The Obamas are trying to decide what sort of dog to get, and seem to have narrowed it down to the Labradoodle versus the Portuguese water dog. America votes again, and this time the mutt wins it by a hair. And this time, unlike the last election, I’m with the majority.
As the former owner of a (now-deceased) cockerpoo, a mix very similar to the Labradoodle only a bit smaller, I can say that this sort of dog tends to be one of the best around: friendly, trainable, calm, adorable, non-shedding (the latter is the trait that sold me, if truth be told). The need for regular grooming was a very small price to pay for the benefit of a dog that was relatively allergy-free, and for a home that wasn’t carpeted with dog detritus.
I happen to know a Portuguese water dog, and this particular animal is a pill. Unruly, too energetic for people not dedicated to walking it for miles every day, difficult to train—and the one I know even hates water. It does share the wonderful poodle-mix characteristic of having curly non-shedding hair rather than fur, but that’s about all it shares except genus and species.
Of course, the Obamas will now have a staff to take care of these pesky tasks. But they should be wary of the Portuguese water dog. Even the usually enthusiastic American Kennel Club has an entry on the breed that is a mite sobering, if you read between the lines:
An athletic, active breed, the Portuguese Water Dog requires daily vigorous exercise. He is very intelligent and responds well to obedience training…An animal of spirited disposition, self-willed, brave, and very resistant to fatigue.
There it is: “requires daily vigorous exercise;” “spirited disposition;” “self-willed.” These are codes for “really restless and even destructive if not walked to exhaustion, difficult to train, and stubborn.”
The key, as with any breed, is effective obedience training. Again, I doubt the Obamas will be doing this themselves, but if they plan to, it will be a time-consuming and demanding task.
So, even if it might work out in the end, why ask for trouble? Go with the Labradoodle. Your girls will thank you. America will thank you. I will thank you.
Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
January 14th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
[...] Labradoodle Not bad, but I believe a president should have a border collie. Smartest doggies ever. [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
[...] Neo-neocon is voting for a Labradoodle. Category: College, Humor, Music, Travel, Uncategorized, War on [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Not that anyone asked, but I would have gone with a pug. My pug, Fred, is a wonderful, lovable lap dog that only seeks to please you. However, when you’re not looking he is either scrounging around looking for food that doesn’t belong to him, expelling canine bodily fluids in unapproved locations, barking furiously at phantom menaces, jumping up on visitors, etc. When not doing the above, he is asleep. Add to that that he is wholly dependent upon me for his existence, he is a perfect poster-dog for the liberals!
Good boy, Fred!
January 14th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I would have thought that the most frightening phrase in the AKC description of the PWD was “very resistant to fatigue”. If a “self-willed,” “destructive” dog doesn’t get tired, then….
I’d opt for a Golden Retriever. We’re on our 4th now, and I wouldn’t trade her for anything else.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Is it too late to suggest that the proper dog for the Annointed One is perhaps a rabid rottweiller?
(Sorry, couldn’t resist….lol…)
January 14th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Stumbley,
I’m with you. “Very resistant to fatigue” sounds like 15 or so years of a colicky baby: 3AM wake-ups, walking the floors waiting for eyelids to droop. It might be a good outside dog if you have lots of nighttime varmits to keep it amused.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
We looked hard at Porty’s before getting our dog (a humongous snuggle-bug of a standard poodle). Loved the no shed/no smell factor (which is a poodle asset as well).
Porty’s were bred to work on fishing boats (to help move nets between boats, I understand, and for rescue), and to be very high energy. (That may be why Ted Kennedy has one, just in case he needs an emergency water rescue … just think, if he had a Porty back then, he might have been President…)
They are like a 60-pound, high energy poodle with a lot of the comical personality, but inexhaustible energy. It would be most unfair to such an animal to be cooped up in the White House — they need a job and lots of land (or water) to run/swim.
Unless of course the plan is to close Gitmo, end waterboarding, and annoy the terrorists into disclosing the truth by having a few Porty’s around to drive them insane…
January 14th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
I had today off and went to a matinee of “Marley and Me.” I had read the book a few years ago, so I knew what to expect. Still, I wept during the last half hour of the movie. Fortunately, there were only two other people there and they were well in front of me. Not cool for a grown man to be seen weeping in public. I’m just an old softie for dogs. I love animals, which my wife finds a bit strange because I’m a hunter as well. But I only deer hunt and I have great respect and admiration for those animals too.
All of God’s creatures deserve our respect and proper protection, even the animals we hunt. I hunt because I love to eat venison and would never kill an animal just for the hell of it. They were given to us to manage and protect, all of God’s creatures.
To me, dogs and all canines are special animals. There is an unmistakeable bond between the canine and human. There is a purpose to it that is beyond utilitarian, although they work well for us. We would never have had animal domestication and herding were it not for canines. The dog is God’s special creature made to help us in so many ways. And they teach us some things about what is most important in life.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Go to the pound and save a dogs life. They will love you forever.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:25 am
Sadly, things like this are not going for the best interest of the animal but is simply a political ploy. For reasons beyond me there is a large group of people that thrive on this type of thing and Obama is their Golden Child. I guess not that other politicians are immune or do not do similar things, but Obama is almost all this. But then I really blame those that thrive on it and not the Obama’s – in this case they are simply a product being sold, and bought, by that crowd.
