Obama e a escolha do cão da Casa Branca

Fonte: Examiner.com

A matéria questiona o envolvimento da população mundial na escolha do cachorro do presidente dos Estados Unidos, Barack Obama. Dentre outros motivos, Obama se decidiu pela raça Cão D'Água Português porque uma de suas filhas é alérgica. A notícia não foi bem aceita por muitas pessoas, que fizeram pressão para que o presidente desse um bom exemplo e adotasse um cão de um abrigo de animais.

It appears that the President and his family may be in a no-win situation. Even though he promised his family a dog, so far none have been added to the family. The nation is putting demands on him to get a shelter dog, a request I do support with all my heart. In an ideal world that would work out. But unfortunately, the very traits that make a dog more “allergy” friendly may not be readily available in anything but a purebred.

I, like many of you, have done research on dogs available for adoption through shelters in the United States. I can probably find you a dog that meets your criteria in five minutes or less on most occasions. But, I am willing to concede, that I don’t know everything about animal allergens. I have allergies, and lots of them. I am lucky that none of my allergies are directly related to pets (eu também!). But I know that dust follows pets, and I am allergic to dust. I live with this, and luckily my asthma isn’t affected by pets either (comigo idem). So it is winning situation for me and my family. One I made for myself. But my daughter didn’t have allergies, so I didn’t have to make a decision for her.

I read an excellent article recently in the Los Angeles Times by Judith Lewis that pointed out that we as a nation may be asking too much to insist that President Obama gets nothing but a shelter dog. If you have read many of my articles you will see that while my personal and moral decision is to obtain a family pet from a shelter or rescue group, I do not condemn good, responsible breeders (divido essa mesma opinião). Those that are responsible follow their litters religiously and try to stay true to the breed. I do believe that (e eu).


The problem is the backyard, part-time, “I’ve got a great dog, so why not breed her?” breeders. So for the Obamas to get a dog that fulfills their need for a dog bred specifically to reduce allergens, it might not be possible to find one in the shelters. I truly don’t know.

I found several available dogs during a search for Portuguese Water Dogs a couple of weeks ago on Pet Finder that appeared to be a good match. One was an adorable little girl that I could hardly pass up. Sigh. But they were not purebreds and I don’t know about the difference in allergy control. A lot of people use allergies as an excuse, and nothing in the world irritates me more than someone turning over an animal to a shelter because they are “allergic”, when the truth is they are too lazy or unwilling to take care of the animal anymore. We all know this happens more frequently than we realize. But I can’t demand that the President and his family only get a shelter dog.

This decision is a very personal decision. I would not want someone telling me what puppy or dog I could get. Sometimes it is a connection that happens so unexpectedly that you couldn’t even predict it. When I fall in love with a dog, it doesn’t really matter to me what his/her background is. I just know that a connection for a lifetime is made.

That is what I hope happens in the White House. I hope that a lifetime connection is made, regardless of where, who or how. I hope it is a rescue, but I also hope that a decision isn’t delayed because a rescue isn’t available. We need a dog in the Oval Office.