Last night I watched as Barack Obama made history. I listened to him speak with such hope, such eloquence, that tears spilled down my cheeks. YES WE CAN! I also heard him say he was giving his daughters a puppy to take with them to the White House... Oh, if only he had said they were adopting!! (I heard that he is planning on buying a Portuguese Water Dog) Oh well, we can't ask the man to be perfect, can we? It would be so huge for animal rescue if the first family announced that they were going to rescue a dog rather than buy one!

Anyway, this made me think about the integral role dogs play in our lives. The President - elect announces, in his moment of glory, that his daughters will receive a puppy. I mean, here he is, Barack Obama, at a pretty significant moment in history and he's talking about puppies. Kinda funny, if you think about it.

Those of us who share our lives with dogs know how important they can be. According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are 74.8 million owned dogs in our country - 39% of U.S. households own at least one dog... these are big numbers, people!!

And how many of us are actively training our dogs? I live in Chicago which means the dogs I see day in and day out are urban dwellers - dogs that need a lot of exercise to be happy pets! During the winter, I am always blown away by how few people I see out walking and exercising their beloved pooches. What do they do with them? Tell them sorry, it's too cold, wait til Spring? So, I know that if they don't even walk them, they probably aren't training either. One of the leading causes of a dog ending up in a shelter is lack of training. As a dog trainer (in training), I see a lot of behavioral issues that could be fixed with very little effort but am heartbroken to know that the chances of those owners taking them to class, learning how to help and train their dog/puppy, and implementing the strategies in their daily lives is not the most likely scenario. Most likely, as statistics go to show, those improperly trained canines will end up behind bars. Perfectly good, loving, intelligent dogs thrown away because the human didn't take the time to learn how to live with this magnificent creature.

Now, if the Barack Obamas of the world would only lead by example and pull one of those beautiful creatures out of the shelter and plop him gently and lovingly into their homes, this might make some people stop and think, both before buying a pedigree pup and before throwing it away because it didn't come "pre-fab"!!!