Ambrose: Obamas should get a water dog

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Barack Obama is contemplating getting a Portuguese Water Dog for his two daughters, and I say go for it, forget the Labradoodle option, but be sure to hide the meat loaf.. The best thing is to put it in a safe and don't tell the dog the combination.
I say this because I happen to have Bella, a Portuguese Water Dog who is as beautiful as the name suggests and as sweet-tempered a creature as I have ever known. She does have her faults, such as sweeping her front paws on kitchen counters with the objective of placing in her mouth what her nose has detected.
My wife and I have tried a variety of ways of breaking her of this habit, and having so far failed, we leave very little food on the counter for more than a very short time. We also shove it far out of her reach and keep our eyes peeled for attempted transgressions.
But other matters may divert our attention and nothing is out of her reach. Her front legs would have had to have been three feet long for her to get the meat loaf the other night. They are not three feet long. She got it anyway.
The thing is, Bella is insistent on having her way, whether it's getting something to eat, going for a walk, playing with one of her several good dog friends or chasing rabbits. Now three years old, she has given up most of her puppy ways, focusing more on such meaningful gratifications as belly bloat then mere mischief.
As flaws go, these aren't bad ones, and a dog like her would be a terrific pal for the Obama girls, greeting them when they return home from school with an enthusiasm that says: "I love you very much, I thought you were gone forever and now that you are back, let's dance joyously."
When the leaping subsides, such a dog will then stay within just a few feet of them, coming over occasionally for a cuddle, smiling her open-mouthed dog smile, or maybe just looking at them with her soft, brown eyes.
Bella's very smart, and the Obama dog will surely be the same. These creatures, Wikipedia informs me, were originally bred to chase fish into the nets of Portuguese fishermen, retrieve gear from the water and even to swim from boat to boat as message carriers. So if the Obama girls like, they can teach their dog tricks. I used to have Bella play dead, but it broke hearts and I don't do it anymore.
Of course, a dog may not always be true to its breed in every way -- water dogs love water, except for Bella, who does love snow. One thing seems to hold true for most of them, however. They are fairly expensive. Obama wants to rescue a dog from a humane shelter. I doubt he will find a Portuguese Water Dog there without special help, which the Ambrose family can provide.
We decided we wanted a water dog after seeing one at an outdoor jazz concert and couldn't even find a nearby place for a purchase until my uncanny wife spotted water dog pups in a parked car and waited for the owner to return. After a later adoption interview and the writing of a check, Bella was ours.
If anyone can find a Portuguese Water Dog in a shelter, it's my wife, who would likely volunteer for that duty should Obama ask. I like all kinds of dogs, but would approve of that choice more than of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, even if Clinton would be more likely to leave the meat loaf alone. A special point of pride would be that my Bella would have a cousin in the White House.

(Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado. He can be reached at SpeaktoJay(at)aol.com.)

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