Portuguese Water Dogs and other new friends

Most of us have owned a dog at some point in their lives right?   Or we certainly know somebody who has.  What’s the attraction?

Well they are an incredible amount of fun, hugely entertaining and distracting, and above all, they are very loving.  Art work has been dedicated to them since the days of cave paintings.  Kings and Queens have dedicated their own breeds.

And what was President Obama’s present to his daughters for their support?  Yep, a new puppy.  See? even the first family of America loves dogs.  They are having a Portuguese Water Dog according to reliable reports.  Apparently on the advice of Senator Ted Kennedy who owns two of them, called Sunny and Splash.  The PWD is a fairly big dog with a woolly type of fur that is hypoallergenic.  So even those with dog allergies can have one.  Hurray!

A Portuguese Water Dog living up to it's name

From what I have read on wikipedia.org these dogs sound a lot of fun.  They don’t shed fur and they are very active and playful.  Highly intelligent and make great companions.  Aww, I want one.  They are used to living on fishing boats and they are excellent swimmers.  They were originally trained to rescue humans from the sea.  It doesn’t take much effort to imagine this huge thing playing in the white house pool with President Obama’s daughters.

Cleared for take off

Dogs are big business.  The Kennel club of Great Britain has dedicated more than three million pounds to animal based charities.

Ever since Lassie and Rin Tin Tin dogs have had a huge presence in films.  The Beethoven franchise ran no less than five sequels featuring a hugely lovable St Bernard.

Most recently Marley and Me has been making huge paw prints in the box office.  Based on the memoirs of long suffering dog-owner John Grogan, the film relates his family life with an over-active Golden Retriever.  Normally a placid breed, this particular dog ran around like it had just eaten a case of Red Bull.

Grogan’s novel had me laughing for every chapter but the last one, and then it reduced me to tears.  I doubt I was the only one.

Cocker Spaniels are my favourite breed

My own canine experience was a Blue Roan Cocker Spaniel who was, by turn, neurotic, excited, immature, brave and enormously loving.  I still miss him.