More dog advice for the Obamas
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You may think you’ve read all there is to read about the Obamas and their dog-to-be ... but wait, there’s more! Times staff writer Carla Hall writes in today’s paper that ‘Ever since President-elect Barack Obama announced in his victory speech that his daughters would be taking a new puppy with them to the White House, interest in the subject of the First Pooch has exploded. Animal welfare websites bristle with advice on pet ownership and praise for Obama’s pledge to search for a shelter dog.’
Hall continues:
Petfinder.com, citing Malia’s allergies, blogged this week that its database included about 5,000 dogs of hypoallergenic breeds...Ed Boks, general manager of L.A.’s Animal Services Department, said he called the office of Antonio Villaraigosa in hopes that the mayor -- who’s on Obama’s economic task force, after all -- might ‘put in a good word for L.A.’s homeless dogs. Our dogs would make the very best ambassadors to the White House.’But so would the bald and stark-looking Peruvian hairless dog -- at least according to the Friends of the Peruvian Hairless Dog Assn. ‘They do not cause any type of allergy and are very friendly and sweet,’ the group’s director, Claudia Galvez, told a wire service reporter this week. Galvez sent a letter through diplomatic circles offering a male puppy.And Yoyo, a survivor of Hurricane Katrina and a rescue dog of the puli breed -- a Hungarian sheepdog -- is scheduled to announce her candidacy for First Dog at a Nov. 25 news conference at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in West L.A., according to hospitality and pet industry publicist Susan Hartzler.
And don’t forget: Times columnist Chris Erskine has actually nominated his own canine, Cujo, to be First Dog. And it turns out, the prospect of a First Puppy has attracted headlines in other countries as well, including the Times of London, which offered some tips on finding a hypoallergenic pet.