A Brief Note About Dogs and Politicians....

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I realize that the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue engenders major passion on both sides of the aisle, and it makes him a bit of a flashpoint to write about. Which is why I tend to not write about him if I can possibly avoid it. I do a good job of that for the most part.

But from time to time, I see a…not really a meme, but rather a train of thought surrounding him that I wanted to briefly touch on.

The current resident of the White House does not own a dog. This is a factual point that has been brought up numerous times, and it is used by some individuals as a point against him in the ledger in their mind of his fitness for office.

Besides it being a very, very, VERY small datapoint on the plus/minus scale, even for him, making the ownership of a dog a litmus test of being “a good person” as I’ve seen it touted online is something that I am going to push back against.

I grew up with a sister with severe allergies to pet dander, and in a very small apartment. So dog ownership was never going to be in the cards for me as a denizen of New York City.

As I have moved, and moved, and moved back and forth across the country, I managed to acquire two cats. One, sadly, left the earth about three years ago now, and one is still with us (and is as irascible now as ever).

But still no dog.

I’ve written about wanting a dog. I have desire for a dog. Some days, the pangs are real, and I am kind of torturing myself as I follow rescue groups and dog owner groups and see the pictures of cute puppies and adult dogs.

However, I still haven’t pulled the trigger because it is not my decision to make alone, even though I will be the primary caregiver. We came close once, but I didn’t feel the connection with the dog that I thought I should have.

The point I want to make is that there are plenty of reasons for someone to not have a dog. Many of them are legitimate, and to ascribe the lack of ownership as some kind of moral failing is, in my opinion, selling many individuals short.