See, I can be fair.

If the reporter didn’t know better, the person at the other end of the leash should have noticed and taken the dog away.

They’re getting ready to move in a couple of months, out of what’s been their home, in Miss Beazley’s case, her whole life. That’s stress, even you’re human, know what’s going on, and WANT to move!

I think for the most part educating people that allergies from animal presence are controllable but cannot be eliminated without eliminating the animal will indeed help people learn that hypoallergenic stuff is just less-allergenic. Including breeds: this one sheds less, this one has less-fine hair, et cetera.

I have asthma. It does suck. Of course, I’ve also lived with cats all my life and even with my asthma I wouldn’t give up that experience. It’s a balancing act and I hope that people choose to talk to their vets and doctors about the interface between people and pets when respiratory issues are in play.

All that said, the puppies are very cute.

In any case, please let’s not head further down this particular partisan road. Discuss the potential presidential dog, fine. The politics … I am so not in the mood, so let’s stop now.

You have NO IDEA what knowledge/experience Michelle or for that matter Obama himself has. Unlike you, MY assumption is that being as smart as they are, they will learn as much as they can before they take on a puppy. With people like you just waiting for them to fail, they are also smart enough to do whatever they can to do it right.

The way some people on these boards talk, NO ONE who has never had a puppy already should ever get a puppy…

Comment by Christopher — November 23, 2008

Well, if studies show anything, it’s that Barack Obama, like most husbands, will have almost no responsibility whatsoever for the dog, and that would be true if he were Barack the Plumber.

Women make the majority of pet-care decisions and handle the majority of pet-care responsibilities. So, it really doesn’t matter if Barack Obama doesn’t know a Chihuahua from a Whippet, since chances are Michelle Obama is the Decider and the Care-Giver.

And in any case, it doesn’t worry me that neither of them seem to have little dog-owning experience. I mean, hey, it’s not as if the POTUS can’t get good help.

A couple weeks ago, Christie and I were having an animated discussion on the phone — OK, a fight :) — over whether the cause was utterly lost over the use of the third person plural pronoun “their” as a gender-neutral stand in for the third person singular “his” or “her,” since English doesn’t offer a third person gender-neutral singular pronoun for people (“it” doesn’t cut it). (“Everyone should get the pet of their dreams” vs. “Everyone should get the pet of his or her dreams” vs. “Everyone should get the pet of its dreams.”)

Neither Christie nor I will use the standard “his” — “Everyone should get the pet of his dreams” — because it cuts out more than half the population. In real life, I usually re-cast the sentence to make the subject plural and avoid the awkward “his or her,” but in theory we were arguing over whether the language had changed to accept the common “Everyone … their” construction.

I got on my high horse at one point and declared that I didn’t care if everyone, her sister and the dean of Oxford said it was now OK, it was still BAD GRAMMAR and it was MORALLY WRONG to encourage people to think it’s OK.

So … yow, talk about hoisted on my own petard. I will now vow to use “hypo-allergenic” and “non-allergenic” correctly and make the distinctions clear.

There’s really no reason to think the Obamas won’t do well with the dog.

The girls want a puppy. There’s no earthly reason why the girls should not have a puppy just because it would better serve someone else’s political agenda. I had puppies, starting with that border collie pup; most dog lovers I know have had puppies; I’m pretty sure every regular reader of this blog has had a puppy at some point. I would not again have a puppy, but I wouldn’t for anything give up the experiences I had raising puppies when I was younger. The girls are real girls and not political playthings, and there’s no reason why they should be treated as political playthings—regardless of how you may or may not feel about their dad.

Well-planned “designer breeds” are rare as hen’s teeth, with the partial exception that there actually are responsible breeders of labradoodles and goldendoodles. And those are so “fashionable” that no matter how careful they are in choosing their ‘doodle breeder, they could hardly avoid giving a boost to the puppy millers. [N.B.: Not a reason to reject ‘doodles if that’s what’s right for them.]

A lot of stories about presidential dogs have been negative because well-behaved, well-cared-for dogs rarely make the news.

Gina, my allergist, who is also my primary care physician, asked questions and did tests to see how well-controlled my asthma and allergies are, and then cheered my decision to add a dog to the household. Too many health benefits to pass up if you like them and can live with them, he says.

I think there are enough people who would benefit from learning the difference between “hypo-allergenic” and “non-allergenic”—and are perfectly capable of learning that difference—that I don’t see any reason to compound the confusion.