Recently in pets and politics Category

Well, sort of.

Slow news day at the White House  apparently, but Bo the Dog got some extra attention from the Washington press corps earlier this week.

Photos courtesy of ABC News..

When the Obama dog finally arrives, he or she will need a place to stay.

So how about this specially designed White (dog) House?

Wow.

The Obama Dog Home comes from Sustainable Pet Design and is formally called Summa Canum (that's Latin for "Top Dog"). Los Angeles landscape designer Stephanie Rubin, owner of the company and inventor of something called the Greenrrroof Animal home, already has arranged delivery of the gift.

Sustainable Pet Design is pleased to introduce Summa Canum, The Obama Dog Home ... created not only to provide an appropriately sustainable and stylish home for the new leader of the free canine world, but to introduce eco-friendly pracitces and materials to the American people.

Modeled on Greek Revival architecture (looks sort of like the Banning Mansion, doesn't it?), the dog house is constructed from the wood of Tennessee Aromatic Cedar trees that President Andrew Jackson planted along the driveway of his estate.

I could go on.

But it's all pretty much left me speechless and in awe.

 

HT: Ohmidog! 

  

So here it is: The First Family has decided on a Portuguese water dog. Just like Fernando who goes to our dog park. !  Go Fernando!   (He's the one sitting alone in the photo above, my dog Tess is under the bench). Good choice. They seem to be great dogs.

First Lady Michelle Obama told People magazine that her family has decided to adopt a Portuguese water dog, pointing to the breed's medium-sized and good-natured reputation. The breed is also hypoallergenic -- a must, given daughter Malia's allergy to dogs.

The first lady said her daughters will have to wait until the end of April to get the dog, since her family is planning on going away for Spring Break.

The only thing left to pick is the name, and Mrs. Obama said she is not a fan of her daughters' choices.

"There are names floating around and they're bad," Mrs. Obama said in the interview. "You listen and you go - like, I think, Frank was one of them. Frank! Moose was another one of them. Moose. I said, well, what if the dog isn't a moose? Moose. I'm like, no, come on, let's work with the names a little bit."

 

You can read more about the breed on the AKC Web site and also here at another dog breed site. And PetPlace also has some good info on the dogs. (Does the White House have a swimming pool?) They're described as friendly and active with webbed feet, making them terrific swimmers.

So now what to name the First Dog?

Some suggestions I kind of like (some are mine, others came from elsewhere) include: Liberty. Patriot. Freedom. Justice. Change. Hope. Bailout.

Or how about DOTUS (a take-off on POTUS, President of the United States)? I kind of like that one, though I'm sorry to say I didn't think of it. (Someone also suggested FIDOTUS, but that might a bit cumbersome to call).

They could also go for a water or fishing name -- or look to Portugal, to reflect the dog's origins. Like Fernando! I love Fernando.

Anyway, we'd really like to hear what you think about a name, so send them in via comments or emails and we'll post them.  

General guidelines say that a dog's name should be easy to pronounce and probably should end in a vowel sound since pets hear those sounds better. Nicknames for dogs usually wind up that way anyhow. (So Patriot might wind up Patty, Justice could end up being Justy, DOTUS would probably morph into Dody or Dodo, etc.) It should be something with no more than 2 syllables, or so the expert namers say.  

They say you should always make sure whatever name you pick is something that won't embarrass you when calling out the dog's name in public, of course.

Oh, the suspense, the pressing issues of our day.

   .

Now, we finally have some hints.

The New York Times News Service has reported this little nugget:

The Obama family is nearing a decision on a breed for the First Dog. Before President-elect Barack Obama began his interview on the ABC program This Week, which was broadcast Sunday, his daughters -- Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 -- asked host George Stephanopoulos to slip in this question: "What kind of a dog are we getting, and when are we getting it?" (Good for them. I like these kids. They really know how to keep the heat on a parent.)

When asked, Obama laughed and said, "They seem to have narrowed it down to a Labradoodle (shown above) or a Portuguese water hound."

The next step: Canvass some animal shelters, he said.

"We're closing in on it," the president-elect said. "This has been tougher than finding a commerce secretary" .....

