Posted on 04/23/2012 5:30:54 AM PDT by IbJensen
Bo the Portuguese water dog is cute, fluffy, and has done well growing up in the White House limelight.
But he also represents a broken campaign promise.
President Obama promised author Jana Kohl, who had been lobbying on Capitol Hill to end puppy mills, that he would adopt a dog. He even posed with her three-legged poodle rescued from an abusive breeder in a photo that was carried on the cover of American Dog magazine.
In October 2008, Michelle Obama told Entertainment Tonight that her family would be adopting a shelter dog after the election. The news was welcomed by groups that had been trying to persuade the Obamas to opt for a rescue dog after he’d mentioned they might get a goldendoodle because they’re hypoallergenic.
“Senator, no one needs to tell you that this country is proud to be a melting pot, and that there is something deeply wrong and elitist about wanting only a purebred dog,” PETA wrote Obama at the time. “Millions of Great American Mutts—the dog that should be our national dog—are set to die in our nation’s extremely overcrowded pounds and shelters for lack of good homes. Compassionate people nationwide are choosing to adopt a homeless pound puppy—a grateful refugee from a society that has not always treated the true ‘underdog’ kindly—rather than cater to special interests who do not have dogs’ interests at heart.”
The Best Friends Animal Society gathered more than 50,000 petition signatures urging the Obamas to adopt instead of buying or acquiring one from a breeder.
So shortly before the election, Michelle Obama made that vow — they would get a rescue dog.
“We hope that the Obama family really listened to our message, and we hope that Barack, Michelle, and their daughters find a loving mutt who needs a good home,” PETA responded.
Well… they didn’t get the message. Instead, they got a purebred “gift” from Uncle Teddy.
Sen. Kennedy gave the Obamas a six-month-old littermate of one of his own Portuguese water dogs. Bo had originally gone to another family but was returned to the breeder after not getting along with other dogs in the home. Not exactly a “rescue” dog.
“This is a missed opportunity to set a pet-adoption trend among Americans,” said Abbie Moore, executive director of Adopt-a-Pet.com, at the time. “With pet relinquishment up 20 to 30 percent due to the poor economy, pets in shelters can use all the help they can get.”
The Obamas felt that they could stem the disappointment over a campaign promise not met by donating to the Humane Society. Suddenly, with some new cash in pocket, the HSUS was willing to forgive Obama for taking in a “second-chance” breeder dog that had gone right back to the breeder after the first chance didn’t pan out. They called it a “gray area.”
But the Obamas aren’t the only ones on the ticket to renege on an adoption promise. Vice President Joe Biden angered shelter advocates when he got Chance, a German Shepherd puppy from a breeder whose kennel license was later revoked for dozens of violations, and promised that he would get a second dog from a shelter. So far, there’s been no second dog, just a brag from Biden in 2009 that his pooch is smarter than Bo.
“I’ve had German Shepherds since I was a kid and I’ve actually trained them and shown them in the past. So I wanted a German Shepherd, and we’re going to get a pound dog, which my wife wants, who is hopefully a Golden [Retriever],” Biden told George Stephanopoulos in December 2008.
Fifty-six percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats who end up in shelters are euthanized.
About a third of dogs in shelters are purebreds (I should know — I found my Chihuahua, Chi-Chi, sitting on my desk as I type this, nearly a year ago at a county pound where she’d been left after being used for breeding). Mutts are just as important and loveable.
Hey... That poodle had four legs before Obama showed up...
First of all, let me state that I have been a breeder of AKC show Beagles for 10+ years.
What you may not know is that the breeder has expenses you may not have considered. For example, my wife whelped a litter of five puppies Saturday night. She was up ALL night. She will sleep on the floor in the room with the puppies for the next two nights to make sure the mother(bitch) does not lay on them by mistake and smother them.
This litter was the result of a breeding to Best in Show stud dog. The stud fee was $1000. We had to fly the bitch roundtrip to NC and back($350). We took the bitch to the vet to be X-rayed last week($150). We will be giving shots and micro chipping each puppy($50+). The food we feed cost $45/bag. What I am getting at is we will need to sell two puppies just to break even. With past litters we had to have emergency C-sections at 4am in the morning($1500).
Good breeders are very selective who they breed to. We are trying to improve the breed, not just sell puppies for a profit. We will not breed to or with anyone who has genetic defects in their line. If we end up with a dog/bitch we some problem we have them nuetered or spade. For these reasons we sell our puppies for more money. In the long run(15 years) our puppies will cost you less because our careful genetic screening. One extra trip to the vets office can easily make up the difference in the original cost of the puppy.
Also, the reason good breeders are very selective in placing their puppies is from experience. We will take back any puppy we sell , EVER. We have had people tell us they lived on 2 acres with a fenced in yard. It turns out they lived in a condo and their neighbors complained about the barking. We typically will not sell a puppy to someone with small children(3 years or less) because these people have their hands full with their kids. We will only sell puppies to someone with a fenced yard.
A great Dane is a very large dog that needs room to run. They were bred to be guard dogs. The breeder wants to make sure you are prepared to handle a breed like that. They do not want to get the puppy back when it is 4-6 months old.
That is why they/we are so selective who we sell to and ask a lot of questions. We typically have no problem selling our puppies and always have a waiting list. Most of our sales are referrals and repeat buyers.
Good for you. I have one problem with my Dane as a guard dog: he’s more of a “watch” dog. This is, he’ll either tentatively sniff and make friends with anybody who comes to the house or sit around and watch what’s happening. All in all, a very friendly, somewhat timid, and very sweet dog. The one thing I wouldn’t do is try to break into my house when he’s here and in it, whether I was here or not.
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I still LOL! at that one. Poor puppy!
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