You can tell a lot about a dog by what kind of person they have. They also say as dogs age, they start to look like their people. With these quaint homespun homilies in mind I read yesterday’s AP story about the presidential candidates and their dogs. Take a look at John McCain, for example, and the Springer Spaniel on the right.

OK, maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but there’s definitely something going on there.

The story was about pets in general, but I’m not impressed by someone who counts a ferret and a tank full of fish among their most loyal companions. And it’s very telling indeed that the article mentioned specific breeds of dogs, whereas cats were referred to simply as “a cat,” or “two white cats,” because really, aren’t cats pretty generic and uninteresting?

I did a little research on what breeds were reliable predictors of presidential ascendancy. Our current president has had a couple of Scottish Terriers and a mutt. I’m not putting my money on Terriers this time around, but that’s another story. Bill Clinton had a Springer Spaniel and the Reagans had a Bouvier des Flandres and a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. Who said we never had royalty in the White House!

Going back to the AP list, I think Dennis Kucinich deserves an extra Milkbone for rescuing not one but three dogs from the shelter. That’s social responsiblity. Thank goodness I don’t live in one of these canine gulags!

Dogs that vote, john mccain, presidential candidates, springer spaniel

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I’m all about taking care of my health, and my people take me to the vet regularly, and feed me the good stuff, but I heard something a couple of days ago that was a little disturbing. Elaine said something about having me fixed. At first I was a little hurt by the idea that I needed to be fixed, particularly since I had no idea I was broken. Unfortunately, after a quick web search, (I use Dogpile, obviously. Google doesn’t get me the results I want), I found out “getting fixed” means something entirely unrelated to being broken, and I’m not sure I like it. Come on, Elaine! We’re professional communicators! Enough with the euphemisms. Tell it to me straight.
 
Like anyone, I have my trusted network, so I button-holed Quentin, the only other male dog at the agency, and asked him to sit down for a little dog-to-dog. Quentin just barked nervously, said something cryptic about needing “to go see a dog about a man,” and ran off.
 
Working in an agency that is staffed by ruffly 90% women can be emasculating at times, but I mean that only in a figurative sense. And there’s something nice about having dozens of women fawning over you and doling out treats. I think it’s going to be particularly welcome after this fixing thing.

Happy May Day

Dexter

dogpile, getting fixed, The Big Fix

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