US conservatives falsely accuse Walz of lying about his dog

"Yes, this is Tim Walz tweeting about his dog Scout. Only problem is that these are two completely different dogs," says an August 26, 2024 X post from Dustin Grage, a Republican strategist in Minnesota and columnist for Townhall, a conservative website.

Grage's post compares screenshots of two X posts Walz shared in 2022 while running for reelection.

The first, from June 2022, shows Walz posting a picture with Scout and wishing "our favorite pup" a happy birthday (archived here).

In the second, shared in October of that year and since deleted, Walz is petting a brown-and-white pooch.

"Couldn't think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day than at the dog park. I know Scout enjoyed it," the caption says (archived here).

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Screenshot from X taken August 28, 2024

Republican US Senator Eric Schmitt and Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle amplified Grage's post, which received millions of interactions on X.

"Wait so Walz is even lying about his dog?" Guilfoyle wrote.

Similar claims spread across X and other platforms, such as Reddit -- as well as on the conservative cable network Newsmax. They came after Walz was officially nominated at the Democratic National Convention as the party's vice presidential nominee in Kamala Harris's race against Donald Trump.

The Republican ex-president and his allies have criticized Walz since his announcement as Harris's running mate, accusing the state official of inflating his military credentials and abandoning his National Guard unit when it was directed to deploy to Iraq.

But claims that Walz is faking his dog ownership are false.

Scout has emerged as an internet phenomenon since Walz's entrance into November's presidential election. A 2023 story about the dog locking himself in a bedroom resurfaced on social media, and Vogue magazine published a profile labeling the rescue "man's (and maybe America's) best friend" (archived here and here).

Walz and his wife Gwen adopted Scout in 2019, fulfilling a promise to their son Gus that they would get a dog if Walz won the gubernatorial election, according to a press release (archived here). The Minnesota governor has posted numerous photos with Scout over the years.

The dog in the second screenshot Grage shared is another pup Walz encountered while taking Scout to a dog park.

Walz posted the October 2022 photo to Instagram alongside footage of him wearing the same outfit (archived here). The video shows Scout, the brown-and-white dog and a third white pooch in the park.

"Oh, are you jealous?" he says to Scout as he pets him.

In posts responding to Grage and others, Minnesota political activist Clara Severson said the third white dog is hers and that she took the photo of Walz (archived here, here, here and here). She previously posted another photo of Walz from that day (archived here).

"I took the photo of the Governor with the red heeler," she said in response to Guilfoyle (archived here). "His dog Scout was there at the dog park with him. I know it's hard to believe, but sometimes people pet dogs that aren't theirs at dog parks."

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the 2024 US election here.