The menagerie of White House animals has included some odd ducks (literally)

Mehmet Salih Guler/ istockphoto.com

The last vote hadn’t even been counted on Nov. 4 when President Barack Obama mounted the stage in Chicago’s Grant Park and addressed the throngs. He thanked his family, his advisers, his campaign manager, and set off a storm of furious (should that be “furry-ous”?) speculation when he informed his two daughters that they had earned the puppy who’d be joining them in the White House.

In a time of economic panic, two wars, and an ongoing health care crisis, many pundits seemed surprised by the resulting frenzy. Animal groups from Best Friends Animal Society to the AKC rushed to advise the prez-elect on everything from breed to source to the legitimacy of claims that certain animals are hypoallergenic. The Humane Society of the United States circulated an online card for people to sign, thanking the president-elect for choosing a shelter dog (a plan Michelle Obama had mentioned during an appearance on Entertainment Tonight). Web polls asked readers what kind of dog they thought the new first family should get, and where they should get him. And Obama gave shelter dogs a sweet boost when he noted, in his first post-election press conference, that many of them “are mutts, like me.”

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