California Governor's Dog Helps Raise State Money

Sutter Brown from examiner.com

California Governor Jerry Brown has enlisted the help of his Corgi, Sutter to help close the state's deficit. Anyone remember how Fala helped raise money for the Britians?

The previous video was no longer working and has since been removed. Here's an updated link

United States Marine Cat

Animal Planet's new show, Must Love Cats recently featured this great story of a Marine and her cat. 



Spoiler alert: the Marine and her kitty were able to stay together.

Pets in the News - December 27, 2010

Senator Ted Kennedy with Splash.
 Photo from the Boston Globe

Politico: Bo Obama Knows Hawaii


ABCNews: Bo Avoids Rabies Quarantine in Hawaii

The Boston Globe: In 13 years, he made quite a splash [Remembering Late Senator Ted Kennedy's Portuguese water dog Splash]

Associated Press: Late Senator Ted Kennedy's Portugese water dog, Splash, dies at 13. 

Barney's Holiday Extravaganza

One of the most anticipated announcements during President George W. Bush's time in office was around the release of Barney and Miss Beazley's annual holiday video. While the current administration has not decided to produce similar videos, we can still enjoy the holiday tradition. 

Candidates Miss Opportunity to Gain Voter Support

Texas Governor Rick Perry's
Twitter profile picture.

We've heard a lot about Democrats, Republicans, blue-dogs, the Tea Party, Independents, write-ins and everyone in between over the past couple of months, but with only a few hours left to vote, I can't help think this election is missing something. While candidates and strategists often look at the successes of previous campaigns for guidance, they seem to have overlooked the winning strategy that served as the turning point in the the 1944 and 1952 presidential elections.

What is missing you ask? Pets!

In the last days of the 1944 presidential campaign, President Franklin D. Roosevelt faced much criticism from opponents, but was able to gain the support of voters with his Fala Speech. Opponents accused the president of spending millions of taxpayer dollars on his little dog Fala, but he confronted those allegations in the speech and was able to win re-election.

Senator Richard Nixon was accused of accepting gifts during the 1952 Presidential Election, but he learned from FDR's successful Fala Speech that incorporating a pet in to the speech could help gain the support of voters. On September 23, 1952, Senator Nixon delivered his Checkers Speech, about his new Cocker Spaniel puppy, Checkers, and was voted in as Vice President weeks later.

Pets are always quite popular in politics, but this year's candidates and their campaigns have forgotten to involve the candidates' pets. In searching for candidates and their pets, I could only find a twitter profile picture of Texas Governor Rick Perry with a cute, black lab puppy. Although, it's hard to tell from the picture whether the governor is showing off the puppy or his Aggie ring.

Despite not being involved in the campaigns, more pets are likely to arrive on Capitol Hill with the new Congress in January. Some may become as popular as Senator Ted Kennedy's Portuguese water dogs, others may make an appearance in videos much like Senator Kit Bond's dogs did in his annual Christmas message, or star in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's cat cam office tour.

From Politico: The Real Bo Obama

Bo Obama's former trainer, Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz, talks about training Bo as a puppy before going to live at the White House

Playing Fetch with the President

Bo Obama plays fetch with the President in the Rose Garden. (Official White House photo)