’s so soft,” the governor said.

Jim Peirce, the executive director at the Maryland SPCA, said he and the team of adoption counselors at the shelter were “thrilled to help Tucker find his forever home and to have the first family find a new member of their family.”

Moore and his wife Dawn Flythe Moore promised their kids that the family would get a dog if they won the election. Moore, a Democrat, won handily, defeating Republican candidate Dan Cox.

Peirce said his team reached out early on to let the governor know he and his family could adopt a dog from the SPCA. They learned the Moores wanted a small and hypoallergenic dog.

“We kept our eyes open for when a dog like that would come into [the] shelter,” Peirce said, and when Tucker arrived, they felt like it was a match.

Tucker had been with the organization for about a week.

The SPCA has been “so wonderful about this process,” Moore said Friday. “It was easy, it was tailored to the family, and we could not be happier.”

Meanwhile, the Moores are also selling their nearly 8,000-square-foot mansion in the city’s Guilford neighborhood for $2.75 million.

Pamela Wood contributed to this report.

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