By Scott L. Miley, Herald Bulletin Special Projects Editor
ANDERSON — If the Obamas are looking for a rescue dog, they’re welcome to call Madison County.
President-elect Barack Obama announced Tuesday he would make good on a campaign promise to buy a puppy for his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.
“Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine,” Obama said in his election night address. “You have earned the puppy that is coming with us.”
Malia expressed a desire for a “goldendoodle,” a golden retriever-poodle hybrid. Michelle Obama told reporters in October that the family would select a rescue dog from a shelter. But any future pet must be hypoallergenic because of Malia’s allergies.
In any case, the puppy should be a social animal with a stately look, said two Anderson experts.
Maybe a crossbreed, suggested Mike Kase, president of Countryside Animal Rescue, the Anderson nonprofit which offers adoptable pets.
Kase noted that a crossbred dog “can represent all the people of America.”
Kase said, “I think you’ll find that shelter and rescue organizations across the country do have the crossbred between a golden retriever and a poodle.”
Offhand, Kase recommended a Doberman pinscher-German shepherd mix named Jasper. The animal rescue group can be reached at (765) 649-7944. Animals can be viewed at www.petfinder.com
At Anderson Animal Care and Control, Superintendent Joe McClain suggested, “You’d want something stately and you’d want something that emanated their (the Obamas’) personality.
“And also remembering the whole time that once you add an animal to the family, it does become part of the family, you have to look it more from that standpoint than actually what breed it is.”
The shelter, 613 Dewey St., has numerous dogs for adoption.
“If people want to come down and rescue one for their own, we’ll call it a presidential dog,” McClain said.
Jimmy Carter was the last president to bring a mixed breed to the White House. However, a recent American Kennel Club survey indicated that said voters would like the Obamas to adopt a purebred poodle Of 43 presidents, 22 have owned purebreds.
