Real

There's a genuine Palace tuta (puppy), not necessarily unsavory, who will hound President Estrada and future presidents.

He is Harold, a five-month-old golden Labrador retriever donated by Press Undersecretary Icasiano Gutierrez to the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

Gutierrez, who usually follows the President in his sorties, said Harold is a pure-bred retriever raised by the press undersecretary himself.

Harold is one of the six litters of Aiko and was born on Sept. 10, 1999.

Being a retriever, Harold would be trained in bomb-sniffing because of its sharp sense of smell, a PSG K-9 trainer said.

But since the dog's smelling ability is still raw, the PSG said Harold will first be enrolled in obedience school.

The K-9 trainer told The STAR that dogs, like human beings, have an ideal age for being trained. In Harold's case, the proper age would be around eight months.

The PSG has a number of bomb-sniffing dogs, one of which was even given a hero's burial during the term of then President Corazon Aquino. Bow. --