Obamas’ dog won’t come this week, says press secretary

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Anxious Obama dog watchers, it looks as if you won’t have to wait too much longer
-- but for the remainder of the week, the president isn’t likely to get closer to a canine than he is in the photo at right.

Michelle Obama’s press secretary, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, says the dog’s arrival will ‘definitely not [be] this week,’ CBS News’ Political Hotsheet blog reports.

But, perhaps adding credence to CBS White House Correspondent Bill Plante’s comment that ‘[w]e know that it’s already been picked out,’ another Washington insider is saying today that the future first dog has not only been chosen, but is already studying at the heels of an obedience instructor. From Chicago’s WBBM Newsradio:

Now Senator Dick Durbin says the Obamas will be getting their dog soon.

Senator Durbin says the dog has been going through training while the president and the first lady have been traveling.

Durbin did not comment on what kind of dog the Obamas are getting or where the dog is coming from.

Durbin is an appropriate person to comment on the pet search; he’s one of a select number of legislators to receive a perfect score of 100 on the Humane Society Legislative Fund’s Humane Scorecard, which ranks congressmen and women according to their votes on animal protection issues.

Durbin shares this honor with, among others, Vice President Joe Biden. President Obama -- despite his comments in support of pet adoption -- scored 67.

-- Lindsay Barnett