www.roanoke.com

For the politically active dog on your Christmas list, may we suggest a collar that shows your pooch's party loyalty?

The New Hampshire Historical Society is selling needlepoint dog collars with your choice of a Democratic donkey or a Republican elephant and the state motto "Live Free or Die."

For all you independent voters, or Teddy Roosevelt fans, they also offer one with a moose that simply celebrates New Hampshire, a state that has shown dogged determination to preserve it's first-in-the-nation presidential primary tradition.

The collars come in four sizes and, according the Web site, were hand stitched by an Armenian women's co-op with leather work from a long-standing New Hampshire company. I noticed they do not come in the traditional blue-for-Democrats, red-for-Republicans color scheme.

Politically-themed collars could cause for some rousing debates through the neighborhood and around the dog park. If you happen have a two-dog, politically-divided household like mine, you could get one of each party. And walk one dog on the left and the other on the right, so as to be completely fair and balanced.

Now, if my dogs could chose the next chief executive, they would want a president who could promise them unlimited ear rubbings and tummy scratchings. In that case, my husband would be the next leader of the free world.

What do you think? Would you want your pooch to make a political statement?