Hey, that's not from the pound!

So, the Obamas finally got a dog. The President had promised his daughters a dog fairly early in the campaign and apparently he's made good as the new First Pet arrives at the White House on Tuesday. This is a cute story and should get about 4 seconds of air time during the news. But, since this is politics in America, people have to be pissed about something as nice as a family getting a dog. The dog will be arriving through a private breeder instead of being rescued like people had assumed would be the case. What else is Obama going to lie about?

Hey, it happens. People tell you that certain breeds are better than others and after a while you start to believe it. (If you're not an animal professional how the hell would you know the difference anyway?) Because of this you start to lock in on a specific breed of dog and then that's pretty much all you want. I've spent time on PetFinder.com, torturing myself looking at dogs that I am in no position to adopt right now, and nowhere on that site did I find the purebred English Bulldog I want. I highly doubt that a search for Portuguese Water Dogs would be any more successful.

My last family dog that we rescued from the pound did happen to be a purebred cocker spaniel (pour some out for Harry). But that was not a qualification going in; we just wanted to a dog. It's not like we planned on showing him or anything. Good thing, too, as one lap around the arena would have been way too much exercise. The point is this: you can't always get what you want from the pound. Anything beyond just getting a healthy addition to the family should be considered a bonus. Would it have set a better example for the world if the Obamas got a dog from a rescue shelter? Sure. Would it be better to let the man concentrate on rescuing the economy instead? Absolutely.