Presidential Pets and A VERY SPECIAL Bichon Frise

When President Obama was newly elected I wrote a bit about his choice of a puppy, and whether it would be a Portuguese Water Spaniel or a Labradoodle. 
Then of course the Presidential family has chosen Bo.
This nice lady sent me this link yesterday to a blog entry about Presidential Pets.  She writes that pets give comfort and normalcy to the presidential family.  This is true of all families and people I think.  I was fretting over paperwork and filing, what to take to the basement, what needed to stay up on the first floor, why should I keep any of it on the first floor if I could not FIND anything.......and then my bichon, Dispatch, was hungry. He's had his eating problems in the past.  He is picky and the food bowl "scares" him.  I went into the kitchen to tell him it's OK to eat and finally (DUHHHHH) got him a heavier bowl and a mat that does not let stuff slide around and he ate.  By himself.  I didn't have to be there.....I used to have to watch him eat, hold the food bowl, or listen to him BEG for me to do these things.  Or give up and feed him on the floor.  Kibble, not canned food on the floor----- do you think I'm an idiot-----don't answer that.  The point of this story is I forgot all about my problems with rearranging things that really don't matter because of Dispatch.  Then I could really focus and blog instead of filing....NO, I have a plan for rearranging paperwork and am not stressing anymore.  This is what pets can do for us.  Besides sit on the lace tablecloth in the dining room and look like "huh me? What am I doing wrong?"

Last but not least if you live in California or one of the neighboring states and have a  place in your heart for a  very special little bundle of Joy, meet Petey.  He is available @ Bichon FurKids Rescue, along with other Bichons of course.  You see in this photo Petey  is laying down, there is a reason for this.  He was born with a partially unformed back leg and when he was 6 or 7 the other hind leg became tired.  His family turned him into a shelter but he was afraid, and of course he wondered why his little world had turned upside down.   BUT Petey being a special Bichon got a cart after he was was taken in to foster by Bichon FurKids Rescue.  He can use it on grass even!  There is a video on his page, be sure to see it, you should see Petey go. If you've ever seen a Bichon in action you can imagine how glad Petey was to be able to run again!  Petey is one fantastic little dog who is available for adoption. 

Animal Stories And Links

A proposed draft of China's first law on animal welfare prohibits the consumption of dog and cat meat, with a fine of up to 5,000 yuan ($730) and up to 15 days' detention for the guilty.  This is from the xinhuanet.com website.  What are mine and Dispatches 2 cents worth?  I say it's about GD time (and I don't curse, much, out loud).  Dispatch says he's glad he's little and skinny and probably tough.  He says also if mama lost a little more weight cannibals wouldn't look @ her so fondly either but that's another story.

Labrador Retrievers are still the number one dog in the United States (according to the AKC) but Yorkies while being 3rd in the USA are #1 in New York City (I can attest to one house in Wichita Kansas that has this Yorkie Poo that is definitly #1) Nice foot Sis.  Phone picture but I don't think you've seen it yet?

2009 Most Popular Dogs in the U.S.

1. Labrador Retriever

2. German Shepherd Dog

3. Yorkshire Terrier

4. Golden Retriever

5. Beagle

6. Boxer

7. Bulldog

8. Dachshund

9. Poodle

10. Shih Tzu The most popular pets with the biggest increase in rankings over the last decade included the Bulldog (from 21st to 7th); French Bulldog (from 73rd to 24th); Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (from 58th to 25th) and the making the largest leap the Havanese (from 92nd to 32nd). (Taken from the AKC page)  Notice the Havanese, we all know what kind of dog that is?  Say it! BICHON Havanese!!!! YAY  It's party time, get the tennis balls......Sorry about that, back to our regular programming. Havanese photo from Happy Havs Farm Havanese Puppies Even before the Obama family selected the Portuguese Water Dog it was on the rise in popularity ranked 80th a decade ago to 60th currently. However, it did make a jump from 64th a year ago when all the interest in this mid-sized, hypoallergenic breed began says the AKC.  I wrote about the Obama's selecting a dog if you are so inclined to self torture.  Hey it's my most popular post all the time so.............. no harm in mentioning it ad nauseum AGAIN. If you haven't left me for the AKC by now bless your little pea pickin hearts, (some of you may be too young to remember that, wasn't it Tennessee Ernie Ford?) you can go see how your favorite dog breed did here.  No use going anywhere else, I've said it all.  (Just kidding AKC)  Bichon Frise FELL lately?  This can not be so mon ami, Dispatch es tres bleu. (all the french I could think of that you want to hear)