I guess in the end what ever he chooses it will not be because he wants a pet but because he presidents do such thing. Luckily for the animal for the rest of it’s life (assuming it never becomes a political “who cares”) it will have a vast array of handlers that keep it “presidential”. But then for some breeds that mostly means the Obama’s will cart it off to a farm someplace and have a “pet” that they have to think about its name.
Hey, maybe we can get PETA to have a rally to make it the “First Companion” and have its own office, staff, cook, and all the trimmings that would go with such an office.
“Go to the pound and save a dogs life. They will love you forever.”
Too bad the Obama’s hadn’t thought of this before, it would have made a nice narrative – but then they wouldn’t be letting us lower folk in on their decision on their high falutin’ ways and uplift/inspire all of us to greatness like him.
Eh, maybe it will actually end up being a real pet – who knows?
January 15th, 2009 at 7:33 am
As a cat guy, I’m able to sit back and watch this debate with a sort of detached, feline amusement. I definitely don’t have a dog in this fight, as it were. But I can’t see having a working dog around the White House. The poor animal would be bored out of its mind and probably take it out on the valuable government property on the premises. If a dog must be obtained, Cat Guy seconds the vote for the Labradoodle.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Sorry guys but I am not buying any of it (quite apart from the fact that I have never heard of labradoodles). If you like dogs you have dogs. If you like cats you have cats. If you don’t like pets you have none. You don’t suddenly acquire a dog because you are moving into the White House and want cutesy-pie pictures. That sort of thing always ends badly. You really cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:04 am
My labradoodle is a wonderful dog. She’s smart, funny, loving, loves doing tricks and going to dog training classes. She was also VERY expensive. I read that the Obamas intend to get their dog at an animal shelter. Well, maybe, but I doubt it.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:35 am
We have a seven year old Labrdoodle and other than the embarrassment of saying “Labradoodle” when people ask what kind of dog it is, he is great. The intelligence of a Poodle combined with the goofiness and shear love of life possessed by the Lab makes a very good boy!
January 15th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Labradoodles are F1 crosses of two established breeds, which means they are highly unpredictable in which characteristics they inherit from their parent breeds. Some of them get a nonshedding, low-allergen poodle coat- and some others get a longer, extra-unruly Lab coat that seems even more danderiffic than most ordinary dogs. Likewise, some of them get a Lab’s relatively more level head (though this REALLY REALLY depends on the lines of the Labrador, which are all over the map in this country) with the Poodle’s coat and intelligence, and some of them get a Poodle’s high energy combined with a Labby oral fixation. Worse than that, while there are some very good whateverdoodle breeders in this country (who will be honest about the relative unpredictability of their crosses), the majority of them are cashing in on a fad and exert no control whatsoever on the health and temperament of their dogs- and when some of the same genetic health problems exist in both breeds, “hybrid vigor” no longer applies.
Given that the Obamas’ choices seem to be driven by popularity (and hype that just ain’t always so, with respect to the doodle coat) plus what Teddy Kennedy has, I share the cynicism of the others in this thread- they haven’t made much of an effort to really make an informed choice, and this seems to be far more publicity stunt than a real effort to get a pet suitable for their daughters. I’m reminded of the late lamented Buddy, victim of a car strike after being indifferently allowed to run loose- Bill Clinton should really have just admitted he was a cat person, public opinion be damn…
(If it were me? I’d go with a Bichon Frise from a breeder I’d satisfied myself kept careful watch on health and temperament, or a rescue with sound and honest evaluations. Sure, they look like wimpy little puffballs, but one that’s treated like a dog rather than a baby or stuffed toy is sweet, stable, eager to please, and has the right kind of coat- perfect for a little girl.)
January 15th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Oh, as a side note regarding the White House and working dogs, Reagan had a Bouvier- potentially a great dog for Reagan, poor fit for the White House; the dog had to be banished to Reagan’s ranch after it tried to herd him with a nip. (Bored, underexercised, and undertrained would be my bet.) Reagan later got a Cavalier- dedicated lapdog/companion breed- that worked out fine.
Working and guardian breeds = poor fit for the White House.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I agree they should get a dog or any other pet only because they want one, not because it’ll look cute in the White House photo shoots. Or maybe Obama is heeding Truman’s advice about making friends in Washington.
January 18th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I didn’t see this post earlier, but I wish I had, because I can correct a misunderstanding. As it happens, the Obama girls’ consideration of a labradoodle is, and this is not satirical, because of our family’s labradoodle. It’s a third degree of separation dynamic, that has nothing to do with Ted Kennedy or flavors of the month, but a relative of a friend of an Obama daughter, who has heard about a sweet, brave, alert, terrorizer of vermin miniature labradoodle for several years before the election. Furthermore, I’m a horse-person, not a dog-person, and she is the only dog I’ve ever known that I could tolerate living with.
However, this is a Republican miniature labradoodle, so I can’t guarantee how the breed behaves in a Democratic household.
April 18th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
A Labradoodle, in my opinion, would have been the better choice, and for numerous reasons, including hybrid vigor, health, etc.