Both breeds, chosen to reduce the impacts of Malia's allergy to dogs, have powerful Democratic backers. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts owns two Portuguese water dogs, Sunny and Splash, which frequently flank him as he walks through the halls of the Capitol. Vice President-elect Joe Biden meanwhile has a Labradoodle (part Labrador retriever, part poodle) named Brother.

Labradoodles are entirely cute. But so are the Portuguese water hounds. Here's Fernando, a Portuguese water dog puppy who comes to the dog park from time to time:

 

Still no definitive answer on what kind of dog the Obamas will be getting. But thanks to Politico.com, we do know this: No girly dogs for the new prez.

During an interview with Barbara Walters, the president-elect and first lady were quizzed about the future First Dog. Walters, it turned out, had actually sent Michelle Obama a picture of her Havanese dog, Cha Cha Cha.

"What is a Havanese?" Barack asked Walters during the interview.

"It's like a little terrier and they're non-allergenic and they're the sweetest dog."

Barack's facial expression changes with this news, the transcript reads.

"It's like a little yappy dog?" he asks.

"Don't criticize," Michelle interjects.

"It, like, sits in your lap and things?" Barack asks. Do we detect some scorn here?

"It's a cute dog," Michelle says diplomatically (ah, we're beginning to see who the real peacemaker is in this family).

"It sounds like a girly dog," her husband responds. But the Obama family is, after all, pretty much a houseful of girls, right?

So what kind of dog does the president-elect envision instead for his family?

"We're going to have a big, rambunctious dog of some sort."

White House calling Rocket.  (I keep telling Josh we need to apply to be the official First Dog bloggers & chief canine staffers. I think I'd be OK with picking up poop from the White House lawn, assuming it would pay more than journalism.

Better if they are going to be little poops, though.)

The pampering. The pageantry. All those reporters to bite.

First Dog Barney prepares to say goodbye to it all in his farewell video.

President Bush's dog Barney was in no mood for reporters this week. He is a Republican-owned dog, after all.

So the feisty Scottish terrier took his election week frustrations out on Reuters reporter Jon Decker who reached out to pat the pup.

According to the Associated Press story (with "attack" video on the link):

Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush, said of Barney: "I think it was his way of saying he was done with the paparazzi."

Mrs. Bush asked McDonough to call Decker and make sure he was fine. She reports that Decker "is being a good sport about it all."

The White House doctor bandaged up the reporter's grazed finger. He's also on antibiotics for a while.

Tension between reporters and the GOP White House have been legendary, of course. And that led one political blogger to crack about Barney: "Years of training finally paid off."

We know you're weary of politics after what has been a very long campaign season.

But here are a couple more pet-related tidbits you might like to know about.

The American Kennel Club earlier had conducted a public poll on this topic (the poodle won). But now that Barack Obama is officially our president-elect, PetPlace.com is launching a new new poll on the best dog breed for the Obamas. 

Partial poll results have the Labrador retriever in the lead so far. So be sure to cast your vote. (The family has announced, by the way, that the dog they choose will be a rescue.)

Meanwhile, the PetPlace web site posted results from its dog and cat (owner) vote for president and, after a thorough analysis, poses this provocative question: Are cats more liberal than dogs?

The results were surprisingly and substantially different between cats and dogs ... The dogs election was close throughout the 9,200 votes with McCain and Palin ahead by only 1 to 2 percentage points, then pulling ahead at the last minute and winning by 5 percent.

However, the cats voted for Obama ... with a margin of 16 percent.

This brings up the question -- why the difference between cats and dogs? Are cat owners more liberal? Are dog owners more conservative? 

Read more about it at Pet Place.

Previously: Political dog news; campaign silliness abounds; partisan dogs; the fun never stops;   red dog, blue dog; red bowl, blue bowl; campaign going to the dogs?

For the winners of the candidate-dog look-alike contest.

And here they are:

Winning the Obama look-alike was Amore Francine, a 52-pound boxer prone to tilting her head. She hails from Mt. Clemens, MI.

Winning the McCain look-alike was Ginny Doll of Rochester Hills, MI, a 7-pound Maltese with well-groomed white hair and what contest organizers called a "relatable, friendly face."

You can find more details at Rover411. The dogs were chosen from 10 finalists in an online contest. More than 4,000 votes were received.