White House Dog Had Her Day : Lucky Gets the Heave-Ho, Heads for Life on Ranch

With a good-luck balloon tied on her collar, presidential pooch Lucky left the White House for the last time today, accompanying President Reagan to California where she will begin a new life on the sprawling Reagan ranch high in the Santa Ynez mountains.

On a chilly, gray morning, Reagan and the frisky black dog left Washington for what will be a six-day vacation for the President at Rancho del Cielo.

Vice President George Bush and White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan waved goodby to Reagan and the dog as they boarded a helicopter on the South Lawn for the short hop to nearby Andrews Air Force Base, where Air Force One awaited.

A silver, helium balloon emblazoned with the words “Good Luck” bobbed above Lucky’s collar. Reagan called it her parachute.

Lucky, a year-old Flemish cowherd known as a bouvier, now weighs more than 65 pounds and is considered too big for the executive mansion. On the ranch she will have four other dogs as playmates and will be able to roam across 688 acres.

Ever since her arrival shortly after Christmas, the “First Dog” has been a show-stealer, tugging and tripping Nancy Reagan at the other end of a leash or pulling at the President.

Lucky received so much mail at the White House that a paw-print signature was prepared for her responses.

Nancy Reagan, who has been in California since Sunday, is to join the President at the ranch on Wednesday. The First Lady traveled West early to visit her mother, Edith Davis, in Phoenix.

On Thanksgiving Day, the Reagans will be joined by three of the President’s four children and his brother Neil and his wife, Bess.

The guest list includes Reagan’s son Michael and his wife, Colleen, and their children Cameron and Ashley; son Ron and his wife, Doria, and daughter Patti and her husband, Paul Grilley.

The only missing family members will be Reagan’s daughter Maureen and her husband, Dennis Revell.