OK, so the adorable Scottish Terrier named Champion Carpescot Charismatic Devil , of Scottsdale, Az., only finished fourth in the Terrier Group at last week’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. But tomorrow is Presidents’ Day, so it’s high time to celebrate this dog breed favored by American leaders past and present.
The breed, affectionately known as the Scottie, is characterized by short legs, a large head with alert ears, an elongated muzzle, a wiry outer coat, a soft undercoat and distinctive bushy eyebrows.
“Scotties make excellent watch dogs, and are rated third out of all breeds (after German shepherds and Rottweilers) for alarm-barking,” asserts the Web site http://www.scottiedogz.com.
Clearly, this is a formidable dog in a compact body.
The Scottie first appeared in Great Britain; Queen Victoria had one named Laddie. But although a dog of British extraction, the Scottie would make its mark on American history during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Fala the Scottie would become the most famous political animal of them all. He went everywhere with FDR – and was once the center of controversy. Rumor had it that Fala was accidentally left behind on presidential a trip to the Aleutian Islands, and Republicans accused FDR of sending a destroyer to retrieve the dog, at great expense.
In a famous 1944 speech to the Teamsters Union, FDR said, “These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me or my wife or my sons. No … they now include my little dog, Fala. Well, of course, I don’t resent the attacks, and my family doesn’t resent the attacks, but Fala does resent them.
“You know,” FDR continued, “Fala’s Scotch, and being a Scottie, as soon as he learned that the Republican fiction writers had concocted a story that I had left him behind on an Aleutian island and had sent a destroyer back to find him – at a cost to the taxpayers of two or three, or eight or $20 million – his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same dog since.”
Little wonder it’s often said that the Fala speech helped FDR secure his historic fourth term. Ironically, despite Fala’s strong ties to the Democratic Party, the Scottie would become quite popular with politicos of the Republican persuasion.
Other high-ranking Scottie aficionados have included Dwight D. Eisenhower (his were named Telek and Caacie and Ronald Reagan, who had a pair called Scotch and Soda. (Of course, these Scotties didn’t actually reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. They were all top dogs, but they weren’t first dogs.)
But so far, none has surpassed Fala’s everlasting fame. FDR’s best friend has spawned so many collectible tchotchkes that the Scottie is now the No. 1 most sought-after vintage canine-themed item. For decades, fanciers of this handsome little terrier have memorialized their puppy love with every imaginable Scottie-shaped object, from cast-iron doorstops to electric lamps, available all over the Internet.
New items appear on the market almost daily – like the adorable tartan-covered Scottie Dog Toy with button eyes that’s a best-seller at the Savannah, Ga., dog supplier Harry Barker (1-800-HI HARRY or http://www.harrybarker.com). He’s dominated the memorabilia market for years, but the Scottie wouldn’t rise to political power again until two years ago, when George W. Bush took office and EPA administrator Christie Whitman presented the president with a feisty pup named Barney.
The first Scottie took his rightful place beside the first Springer Spaniel, Spot, traveling first-class with his human on Air Force One and enjoying the special privilege of being carried off the plane by the president himself. Barney even has his own Web site, http://www.bushybarney.com.
President Bush, whose nickname for his beloved little terrier is “Caterpillar,” calls Barney “a good man.” And thus far, the first Scottie has not been involved in any international incidents.
Obviously, the president appreciates the unique qualities of a breed eloquently extolled by author Willard Huntington Wright. Writing under his pseudonym, S.S. Van Dine, Wright once described the Scottie character as “an ever-blazing internal fire, both physical and temperamental, that shines forth from his eyes, vitalizes his expression, invigorates his body and animates his activity.”