White House dog on the way - "Frank" or "Moose." (Don't Blame The Dog)

The first family dog saga is almost over. Michelle Obama, who is on the cover of People again, told the magazine that her daughters Sasha and Malia will get their promised pooch in April, after spring break, and they are looking for a Portuguese Water Dog to adopt from a shelter. "Temperamentally they're supposed to be pretty good," Obama says in the issue hitting newsstands on Friday. "From the size perspective, they're sort of middle of the road -- it's not small, but it's not a huge dog. And the folks that we know who own them have raved about them. So that's where we're leaning." During the campaign, President Obama promised his girls the dog at the end -- and it became a subject of much speculation and lobbying by advocates of various breeds. There was early talk that the Obamas would get a labradoodle. The first couple and their daughters have been going back and forth on possible names, and Michelle Obama told People she nixed "Frank" or "Moose."

Doesn’t anyone get concerned about these people having a dog?

They’ve never had 1, and suddenly, with all this responsibility and hectic activity around them, it’s OK for them to get a dog?

If I were a good breeder - or these “adoptors” who allegedly love these dogs so much and give people hell to try to “adopt” 1 - just on that point alone, I’d be reticent to hand over a dog. Never mind what I think of them politically.

You confirmed my suspicions... I don't think they want a dog and were setting up an unlikely scenario. I think if their first choice would have been an unclaimed Tibetan KyiApso (I googled "rarest of rare dog breeds") that was found tied to the Lincoln Monument on the first Tuesday after a full moon, would have probably been greeted with cynicism...

Hmmmm. Does anyone remember the (Chinese) film "The Wedding Banquet" where the main character moves to NYC and his parents want to arrange a marriage for him (he's gay and they don't know it)? He says that he requires a 6 foot tall, Chinese woman who sings opera and has a PhD. Sure enough, they find a woman to match his requirements. The movie goes on from there with all kinds of mistaken signals. Quite funny.

You are right. I've thought that this was an impossible scenarion to fill too. What's more, there is NO dog that is shedding. You have to test the particular dog -- not necessarily the breed, although some are better than others.

What if the girls get their dog and it still causes a reaction with the child? Where do presidential reject dogs go? It's not like they can banish it to a ranch if it becomes a problem. (Like the Reagans did with Nancy's Bouvier de Flandres.) Or, allow the SS to run over it like the Clintons did with Buddy.

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