Ten Bo Obama's on Twitter

Yes you read right, there are only 55 Stephen King's and considering King is a fairly common name that's understandable (none are the Stephen King you are thinking about). Ten matches if you type in Bo Obama in Twitter search. Twitter.com

Check it out on Twitter, I just think it's funny, you wouldn't believe how many dogs blog. Dispatch still has trouble with typing, I swear he used to turn off the screensaver with the mouse because it scared him, was the one where the picture on the screen got bigger and bigger and bigger? The picture above is him patiently waiting for me to come back in the camper in MS, he used to sit there and watch out the window for me, not approved dog behavior, perhaps he was surfing too?

Obama Dog Bo

Well the votes are in and the Portuguese Water Dog won. I do think it's rather appropriate Bo came from President Kennedy's brother Teddy since Obama has been compared to JFK in so many ways. I think it's also neat that Portuguese Water Dogs are being used for genetic study. There are only about 1000 of these dogs in the world, the breed started from 30 core dogs and the breeders especially in the United States have always tried to breed out deformities and any disease that may crop up so the bloodlines are easily traced. PWD are also good genetic subjects because they are small and large and different colors. Geneticists studying these dogs have isolated a gene that may cause dogs to be small which I think is fascinating. The story on how the PWD helps genetics research is summarized here in the La Times.

Bo is also a rescue which is what President Obama wanted, it seems he had a previous family that just didn't quite mesh with him or something. So it all turned out good except Bo is supposedly banned from President Obama's bed. That is probably true for now, wonder if it will stick? I'm sure Bo will never know that he is probably one of the most famous dogs in the world, he will just think this is the way life should be like my little white rat (OK he's fluffy and looks more like a giant q tip than a rat but I call him my white rat) thinks, he doesn't think he's spoiled, this is just how life should be!

I wonder if the Obama's will stop @ one dog? Bo might get lonely? President Obama seems to be plenty smitten with this dog considering it was a present for his children? Bo is truly and animal that gives pause and probably one that will give paws too, pun intended.

Labradoodle or Portuguese Water Dog for the Obama's?

OK, I admit I posted this in January the first time but since the Obama's haven't gotten a dog yet ( OK, he's been sort of busy with GM and those conferences in London and Iran and all and she's been busy hugging the Queen and denying pregnancy rumors, I LIKE Michelle OK! ) but I'm dying to find out what they do choose, I still think the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon? But there are those who say labradoodle isn't a breed so they should stick to the Portuguese Water Dog? What's your opinion?

Link to the white Labradoodle puppy breeder Copper Canyon Labradoodles.

To me the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon but maybe I am just a little touched about bichons?

The other choice is a Portuguese Water Dog, I think this is Teddy Kennedy's choice? The picture above is from the American Kennel Club, don't want to get into trouble.

They both seem like nice dogs. Good rambunctious dogs. Not foo foo dogs like Obama said he didn't want.

OK, we have a foo foo dog but he's just really cute and cuddly, let him think something is attacking mama and he turns into the tazmanian devil. One night I heard Skeeter the terrier fussing out by the bar-b-que grill. Seems a possum had made it's way under the grill, opossums are not known for their speed or being particulary ferocious so I decided I either had to get it out of there or kill it to make Skeeter shut up. I got a shovel and managed to get le possum on it and drag it out from under the grill. Dispatch wasn't very old, less than a year but when the possum came out and snarled he threw himself on it teeth barred and growling because le possum was coming toward beloved mama. Well duh, if I have a shovel and am pulling le possum toward me it's going to get closer. Opossum left the shovel and the yard with a bouncy white butt in close pursuit and a black slow butt behind that (Skeeter).
Foo foo dog also shows no mercy when confronted with strange dogs in his yard. I've seen him chase huge hounds off and a blue heeler. I'm standing there actually calling the blue heeler and Dispatch catches sight of him and it's bar the door Katie. A little white cotton fluff ball heading down the hill in hot pursuit of a VERY scared blue heeler. Just didn't make sense to me, maybe the blue heeler thought the q-tips had gone mad or it was a ghost?

Anyway all the best of luck to the Obama's with their puppy.

And if you are considering adopting go here for a list of dogs just waiting to be glad to see you when you walk in the door. There was an article in People I believe that said pets turned into shelters are on the rise but adoptions are also on the rise. Think about it. You could have a dog beside you whining to go out to his cat friends so he can chase them like I do?