Although many are predicting record turnout for today’s Super Tuesday vote, dogs in a suburb of Washington, D.C., cast their votes this past weekend, one by absentee ballot, and they gave a slight lead to the Democrats. At a “Doggy Primary” held Feb. 2, 2008, at Nature’s Nibbles, an all-natural pet food supply store in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Va., dogs were offered biscuits in the shape of the symbolic Democrat donkey or the Republican elephant. Ten dogs chose the elephants while another 14 picked the donkey.
“People asked me if we put more peanut butter in donkey biscuits, but no, they are the very same recipe,” said Tomoko Kawasumi, owner of Organic Doggy Kitchen, the Virginia-based dog treat manufacturer that supplied free samples of its new Political Dog Biscuits during the three-hour event on Saturday.
About 40 people and 30 dogs visited the store during the primary, going through more than two dozen bags of the biscuits, Kawasumi said.
“One person walked in and told me he is voting on behalf of his dog, and bought a bag of political biscuits,” Kawasumi said.
Another person came from more than an hour away, and although not actually a Virginia resident, Kawasumi said the rules were relaxed to allow the dog to vote as a “temporary canine resident.”
The “responsible canine citizens” who voted were also awarded with doggy cupcakes and free photo sessions with a pet photographer.
Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from each bag of the political biscuits sold during the event were donated to the Washington Humane Society.