Trump: ‘Phony’ if I were to get a White House dog

President Trump quipped at a rally Monday night that it would appear “phony” for him to adopt a dog during his presidency.

Trump, speaking at a rally in El Paso, Texas, told an anecdote about inspecting drug detection devices, which he said cost “a lot of money” but were less effective than traditional measures for detecting drugs, including drug detection dogs.

{mosads}”Guy looks at me, and he goes ‘sir, honestly, it’s not as good’ [as the dogs],” Trump told rally-goers in Texas.

“Can you believe that? A German shepherd,” Trump added, as the crowd laughed. “You do love your dogs, don’t you?”

Trump went on, imagining what it would be like for him to adopt an official pet for the White House.

“I wouldn’t mind having one, honestly, but I don’t have the time,” Trump said. “How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn?”

“Feels a little phony, phony to me,” he added.

Trump is the first president in more than 100 years not to have an official White House pet. His predecessor, former President Obama, owned two dogs during his presidency.

The president visited El Paso on Monday night for his first campaign rally of the year. Trump, at the rally, attempted to gin up support for his plans to build a wall along the U.S.–Mexico border.

The rally came as lawmakers attempted to negotiate a deal for border security funding before another possible partial shutdown is triggered.

Congressional Democrats have indicated that they are unlikely to support a plan that would provide the White House with anywhere close to the more than $5 billion Trump has demanded for the wall. Lawmakers said Monday night that they had reached an agreement “in principle” to avoid a second shutdown that would begin Saturday.