Natural History

Rescuing a Labradoodle would be a smart move.

I think he should rescue a dog, simply because he already said that he wanted a rescue dog and “a mutt.” I don’t like it when presidents don’t keep their promises, and this would be a promise kept.

Why this breed over the Portuguese water dog?

Well, I don’t think the water dog could survive a massive jolt of popularity and mass production by unscrupulous and uninformed breeders.

Gerald Ford was a moderately popular president when he purchased a golden retriever named “Liberty.” She was of the old type, and it didn’t take very long for this breed to capture the public’s imagination. But then Ford had Liberty bred, and she had a litter of little golden fur balls at the White House. As soon as that happened, everyone wanted a golden retriever. One of the puppies, Jerry, actually became a seeing-eye dog. And this further cemented in the public mind that goldens were beautiful as adult, cute as puppies, and incredibly intelligent dogs that were useful for humanity.

I can only imagine what would happen if Obama bought a Portuguese water dog. This breed has a truncated genetic base, and it does have some really bad genetic disorders. This is a regional water dog, one of the many poodle-type dogs that once existed throughout Europe from Portugal to Russia.

These dogs are ancestral to water spaniels and retrievers, which have more efficient swimming styles and easier to care for coats. You don’t have to clip as Lab to make him a good water dog (but you might want to breed him with less bone so he can swim better).

Labradoodles are being mass-produced by unscrupulous people. This is very true.

However, by rescuing the dog, President-Elect Obama would be setting a good example about the best place to find a regular, old pet dog.