Natural History

President-elect Obama said in his acceptance speech Tuesday night that they were getting a puppy.

Speculation is rampant.

Malia Obama has researched the breeds and has decided she wants a goldendoodle. Malia has allergies to dogs, and there is some suggestion that goldendoodles are less likely to cause allergies because it has been proported that they do not shed. However, if she is allergic to dog saliva, it won’t matter which breed they choose.

And goldendoodles often do shed. Poodles don’t shed, but golden retrievers “blow coat” twice a year. The genetics of coat that comes across in the hybridization is actually quite interesting. Most have the poodle-type coat, but it is not unusual to find them with actual golden retriever coats, including the smooth fur on the muzzle and the forelegs. I’ve even see one that had a coat like an Irish water spaniel. 

Most goldendoodles and Labradoodles look like larger versions of the Barbet and Spanish water dog. I’ve read descriptions of the English rough water dog, which is ancestral to the water spaniels and the retrievers, and it really resembles the doodles. It is a large dog, with a shaggy coat that is low shed or nonshedding. This breed was absorbed into the water spaniels by the eighteenth century, and then the water spaniels were absorbed into the retrievers, except in Ireland, where the native Water spaniel survived.

PETA wants them to select a shelter dog.  Michelle Obama is also leaning toward rescuing a dog. That would be socially responsible, and it would be a new thing for US presidents. Since Gerald Ford, all the presidential dogs have been purchased from breeders. (Ford had a very well-bred golden retriever named “Liberty.”).

I would say that they should not get a puppy. They are going to be far too busy. If they want a golden or Labradoodle, I’m sure they can rescue one that already loves children. They just need to know that sometimes they get the field-type golden retriever’s high energy level, which some people misinterpet as “hyper.”

My suggestion is that they rescue a dog, even if it’s a designer a hybrid, such as this. I do know that this is a functional hybrid, and that some service dogs organizations use them. This cross reduces some of the allergies to canines that mobility challenged people might also have. So I’m not going to go into you shouldn’t cross breeds. If there is a reason to do so, then it should be accepted.

Poodles and golden retrievers are actually distant relatives in the water dog family. Standard poodles can be used as water retrievers, and the unusual clips used in poodles were first developed to aid them in the water. The long, wooly coat got bogged down in the water, so German hunters clipped the hair to make them more streamlined in the water. They left the coat long in certain areas so the dogs were still protected from cold water. Poodles are probably closely related to the English rough water dog, which is ancestral to the water spaniels and the retrievers. Poodles are related in some way to the Barbet and the Portuguese and Spanish Water dog. They are also related to the Schapendoes of the Netherlands, the Sheep poodle of Germany, the Puli (which can be used as a water dog), and perhaps the bearded collie and the Polish lowland sheepdog.

I just hope that the Obama’s dog doesn’t wind up like Harry Truman’s Irish setter puppy, which was given very poor care. The poor dog was fed only raw meat and hee developed rickets as a result.

 Bill Clinton’s Labrador was purchased solely as a photo-op. They chose the Lab because it was the most popular breed in America, but they chose a chocolate one because a black one wouldn’t photograph well enough and yellow would photo graph too well.

Ronald Reagan had a Bouvier des Flandres, but this dog had very strong herding instincts, and nipped nearly everyone in the White House.  This dog was sent to Reagan’s ranch and replaced with a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, which is a far more appropriate breed for an elderly couple with a very busy schedule.

I somehow think the Obamas are going to be more deliberate in their choice of a dog than those two presidents. They seem to be very deliberate about everything.