Posted on 01/11/2009 10:26:36 AM PST by NCjim
The first family is inching closer to finding the first dog.
It's the nation's most hotly anticipated pet search as President-elect Barack Obama seeks to fulfill a key campaign promise to his daughters, Malia and Sasha.
Egged on by the girls, George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC's "This Week," asked Mr. Obama about the soon-to-be White House pup during an interview taped Saturday in the network's studio in the Newseum and broadcast Sunday.
"I got to tell you, you know, they're out touring the museum right now. I heard they were taken straight to the first-dog exhibit, and while you were getting made up, they went into the control room and played director and producer," Mr. Stephanopoulos said. "They actually gave me a question they want me to ask you. You know exactly what it's going to be."
"Uh-oh. Go ahead," the president-elect replied.
"What kind of a dog are we getting, and when are we getting it?" Mr. Stephanopoulos said.
Mr. Obama, who has said previously the family wanted a rescue dog but also needs a hypoallergenic puppy because Malia is allergic, said they have narrowed their choices to two medium-sized breeds -- a Labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound.
"So, we're now going to start looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up," Mr. Obama said. "We're closing in on it. This has been tougher than finding a commerce secretary." Mr. Obama said last month the family probably will wait until the spring to bring the dog to the White House.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden got his own new puppy last month, naming him "Champ," his father's nickname for him growing up that he often talked about on the campaign trail.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Why is that a joke?
Only when they're unmanageable... which labradoodles can sometimes be, of the lab parent is a spaz.
Doodles are high energy as well... I imagine he/she will get a work out at Camp David.
Our friends doodle was at the local shelter for 8 weeks. No one could figure out why, he has the greatest disposition, very sweet and loving and smart — actually much better than their standard poodle — and even after all that time in the shelter has never had one accident in their house.
What exactly is a purebred labradoodle? That’s pretty much an oxymoron!
Re: “Why do I envision some helpful ‘donor’ surrendering a purebred to some helpful shelter so Bambi can get the dog he wants?”
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Undoubtedly — the mixed breed “labradoodle” which is standard poodle and lab is a expensive dog, unlikely to show up at any shelter. Same is true for Portugese water hound — great dog by the way ——
They may want a shelter dog for the sake of appearing politically correct, but they won’t find either of those two in the local shelters.
First, remember that reputable breeders will not sell puppies to people to breed mixed breed puppies. So, you are not starting out with top quality dogs (of course, you’re definition of top quality may differ).
Second, these are all first generation mixes, they don’t breed labradoodles (for instance) over generations to fix traits they just get a lab and a poodle and make puppies. So, you can get quite a spectrum of traits. You are no more likely to get the best of both than you are to get the worst of both.
Third, many of these breeds share genetic defects in common, so you will STILL need to worry about those.
Fourth, I have known many many mixed breeds who were great dogs, so the fact that your friend’s adopted golden doodle (which is nothing more than a golden retriever/poodle mix) is a great dog doesn’t surprise me in the least. On the other hand, I’ve met a number of doodles who were very hyper, not very smart and shed. It’s simply a crap shoot.
Fifth, if you desire to have one of these dogs, your friend did the very best thing. Adopt one from a shelter or rescue. I cannot believe people are willing to pay up to twice the cost of most purebreds for a mixed breed dog. I’ve seen the slick websites, but the fact remains, most of these people are not breeding for service dogs or anything else, they have found a big cash machine.
Oh, and yes, I had a relative who bought what was supposed to be a medium sized chocolate labradoodle. The dog ended up smaller (not real big deal, but it proves you cannot predict) and SILVER (not a big deal to me, but for $2500 do you not think they could have gotten what they asked for?) and looks much more like some sort of terrier mix.
RE: “Since all of the doodle breeds are essentially mixed breeds, I suspect there are many in the shelters.”
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I spent four months searching for dogs at Los Angeles area shelters and believe me, there are no “doodles” in the shelters, nor are their Portugese Water Dogs.
I ended up with a bizarre combo == looks like she is Chow and Golden Retriever. HA!!! Had the DNA test done and she is dominant German Shepherd. She is also equal parts Chow, SharPei and Tibetan Spaniel. What a mix!
She is super difficult, defiant, cunning and can be quite aggressive. A big difference from the sweet quiet dog I “met” at the shelter. They can be great actors — I think Obambi should go against political correctness and get the girls a dog from a good breeder.
Sometimes the real combo mixes look like something else!
BTW they may be getting snapped up quickly, but poodles mixes have always been common in shelters. I did a google search and came up with some hits (after I went thru a zillion hits for this stupid Obama dog story).
Porties, no, I doubt you would find one in a shelter (or if you did, they likely don’t know what it is and call it a poodle mix).
The dog DNA breed tests are not all that accurate. I know of a Border Collie owner who found out her dog was SharPei & Doberman...
Still, I can’t say I’ve seen many labradoodles show up on Craigslist, or at the local pound.
RE: “Sometimes the real combo mixes look like something else!”
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It’s true, the mixes can reveal breeds you would never suspect on the surface. Went to a big dog show in Long Beach recently and saw 150 purebred breeds.
All of my dog’s four breeds were represented. In each of the four, I could see parts of her — semi-Shepherd face, build of Chow and SharPei, fur type from Tibetan Spaniel and overall Chow “look” but with Tibetan Spaniel type ears. What I do know is that her temperament and personality are specific to the “difficulty” of Chow, SharPei and Tibetan — stubborn and willful. Some fun!
LOL stubborn and willfull, sounds like one of my kids!
Interestingly, I remember reading years ago that the most common mix has german shepherd in it, for some reason (so the article said) female dogs find GSD males *sexier* than other breeds. It is interesting tho, how many shepherd mixes you see. Also, if you go to your local shelter, it seems that most of the dogs have some pit in them as well.
That dog will have been vetted far more than all his cabinet picks put together.
LOL.. You got that wrong.... he expects to find a designer dog AT the shelter.
We have three pure breed Cocker Spaniels, all three are from show breeders and one was a show dog for the first 8 months of her life. I prefer this because they breed to the standard of the breed including disposition... Cockers have a reputation for disposition because of disreputable backyard breeders and pet mills, a well bred Cocker is everything they are supposed to be. We have rescued Cockers in the past, but it is nice to have three dogs without "issues" and a peaceful house.
Because it is all being done for political reasons and posturing. He made the promises in public and they are playing out the whole thing in public. And when Oprah complained that he was looking at purebreds, suddenly he wants purebreds from a shelter.
This is a ploy straight from the Clinton playbook.
You can bet they are polling like crazy to see which kind they should get. Frankly, isn’t one dog in the family enough?
Pray for W, America and Our Troops
And I agree with you about cockers, one of my best friends breeds show cockers but she also does obedience, tracking and agility with them. They are not my cup of tea (too active) but they’re cool little dogs.
I don’t really quite get why people who want that non shedding coat etc don’t go with standard poodles. Most I’ve met have been very nice dogs, more active than my goldens (overall) but so are labradoodles (and while I know this will tick of many lab lovers, I find labs to be very stubborn and they can be destructive).
If someone goes to the shelter and falls for whatever kind of mix, that’s great, and most of them will go home to make fantastic pets (what a tribute to dogs that most of them do make wonderful family additions!). I just really dislike the scamming going on out there with so called designer breeds.
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