First Family's Puppy Decision: Should They Get a Cat?

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The discussion centers around the Obama family's decision to get a puppy, with various opinions on the choice of pet. Many participants suggest adopting from a shelter, emphasizing the importance of providing a home to abused animals. Concerns are raised about the suitability of a puppy given that one of the Obama daughters has asthma and allergies, leading to suggestions for hypoallergenic breeds like Labradoodles or Poodles. The conversation touches on the responsibilities of pet ownership, with some advocating for the children to be involved in training and caring for the dog to avoid them becoming spoiled. Humor is injected into the discussion with playful suggestions about the dog’s breed and potential names, while others express skepticism about the appropriateness of a dog for the family. Ultimately, the dialogue reflects a mix of support for the family's choice and caution regarding the implications of pet ownership, especially in light of the children's health needs.
  • #51
Seems like politics brings out the worst in everybody. Sure glad this election is over... now all I need to do get through the next 4 years without saying the Obama word in my house.
 
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  • #52
I corrected your statement for you. :biggrin:

Integral said:
... now all I need to do get through the next 8 years without saying the Obama word in my house.
 
  • #53
Nice shots, Ivan. My wife has a picture somewhere of her grandmother with a family of young raccoons climbing all over her. She had a camp on a lake, and she used to feed the raccoons on her front porch.
 
  • #54
Rebecca, the raccoon, was sent to the Coolidges to be part of the White House Thanksgiving feast. She wound up living better than most Americans at the time, dining on shrimp, chicken, persimmon, and eggs.

They also had a pet bobcat and two lion cubs, which reminds me of something I saw on TV:

Elly (showing off her new pet): "The man at the zoo says he's going to grow up to be more'n 300 pounds! Cause he's a lion!"

Granny: "Darn right he's a lyin'! Not even a bobcat gets that big!"
 
  • #57
Did anyone else just see this clip on NBC news where Obama, in his first press conference as president-elect discusses the puppy-decision and refers to himself as a "mutt"? :smile:

Of course this has been in some of the negative media already -- so why not embrace it to render the criticism less powerful?
 
  • #58
physics girl phd said:
Did anyone else just see this clip on NBC news where Obama, in his first press conference as president-elect discusses the puppy-decision and refers to himself as a "mutt"? :smile:

Of course this has been in some of the negative media already -- so why not embrace it to render the criticism less powerful?
Most of us ARE mutts! I am French-Canadian/Indian on my mother's side and Irish/German/Scottish/Indian on my father's side. On my father's mother's side his founding male was a Hessian officer who accepted land in PEI in lieu of some of his payment, and on his father's side, the founding male was an Irish refugee fleeing the Potato Famine. The notion of racial/ethnic purity in a country built by immigrants (with some degree of intermarriage/devastation of the native population) is pretty silly.
 
  • #59
Its even silly in Europe to consider oneself pure.

The oddest (or most interesting) mix I've come across is my friend, a linguist whose grandfather on one side was a Nazi officer and whose other grandfather was a German Jew who fled to Britain.
 
  • #60
Probably the only people in the world that could consider themselves 'racially pure' are Australian Aborigines which must delight neo-nazis
 
  • #61
turbo-1 said:
Most of us ARE mutts! I am French-Canadian/Indian on my mother's side and Irish/German/Scottish/Indian on my father's side.

I'm half German Shepherd.
⚛​
 
  • #62
CaptainQuasar said:
I'm half German Shepherd.
⚛​


Im the real deal.
 
  • #63
Kurdt said:
Its even silly in Europe to consider oneself pure.

The oddest (or most interesting) mix I've come across is my friend, a linguist whose grandfather on one side was a Nazi officer and whose other grandfather was a German Jew who fled to Britain.

Ha ha! That's the best I've heard. I used to love to tell the story of how my mother, a member of the German Luftwaffe during WWII, later married my father, a member of the U.S. Air Force. The joke was that they kept the war going for another 50 years.:-p

But we are getting way off topic.
Perhaps the Obama's can find a Chinese Crested/Xoloitzcuintli mix.

Both hypoallergenic dogs.
 
  • #64
OmCheeto said:
Perhaps the Obama's can find a Chinese Crested/Xoloitzcuintli mix.

