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YAPAO (yet another post about Obama) BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES FELLOW DOODLERS!-OBAMA DOG PR MADNESS ENSUES!

Obama's Puppy Search Raises Interest in Doodle Dogs

Submitted by SHNS on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 15:36. By JULISSA MCKINNON, The Press-Enterprise national

As part of a campaign to stop puppy mills, then-Senator Barack Obama posed at the Lincoln Memorial with Baby, a poodle who survived a puppy mill but lost one of her legs from the ordeal. The image will appear in the upcoming book, "A Rare Breed of Love" by Jana Kohl.

To doodle or not to doodle. Among his many presidential preparations, President-elect Barack Obama must soon decide whether to follow his eldest daughter Malia's suggestion that the first family get a golden doodle puppy.

The cross between a poodle and a golden retriever is reportedly among about a dozen dog breeds that the Obama family is considering. The list includes breeds that typically don't shed, because Malia is allergic, or pooches known for their friendly temperament.

Area breeders say golden doodles, often used as service or therapy dogs, fit both criteria.

The golden doodle inherits a super-social personality from its golden retriever lineage, said Perris, Calif. breeder Jean Brown.

"A golden doodle is happy to greet anybody. Anybody he sees is his friend. They're kind of like a clown, very happy-go-lucky," Brown said.

Meanwhile, local golden doodle breeders are crossing their fingers that Obama listens to his 10-year-old. Malia stated her preference months ago on the campaign trail long before international buzz started about what pup would be best suited for the White House.

Vickie Kitchen, who helps with her family's golden doodle operation in Perris, said if the next president chooses a golden doodle, business is sure to pick up. Ever since Obama noted on election night that the family would be adopting a puppy, phone calls and e-mails to All B's Kennel have tripled, Kitchen said. The breeder recently had a waiting list of about 16 people hoping for a golden doodle pup, she said.

Curtis Harris, who breeds a different kind of doodle, a Labradoodle, said he has seen a spike in traffic to his Web site -- beaumondelabradoodles.com -- in recent days.

He wondered whether Labradoodles -- a cross between a poodle and Labrador -- will benefit from the presidential buzz surrounding golden doodles.

Harris said golden doodles and Labradoodles tend to "run neck and neck" in popularity.

Admitting that he's biased, Harris, of Norco, Calif., said he believes the first family will be better served by a Labradoodle.

"They are very loving and people-focused. They will look you in the eye and interact with you. These dogs are the result of many, many generations of focused breeding for the best coat and temperament. You can't just grab a lab and a poodle and get this kind of dog," said Harris, who follows breeding guidelines set by the Australian Labradoodle Association of America.

In his own breeding, Harris said he has been trying to accentuate the "teddy-bear look" and the "bottle-brush nose" that he finds irresistibly cute.

Harris said the first family is unlikely to find a Labradoodle at any shelter. Soon-to-be first lady Michelle Obama has stated that her preference is for the family to adopt a shelter dog.

He described Labradoodle owners and breeders as a "tight community" who stay in contact and usually have no problem finding homes for the designer dogs that can cost upward of $2,500.

Ellen Bilney, of the Animal Friends of the Valley shelter, said she has seen both kinds of doodles -- golden and Labradoodles -- turn up at the Wildomar, Calif. shelter.

"Unfortunately families have to surrender pets all the time due to divorce, a death and recently with all the foreclosures," she said.

About 30 percent of dogs who end up at the shelter are a pure-bred of some kind, she said.

Bilney said a shelter working with a rescue group is usually able to find any kind of breed.

"When you come to a shelter it's a give-and-take. Not only is that animal providing that family with a companion, that family is providing an animal a second chance on life."


E-mail Julissa McKinnon at jmckinnon(at)PE.com



Dogged Flackery From Inaugural Ideas: Second Thoughts for Third Parties
Friday, November 14, 2008;

The intense public interest in the future Obama dog has been an inspiration to PR folks across our puppy-crazed nation. The American Kennel Club got into the act early with a national poll this summer to identify the favorite sneeze-free breed (Malia is allergic). Other marketers jumping up to lick our faces lately:


· Milk-Bone, promising a "a LIFETIME supply" of dog biscuits to the new first pup.


· The new Twentieth Century Fox comedy "Marley and Me," which brought its shelter-dog star to the Ellipse on Wednesday for a Humane Association event promoting doggy adoptions.


