The Official American Dog

"To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs." Aldous Huxley

Queen Elizabeth of England has a couple of short, brown furry dogs. George Bush has two short, black Scottish Terrier dogs. The Reagans had a big dog once but they traded it in for a short dog because the Secret Service was afraid that the big dog would pull Nancy Reagan off the Presidential helicopter steps. For the remainder of the Reagan presidency, we Americans were forced to be represented to the rest of the world by yet another small dog. Outrageous! Appalling!

President-elect Barak Obama will be moving into the presidential residence this winter with his family. What type of pet should the Obama family get that we can all be proud of as Americans? I have a few suggestions which I have listed below;
1: Big dog
2: Bigger dog
3: Cat - (only if dogs are not available)

Here are the pets the Obama family should avoid at all costs;
1: Hampsters
2: Ferrets
3: Reptiles of all kinds
4: Birds

I say the selection of a 'First Pet' for the First Family should be left up to the American people! We should be allowed to vote on the pet and have a nation wide bake off to choose the name of the pet. This is an important decision and one the rest of the world will be observing closely as an indicator of our ability to lead the world in other important matters. Mr. Obama cannot be the leader of the free world and own a tiny, furry, yapping pomeranean. The White House Press Corp should be free to walk around the South Lawn without being afraid of having their socks snapped off or their shoelaces shredded by the tiny teeth of an itty bitty dog with a chip on it's little shoulder (or whatever a dog's shoulder is called).

We need an Official American Dog. I cast my vote for the best dog in the whole darned dog world; the Black and Tan Coonhound. You've seen these dogs around the neighborhood but probably not in the movies or on TV. These are the medium sized dogs that have the black and brown patterned coloring with those wise looking, expressive "eyebrows", the friendly dog smile and that calm demeanor. The black and tan coonhound is a dog for all the people. You will not see the black and tan dog in Madison Square Garden parading around for the annual dog show. The humble black and tan coonhound will have been eliminated in the early rounds of the competition before the final dozen compete on television. At the time of the dog show broadcast, the sublime and composed coonhound will be resting in the Green Room in Madison Square Garden having some kibble and telling the other loser dogs that he "did not really want to be there anyway."

The Presidents Dog should be the type of dog that our Secretary of State could take for a walk around the park on a stroll with the Secretary of State from another country as he (or she) negotiate the next free trade agreement without being embarrassed or interrupted by stupid barking or multiple attempts by the dog to pee every three feet. The black and tan coonhound would sit quietly during presidential photo ops without seeming to steal the spotlight. A painting of this stately dog would really look cool on a postage stamp, adding pizzaz and style to almost any postal envelope and kicking the boring Canada goose (and those stamps of old baseball players that I have never heard of) right out of the US Postal Service stamp lineup. How many goose stamps do we need anyway?

So I encourage everybody reading this blog to vote for the Official American Dog! We need a solid canine presence in the White House so that all those other countries that have leaders with dogs will know we Americans mean business and that we are serious Presidential pet pickers!

To view the New American Presidential Dog (that you will be voting for), link onto:
http://www.coonhoundrescue.com/