So, it appears that the Obamas have adopted a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog. There is going to be a lot of hubbub among the animal rescue community because they got a dog that was purebred and not from a shelter breeder. I am in the minority among my peers in this -- I don't think that there is anything wrong with families with allergies going for a "hypoallergenic" dog. They shouldn't be deprived of the opportunity to own a pet because of that. Also, our group has a lot of returns of dogs due to allergies, so I would rather that they not attempt to take a regular dog and fail -- it's very hard on all involved, including the animal.
Right now it looks like the dog was a gift from Teddy Kennedy, who, as we all know, is the ultimate limousine liberal (one need only look at the Kennedys' shameful opposition to wind farms near Cape Cod to see how he operates when issues touch his personal life) and doesn't have any qualms about purchasing dogs from a breeder. Kennedy got them out of a difficult situation by giving them the dog as a gift, and I believe someone said that the original owner didn't want the puppy any more.
I'm not sure that I buy that. Six months is often the age that the dog goes from breeder to owner, so I think that coincidence of timing is a little odd. I can see this happening at 8 or 9 months, which is the age when puppies come back to us all the time -- even with neutered animals, adolescence is a trying time -- the puppies are clumsy, all arms and legs, high-energy, and they seem to unlearn the commands they were acing a few months ago in puppy kindergarten.
I wish the Obamas had been more forthright and said that they would like to adopt a dog from a shelter, but that due to allergies, they needed to get a hypoallergenic breed, period.
It's not the people with allergies who are creating the dog overpopulation problem, after all. It's irresponsible people who breed dogs without care, don't alter their pets, or who abandon their responsibilities because they have become tiresome.
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