And the humane society shelters are always overcrowded with those things.
 
  • #65
Chi Meson said:
And the humane society shelters are always overcrowded with those things.

Interesting how many of the Chinese Crested are in the top ten of the annual "ugliest dog" competitions:

http://www.everyoneloveselwood.com/about.html
2008 Champion
FAQs.jpg

Elwood is an all American MUTT - part Chinese Crested part Chihuahua.

Just like our president. awwwww...
 
  • #66
  • #67
Wait just a second...


FAQs.jpg
1pxo9s.jpg


Obama isn't the only Democratic politician the First Dog may be like! No disrespect meant to Senator Clinton (okay, maybe a little) but I was trying to find some world leader it'd be good to name the dog after, I searched for "bug-eyed dictator" and that image was one of the first hits, and it was too funny to pass up.

BTW, the image host I uploaded that to generated this advertisement:

169i36h.jpg


I would go to answer my phone and be like AAAAHHHHHHHH!
⚛​
 
  • #69
Since portugal isn't part of the Iraqi invasion - will they have to be renamed "freedom water dogs"?
 
  • #70
Ivan Seeking said:
"Bo" has arrived and just in time for Easter.


12dogblog2.jpg

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/hey-bo-puppy-obamas-finally-choose/?hp

O...M...G... :smile:

Fox is going to have such a field day...

"They're letting gay dogs run around the White House! What's next, gay marriage?!"

Southpark could do a skit, but they've squandered their "gay dog" episode. Perhaps they can do a sequel: "Sparky goes to the White House" :cool:
 
  • #72
I thought huffington was banned here. Btw, what's up with the dog being named after the president? Barrack Obama, B.O
 
  • #73
Ghost803 said:
I thought huffington was banned here. Btw, what's up with the dog being named after the president? Barrack Obama, B.O

Heh, the HP is banned as a source of information. This is just a photo.

It just happened that as often happens, the Huffington Post had it first. :biggrin:
 
  • #74
The dog is named after Rush limbaugh's call screener Bo Snerdley:biggrin:

OR

 
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  • #75
Huffington had a hilarious satire too, written as the First Dog's address to the nation.

The puppy is really cute. It's good to hear it's an energetic breed, because after watching Obama reading stories to kids today, I can really picture him rolling around on the floor with kids and puppy piling on top for a tumble. Can't you just imagine someone walking in on him in the Oval Office playing tug-of-war with a puppy? (It was really nice watching a president acting out stories for kids rather than struggling to sound out the words.)
 
  • #76
Moonbear said:
Huffington had a hilarious satire too, written as the First Dog's address to the nation.

The puppy is really cute. It's good to hear it's an energetic breed, because after watching Obama reading stories to kids today, I can really picture him rolling around on the floor with kids and puppy piling on top for a tumble. Can't you just imagine someone walking in on him in the Oval Office playing tug-of-war with a puppy? (It was really nice watching a president acting out stories for kids rather than struggling to sound out the words.)
That was really refreshing, Moonie! He acted out the parts, stuck in sound-effects, stuff that I'm sure he's done for years for his own kids. It's nice to have a President who's not a pompous stuffed-shirt or an idiot.
 
  • #77
turbo-1 said:
That was really refreshing, Moonie! He acted out the parts, stuck in sound-effects, stuff that I'm sure he's done for years for his own kids. It's nice to have a President who's not a pompous stuffed-shirt or an idiot.

Yep, and I just keep thinking what a wonderful role model he and Michelle are to parents everywhere. If the president isn't too busy to make time to spend with his family, anyone can make that time. It's such a nice example of good parenting.
 
  • #78
Moonbear said:
Yep, and I just keep thinking what a wonderful role model he and Michelle are to parents everywhere. If the president isn't too busy to make time to spend with his family, anyone can make that time. It's such a nice example of good parenting.

Those girls just seem like nice, normal kids. Not that previous White House kids haven't been nice and normal, but there's something very uncoached and real about the Obama girls.

Kudos to their parents -- and grandma.
 
  • #79
lisab said:
Those girls just seem like nice, normal kids. Not that previous White House kids haven't been nice and normal, but there's something very uncoached and real about the Obama girls.

Kudos to their parents -- and grandma.

