At first, it sounded like those cute Kansas school children were at it again, but come to find out, it was a couple of Kansas adults who decided to launch an effort to have the cairn terrier designated as the Kansas state dog.

Brenda Moore, a kennel club member from Winfield, made what she thought was an innocent request of her state legislator, Rep. Ed Trimmer, D-Winfield. She later told a Wichita newspaper that she figured that if Kansas had a designated state grass, it also should have a formal state dog. And what better candidate, she thought, than the cairn terrier, the same breed as the most famous dog with a Kansas connection, the terrier that played Toto in “The Wizard of Oz.”

The first reaction of many Kansans to the state dog legislation probably was that it was a waste of state legislators’ time and resources. Surely, when legislators are being faced with proposals to drastically alter the state’s tax code, its school finance formula, its Medicaid system and other key policy areas, they have better things to do than spend time dealing with legislation to designate a state dog.

And, for heaven’s sake, if you’re going to name a state dog, don’t tie it to “The Wizard of Oz.” Most Kansans are sick to death of the Dorothy, Toto and Yellow Brick Road references that are linked to everything from Kansas sports teams to our recent efforts to attract the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility to Manhattan.

Moore may have expected that kind of criticism of her proposal, but what probably came as more of a surprise was the quick and vehement reaction of an official with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Kansas already has a “reputation as a hotbed for cruel, filthy puppy mills,” said Martin Mersereau, director for cruelty investigation for PETA. Naming the cairn terrier or any breed as the Kansas state dog, he added, would encourage puppy mills to “churn out litter after litter of the breed,” which would support their cruel breeding practices and perhaps reduce the number of dogs adopted from state animal shelters.

The PETA reaction may have been a little over the top, and there certainly are people, including some cairn terrier owners, who support the bill. Even if naming a state dog is a relatively harmless piece of legislation, we agree that state legislators probably have better — and more important — things to do this year.