· The D.C. Ritz-Carlton, hosting yet another poll asking its fancy clientele to pick a breed (for every ballot, it'll give $1 to the Washington Humane Society) and a possible name for the first canine.


· The Friends of the Peruvian Hairless Dog Association, offering a free 4-month-old Peruvian hairless (said to be nonallergenic) to the Obama family.


· Anti-puppy-mill activist Jana Kohl, flacking a new book about her three-legged pup Baby -- which just happens to have a photo of the president-elect holding her hero.

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The Internet Goes to the Dogs

Post-election dust settles, revealing what we really care about – puppies!

By Helen A.S. Popkin
msnbc.com
updated 9:07 a.m. ET, Fri., Nov. 14, 2008


Helen A.S. Popkin


The e-mails started around 8:30 a.m. Nov. 5, the morning after Barack Obama’s presidential election, or more importantly, his victory speech. I’m just surprised my inbox didn’t start filling up the night before, say 4 minutes, 35 seconds into Obama’s speech when he broached what, for a whole lot of cyber dwellers, is the most important implication of his historic win.

No, not the economy. Not peace in the Middle East. Not gay marriage. Not that-other-really-important-thing-I’d-know-about-if-I kept-up-on-current events. More than any other aspect of this new leadership, American Netizens are positively apoplectic over the future First Puppy.

"You’ve earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House," President-elect Obama publicly announced to his daughters Malia, 10 and Sasha, 7.

It was as if millions of animal rescue advocates suddenly cried out and were silenced — silenced because they were busy e-mailing, texting, blogging and Twittering their insistence that the portending presidential pooch must be a rescue. Any alternative canine acquisition would be cause for pre-impeachment.

Yes, the voting majority who gathered on the Internet and opted for “Change” this election rubbed the pessimistic crust from their eyes and said “the heck with economic and international doom and gloom! What we really care about are … puppies!”

Still, you don’t need to have squandered two work weeks glued to the puppy cam — that insanely popular streaming Internet video that’s been focused on nothing more than a crate full of adorable Shiba Inu pups since this month began — to know that was some calculated speechifyin’ on the president-elect’s part.

While Obama’s no doubt too busy to engage in 24/7 streaming cuteness, it’s obvious by his endorsement from the Humane Society Legislative Fund (not to mention his picture with Baby, the three-legged rescue poodle taken at the Lincoln memorial), the president-elect knows nothing will mend the bipartisan divide quicker than the thought of something small and fuzzy with a fat little belly you just want to eat!

Political chat rooms both red and blue were well into hashing out this matter by the time I received the first 8:30 a.m. e-mail — this frantic broadcast missive from 12-year animal shelter volunteer Mary Bernal: “Since Obama has promised his girls a dog when they move into the White House, I have been searching various animal rights Web sites for some kind of campaign to ask him to adopt a shelter dog.”

This was immediately followed by a string of reply-alls from those equally eager to find such a campaign, as well as other e-mails containing links to the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States, Best Friends and a suggestion to contact Oprah.

Those who truck in Internet animal advocacy find this to be totally awesome. “I have never seen this many blog notes about shelter dogs, certainly not in political blogs,” said Betsy Saul, co-founder and president of Petfinder.com, the Internet host of 12,187 animal rescue groups and some 306,381 adoptable pets (some of which became members of the Technotica Pug Brigade).

The Web site, which allows potential pet parents to search for new family members by location, breed, age, size and more, hopped on the Presidential Pup bandwagon at the first mention of an Obama dog months ago. Petfinder.com features a page showcasing dogs that meet Malia and Sasha’s Labradoodle preference.

There's also a plethora of other breeds to meet the Obama family's hypoallergenic needs. At last count, Petfinder.com boasted 2,558 Poodles/Poodle mixes (some of which are Labradoodles), 925 Yorkshire Terrier Yorkies, 657 Bichon Frises, 434 Cairn Terriers, 247 West Highland White Terrier Westies, 152 Cockapoos and 120 Wheaten Terriers.

Even if the girls don’t find their puppy via Petfinder.com, Saul said it’s great they’ve got the nation thinking about pet shelters. “I’m just happy the conversation is going on,” she said.

