In this photo provided by Art and Martha Stern, Bo is seen in Texas at his breeder's when he was 6½ weeks old. Bo is scheduled to arrive at the White House today.
In a photo provided by the White House, President Barack Obama welcomes the family's new puppy, Bo, at the White House, March 15.
Bo Obama is probably the most famous pooch in the world right now.
The Obamas' new Portuguese water dog is a 6-month-old cutie, and he brings sudden celebrity to a breed that's relatively obscure in these parts.
"In the six years that I've been here, I think I've seen one Portuguese water dog come through. They're not really a common breed around here," said Becki Gotshall, administrative marketing assistant at Humane League of Lancaster County. "But I wouldn't be surprised if some more come through because of this or if some ads for Portuguese water dogs pop up in the classified sections from breeders over the next six to eight months."
It's happened before. Movies featuring Dalmatians and celebrities toting around Chihuahuas have repopularized those breeds with consumers.
But Gotshall cautions people not to become too enamored with an unfamiliar breed just because Bo's photo is all over the place.
For months, speculation over which canine breed the Obamas would choose has slurped up plenty of ink and ignited new debates in an already-charged controversy over breeding purebred dogs for profit when so many unwanted pets languish or die in the nation's shelters.
In this week's Newsweek, a lengthy article about the Obamas' choice veered into the designer-dog controversy and landed Lancaster County in the national spotlight again as a center for unscrupulous breeders.
Replete with the obligatory photo of an Amish buggy rolling down a country road and a shot of a gaggle of dogs crammed into a tiny wire cage, the Newsweek article questions how the Obamas' choice might affect the breeding industry.
At the Humane League on Route 30 East, where loads of dogs are salvaged from puppy mills every year, plenty of breeds-of-the-moment also turn up after they lose their newness.
"A common misconception is that people think shelters don't have purebred dogs, but we do get them frequently," Gotshall said. "Part of that is because people have seen a certain breed of dog with a celebrity or in a movie and they go get that dog without researching the breed."
Gotshall said the reality is that no movie dog is typical of any breed.
"People don't realize that for that dog to be in a movie like 'Marley & Me,' it has been trained for hours and hours," Gotshall said. "To get a dog like that, you would have to invest a lot in training and time to get it to that point."
Gotshall said purebred dogs such as the French mastiff in the Tom Hanks movie "Turner & Hooch" can have more health problems than run-of-the-mill mutts, especially if breeders rush to produce them without regard to quality to meet sudden demand.
"That's something you'd want to research before you go out and get one of these designer dogs that have been popularized by celebrities," Gotshall said. "When people see these movies, the first thing that comes to mind is to go get a certain breed without really thinking about the financial and time commitment to the dog. That's why at shelters you often come in and see many (purebred) dogs between the ages of 1 and 3. They got the dogs as puppies, the dogs get bigger — and then they realize the exercise and time commitment."
The other result of a breed suddenly made popular is that people who might have adopted mixed breeds decide to hold out for a purebred.
"The mixed-breed dogs may wait longer for a home because a family that previously would have been willing to adopt a Lab mix went to see 'Marley & Me' and now they want to hold out for a purebred Lab," she said. "We urge anyone considering adopting a pet not to overlook a dog simply because it's a mixed breed. What really matters is not the breed, but how well the dog fits into your family and your lifestyle."
Even if you do fall for Marley, Hooch, Eddie or Tinkerbell, Gotshall recommends researching the breed and considering the practicality before visiting a shelter. If you choose a different breed at the shelter, the staff won't talk you out of it, but they will make sure you know what you're getting.
"We want the adoption experience to be a positive one for the family and for the dog as well," Gotshall said.
And just in case that takes a little extra work, the shelter offers access to its on-staff behaviorist for troubleshooting and obedience classes.
"We want the dog to stay in the home permanently," she said.
E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com