Every few weeks, it seems some scientific article says, “Dogs are smarter than we thought they were.” If the trend continues, we may approach a time when it would make sense to nominate dogs for ambassadorships and political office.
Having dogs in political offices could save our economy billions of dollars, since it doesn’t take dogs four years to figure out who is the alpha animal.
Dogs have several characteristics that would make them good ambassadors and politicians. They are pretty good at working out their own differences without referees, lawyers, courts and judges. And they don’t bark any louder than they need to to get their point across.
I’ve begun to assemble a list of dog candidates for ambassadorships and political office. Here are a few of their stories.
Cristo, a Golden Retriever, is already an ambassador. He is the official ambassador of Chumeia Winery in Paso Robles, California. Cristo took over the job when his big sister, Callie (no relation to my Callie — that I know of yet) died earlier this year.
Here’s a little piece from the Chumeia web site, which is worth visiting; it’s fun:
“Callie would greet every customer at their vehicle and bring them in. Her dearest friend was the FedEx driver, Paul. She would be in a dead sleep, but with supersonic hearing, she somehow new it was his truck coming and would begin to bark in great anticipation of his arrival. Of course Paul always was ready with a milk bone. Her mouth would literally begin to salivate at the thought…before he ever reached the winery door.”
Rick Wilkinson, of Keller Williams Realty West has a picture of Jake, his black Labrador Retriever, on his business card. Jake accompanies Rick on appointments and helps to make the sale.
Last week, I wrote about Luca, the Launch Ramp Perro at Bahia de San Quintin in Baja Mexico. Luca greets the fishermen as they launch their fishing boats, and he supervises the fish cleaning palapa as the catches-of-the-day are brought in. Luca is a very friendly boxer, who gets along with the local perros just as well as he does with the fishermen.
Luca does have one unfair advantage over his competition. His owner (owner of the Old Mill Restaurant), Duane Hafen, recently ran for office in Baja California and you can’t drive 100 yards without seeing a yelly “Hafen” banner. So Luca already understands what it means to run for public office.
Finally, I might nominate my own Callie, an eight-month-old Golden Retriever. Callie probably needs to mature a bit more, but she’s certainly on the right path. She’s extremely social. She already knows how to work a room (or street) full of people (or dogs), and she has a knack for making everyone happy.
So as we get deeper into the political season, consider nominating your dog for office. And if you want to make nominations by “commenting” on this blog, I’ll be glad to post the better ones.