A substantial part of it is simply that we see them! Maybe I just am forgetting, but I really don't remember seeing any candid sorts of photos of the Clintons playing with Chelsea. Most of the time, she was never seen, and only when she was all dressed up and standing quietly for something formal. She never looked like she was allowed to be a kid...at least not in public. Obama's daughters, you actually see running about, playing, and just being kids, not stage props. The other recent presidents all had grown children (or pretty close to grown for the Bush twins) by the time they were in office, so they were already getting into more adult political roles and we didn't see them as kids.

I still love Michelle for telling the White House cleaning staff not to clean the girls' rooms. It's all part of keeping them unspoiled.
 
  • #80
I just love that http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washing...ta-urges-obama-to-snip-bo-the-first-dog.html" (Huffington Post link NOT used here... though my personal view of US News and World Report isn't high and the HP beat it to the punch):

"We are sending you a coupon good for one free sterilization at PETA's SNIP clinic, which you are welcome to use or pass on to a member of your Cabinet or someone in a low-income neighborhood of Washington, D.C."

At least the organization was good to include the "pass on" caveat.

I'm personally quite OK with the first family getting the pup from a "breeder"-source. Obviously research went into the choice, and in the case of his daughter's allergies, a pup needed to be carefully selected. This careful consideration of pet selection is what people should model... not the selection of a PWD itself. It's clear a high-energy pup will be mutually healthy with this high-energy but disciplined family. The only things sketchy and unfortunate are the Kennedy connection and "rescue" status!

My Cha-Cha was a stray kitty, she certainly had some try-out time before I let her in for "rescue". While I had to rid her of fleas, I was lucky that during the decision process, I found out from the vet she was already fixed! Bonus! -- But I don't have allergy considerations, and her personality was found compatible via the trial period where she reappeared consistently at my front porch for food and attention.

I have a friend with mild allergies, and her shelter-kitty Annie didn't get the love and play-time it needed from her. Fortunately she just married, and her spouse frolics and dotes on the kitty; I hear Annie's never been so happy! (Prior to her marriage, my friend was beginning to worry that she needed to pass Annie on to her parents and save up money for a hairless kitty -- almost as scary as a Chinese Crested!).
 
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  • #81
physics girl phd said:
"We are sending you a coupon good for one free sterilization at PETA's SNIP clinic, which you are welcome to use or pass on to a member of your Cabinet or someone in a low-income neighborhood of Washington, D.C."

Hmm...that seems like quite a deal. Which member of the cabinet should we send for the free sterilization? :smile: "SNIP" clinic? Really? PETA is just endless comedy. :smile:
 
  • #82
physics girl phd said:
"We are sending you a coupon good for one free sterilization at PETA's SNIP clinic, which you are welcome to use or pass on to a member of your Cabinet "
I think that was a typo - it should have said
We are sending you a coupon good for one free sterilization at PETA's SNIP clinic, which you are welcome to use ON a member of your Cabinet

edit - moonbear got their first
 
  • #83
art.bo.family.cnn.jpg


..."The only concern we have is that apparently, Portuguese water dogs like tomatoes. Michelle's garden is in danger," he said.

"We don't have tomatoes," the first lady said. "Not yet," Obama reminded...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/14/first.dog/
 
  • #84
They just sound like such a typical couple with banter like that. :smile:

Though, who's walking whom in that photo? :biggrin:
 
  • #85
Foreign relations between the US and Portugal have never been better :wink:.
 
  • #86
Moonbear said:
Though, who's walking whom in that photo?

I don't know if you caught it or not, but Bo nearly caused Barack to take a nose dive on the White House lawn today.
 
  • #88
Ivan Seeking said:
I don't know if you caught it or not, but Bo nearly caused Barack to take a nose dive on the White House lawn today.

No, haven't caught that one. Hopefully there'll be reruns of that footage. :smile: That looks like one strong puppy! Apparently, pulling is what they're best at...amidst all the articles about the puppy, I've learned that they're working dogs that assist fishermen by hauling nets from boat to boat. Fishing nets can be pretty heavy. I bet Bo will be fun in winter...wait for some snow, and let him tow the kids on their sleds (I don't think there are many good sledding hills around the White House). :biggrin:
 

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