Bo The Pet Dog of Obama Family

Bo The Pet Dog of Obama Family

Bo, also known as Bo Obama,(born October 9, 2008) is the pet dog of the Obama family, the First Family of the United States. Bo is a neutered male Portuguese Water Dog, or Portie. President Barack Obama and his family were given the dog as a gift after months of speculation about the breed and identity of their future pet. The final choice was made in part because Malia Obama’s allergies dictated a need for a hypoallergenic breed. The White House has referred to him as the “First Dog”, a US cultural term used during several previous administrations

The Portuguese Water Dog is a fairly rare breed; only 48 Portuguese Water Dogs were entered for Britain’s Crufts competition in 2009 and the author of The New Complete Portuguese Water Dog, Although some breeders claim they are a hypoallergenic dog breed, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. Kitty Braund, believes there are about 50,000 in North America.

Bred by Art and Martha Stern of Boyd, Texas, one of Bo’s nine litter mates is the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s Portie named Cappy (Amigo’s Captain Courageous); the litter was named “Hope and Change” in honor of Obama’s victory. Bo was purchased by a person unknown to the public, but eventually the new owner returned him to the Stern family; when buying the dog, the original purchaser had signed a contract requiring him to return the dog to the breeder if things did not work out. Bo was enrolled on January 5, 2009 with Kennedy’s obedience trainer Dawn Sylvia, in Hume, Virginia.

At his first press conference as President-elect, Obama was questioned by reporters as to which breed the family was looking to acquire; he replied, “our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.” He also noted “Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic.”

In response to a question his daughters pressed George Stephanopolous in early January to ask of their father on air, Obama said “They seem to have narrowed it down to a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound … medium-sized dog, and so, we’re now going to start looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up.”Much was made by the public and press about the family’s search for a dog. On April 12, 2009, it was announced that the Obamas would soon accept a six-month-old Portuguese

Water Dog puppy as a gift from Senator Kennedy. The dog was reported to have visited the family some weeks earlier in a secret meeting to gauge compatibility and purportedly referred to by staffers as “The Meeting”. However, the gift was not accepted until the dog officially arrived and moved in at the White House on Tuesday, April 14. 2009;Immediately after he arrived, the family staged a photo up with Bo on the property’s South Lawn. At the conference, Obama was asked if he would allow Bo inside the Oval Office, to which he responded: “of course.” He also gave a nod to President Harry Truman’s quote, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” The White House website was later updated to include official pictures and biographical details of Bo.

Listed by the name Amigo’s New Hope with American Kennel Club’s breed registryand given the name Charlie by his original owners, the puppy received his current name from President Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha, in part after their cousins’ cat and Michelle Obama’s father’s nickname Diddley; the dog is a namesake of deceased singer Bo Diddley.

In June 2009, the White House released a baseball card for Bo with his new official portrait on one side and tongue-in-cheek statistics on the other; information included the facts that Bo’s favorite food is tomatoes and that he does not yet know how to swim. The card is available by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the White House.

According to financial disclosure forms released by President Obama in 2010, Bo has a value of 1,600 dollars.
(Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)