Obama Puppy Media Frenzy

This topic is growing like Topsy, demonstrating how a story that hits the mass media can generate spin offs like a sit com.

Peru is offering the Obamas a hairless. Good for them. Best publicity they've had in... a dog's age, though the dog, to be frank, looks like a bat and is often toothless, inappropriate for a new U.S. government.

Meanwhile vets have their stethoscopes in a knot over the idea of a "hypoallergenic" dog; no such thing they say, all dogs produce dander it's just that some breeds produce less and shed less, like poodles and poodle-crosses and many others.

Img src: The Book of the Shih Tzu (t.f.h. 1980).

We got our Shih Tzu partly because my son has allergies so we wanted a non-shedding breed and it's worked out great. Not only is the Shih Tzu a quiet, manageable companion but they look like Dr. Seuss characters, as my friend Dave Eddie observed today.

The Dog Channel reports on a survey to choose a name for the future Presidential pup. The top ten are disappointing:
1. Hope
2. Lucky
3. Change
4. Sarah
5. George
6. Maverick
7. Snoopy
8. Buddy
9. Champ
10. Dog

Dog? Are you kidding me? Far down the list is Nomad; I like the ring of that.

Tips for picking your dog's name:
two syllables max so it's easy to say, and
strong first consonant, a sound that carries well and your dog will recognize long before you've finished calling.
For more on this, Greg Marlett' blog Best Dog Name and his parallel Squidoo column have great advice and lots of examples.

Click here if you want to see the search for news on this topic: Google News search using the terms [Obama dog].

Here's a handy service that's great for researchers or anyone who wants to follow news on a particular topic: Use Google's "alert" function to get notifications for new stories about the Obama dog in your email inbox.