You know who also thinks this is a great thing? Dr. Stephen L. Zawistowski, executive vice president, programs and science advisor for the ASPCA, another organization with an XXL Kong’s worth of pet and animal advocacy information on its Web site — not to mention its own Obama pup watch page.

“If we have dogs good enough for the president, then our dogs are good enough for you,” said Dr. Zawistowski in a telephone interview. Like Saul, he’s also cool with it if the Obamas decide against the shelter route.

“I think anything that brings attention to the fact that shelters play a positive role in the community is great,” he said, adding that 15 or 20 years ago nobody would care if the First Pooch came from a shelter.

Dr. Zawistowski also addressed this whole hypoallergenic business — that grooming and cleanliness can affect allergic reactions, and there’s no way to tell if dog’s particular dander or saliva will cause a problem unless the sensitive party spends some time with the pup.

It’s this allergy business that’s causing the — um — less professional of Internet animal advocates to fear the Obama family’s final choice. Sure the president-elect talks rescue, but then he uses his daughters as a caveat.

What if these allergy constraints of his daughter might cause him to waver — resulting in a canine flip-flop of national proportions? Because, let’s face it: crazy cat people get a bad rap, but crazy dog people are so much worse. Crazy dog people will cut you.

I know. I am one. And I have a knife. Generally, it’s used to chop fresh organic ingredients for meals served twice daily to my herd of rescue pugs, but I’m not above turning it on a backyard breeder … or animal-as-accessory maven Paris Hilton. Whatever.

So, as a crazy dog person, let me just say, dang! If Obama is the so-called Internet president, then he should know darn well that "rescue" and "mutt" are not synomomous —you can get a purebred hypoallergenic dog from a rescue group. Twenty-five percent of shelter dogs are purebred. Even if our future leader doesn’t have time for puppy cam, he should know about Petfinder.com!

While the folks at Petfinder.com or the ASPCA can keep the Presidential Pup controversy in perspective, there’s no controlling the crazy dog people on the Internet. (Not unlike the crazy every other-kind-of-people on the Internet.)

Take for example, anxious animal advocate Mary Bernal who has since e-mailed the Obamas with her pet shelter plea, but still obsessively checks the Today Show’s Obama puppy vote tally throughout the day, every day.

As Bernal told Technotica, “If they don’t adopt a shelter dog after all this … you know, I’m not even going there.”
Ahem-
Is this YAPAO ?
LOL
LOL!....ahem...YES!....kind of...It's letting everyone see what will happen to doodle popularity as a result....
It LOOKS like a YAPAO...smells like a YAPAO...and walks like a YAPAO...by golly I think it IS...
Yet Another Post About Obama...LOL. Darn I was hoping it was actually news about what he DID end up picking. Watch him pick a greyhound or yorkie!
LOL....Maybe the Obamas will just opt to have another kid instead?....
No offense to all the breeders on here, but that Curtis Harris in the article in my opinion appearently doesn't want them to get a shelter/rescue dog. I guess he never looks on rescue sites or he would have never made this comment.
"Harris said the first family is unlikely to find a Labradoodle at any shelter".
He must not know about IDOG! Well...that and he breeds Australian Labradoodles which are less frequently found in shelters than early generation doodles. Apparently someone needs to inform him of IDOG.
I have alerted... a-hem!....."my people"..(lol..my friend at The Oprah show) as to the seriousness of this situation....I have spoken (via email) with Tamar Geller and have forwarded information about IDOG to all concerned......I am writing an article for "Animal Sheltering" magazine ( the HSUS magazine that goes to virtually every shelter and rescue in the country) about the predicted increase in doodle mania and the expectation that there will be an increase of hydrid dogs in shelters as a result of the Obamas choice of dog....Next?..I will stand naked in Macy's window with Blake and a bullhorn.....lol
I'm gonna have... a-hem!... "my people" snap a photo of said protest and we'll be sure to include it in our Thursday Theme Slide Show: ME and MY Doodle!
PERFECT!...Can Blake and I partake of the protest?
I was referring to: "Next?..I will stand naked in Macy's window with Blake and a bullhorn" AS the protest photo I will include in our slide show.
OH!....tee hee hee....I thought that you were inspiring us all to take pics of ourselves and our doodles with OBAMA DOG CONTROVERSY signs or something like that....LOL!.......Well...that WOULD be an interesting slide show.....I will have to photoshop my naked butt to DEATH....

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