Dog Daze

   Donald Trump is the first U.S. president in 130 years not to have a dog. It's not known whether he even likes dogs.
   The question for many folks is this: What kind of a person is he who doesn't like dogs, and what does that say about his personality and how he deals with other people?
   News outlets around the world have pondered this issue since before the inauguration of the real estate titan last January, even as a potential deal to adopt a Goldendoodle named Patton fell through when the owner of the pup decided to keep him.
   Whether the dog's military namesake was a deciding factor is yet another question.
   Early on, Barack Obama promised he would get a dog for his daughters, and soon Bo, a Portuguese water dog, joined the White House family, followed by Sunny, another of the same breed.
   Bill Clinton had both a cat and a dog, a Labrador retriever named Buddy.
   Jimmy Carter enjoyed the company of a collie, an Afghan hound and a Siamese cat.  Lyndon Johnson was photographed with his Beagle.
   John F. Kennedy housed a zoo's worth of pets at the White House, including a Welsh terrier, a canary, parakeets, a rabbit, and hamsters.
   Dwight D. Eisenhower favored a Weimaraner named Heidi.
   And Franklin D. Roosevelt had his favorite terrier, named Fala.
   Harry S. Truman reportedly did not like dogs, but he accepted several puppies as gifts even though he did not keep them.
   The last president never to have a dog in the White House was William McKinley. Nevertheless, he did have roosters, a parrot and several kittens, according to the Presidential Pet Museum, so he could not have been been all bad.
   As to whether the current occupant of the White House will yield and accept the loyalty and devotion that pet dogs are famous for giving their people, only the future reveal that.
   But this question hovers above all the others: Why would a man who values total loyalty above all else not have a dog?