Portuguese Water Dog: Bo and Sunny, the two dogs that lived in the Obama White House

In February 2009, after winning his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama owed his daughters Malia and Sasha a dog. The promise came with an asterisk: Malia had a mild dog allergy, which ruled out most breeds. The search ran for months in the national press and ended in April with a six-month-old black puppy gifted by Senator Ted Kennedy: Bo, a Portuguese Water Dog. In 2013 the family added Sunny, a female of the same breed acquired directly from the Stern breeding program. Both dogs lived in the White House through the eight years of the presidency and appeared in hundreds of official photographs. The AKC documented the effect on the breed's popularity: Portuguese Water Dog registrations rose about 38 percent in the United States between 2008 and 2010, a spike the press nicknamed the "Obama bounce." The historical footnote is that the breed, recognized worldwide today, came close to disappearing in the 1930s. Vasco Bensaúde, a Portuguese shipping engineer, tracked down a surviving male named Leão in the Algarve fishing region in 1937 and built a breeding program around him that pulled the breed back from total extinction. The AKC places the Portuguese Water Dog in the Working Group, and the FCI recognizes the Cão de Água Português under Standard No. 37, group 8, section 3 (water dogs). Its historical job was specific: working alongside Algarve and Atlantic-coast fishermen, retrieving fish that slipped from the nets, carrying messages between boats, and guarding the gear.

What the breed looks like

Medium-sized, sturdy, athletic. Males stand 20-23 in (50-57 cm) at the shoulder and weigh 42-55 lb (19-25 kg); females stand 17-20 in (43-52 cm) and weigh 35-48 lb (16-22 kg). The body runs slightly longer than tall, with a broad chest that supplies the lung capacity for long-distance swimming, a level back, strong limbs, and well-developed webbed feet that serve the dog in the water.

The coat is the breed's signature, second only to those webbed feet. Two varieties are officially recognized:

1. Curly coat: compact, dense, lustrous curls, similar to the Standard Poodle.
2. Wavy coat: long, falling waves with a metallic sheen and a softer texture.

Both varieties share one essential trait: a single coat (no undercoat), water-repellent, with almost no shedding. That accounts for the low dander and allergen load, the very feature that drove the Obama choice. Recognized colors: black (the majority), white, brown in several shades, and combinations of white with black or brown. Solid white dogs are rare and especially prized.

The traditional groom is one of two clips. The "lion clip" leaves long hair on the head, chest, and forelegs while shaving the hindquarters and the back two-thirds of the tail, leaving a tuft at the tip. The "retriever clip" keeps the coat at a uniform short length over the whole body. The lion clip is the original fisherman's cut: it kept the body cool for swimming while protecting the chest during dives into cold water.

Temperament

Cheerful, intelligent, social. The Portuguese Water Dog keeps an upbeat, curious attitude toward its surroundings that surprises owners used to more reserved breeds. It likes to follow people room to room, join in family activity, and volunteer as a helper, with mixed results, on any household chore.

With its own family the breed is deeply affectionate, patient with the children it lives with, and playful well into old age. It holds onto puppy behavior until age 4-5, a trait some owners love and others find exhausting.

With strangers it ranges from friendly to cautiously reserved at first, depending on the individual. Early socialization between 8 and 16 weeks reinforces the social tendency. It generally lives well with other dogs, and with household cats introduced from puppyhood there is usually no trouble.

One practical trait owners discover fast: the breed develops separation anxiety easily. Centuries of selection put this dog shoulder to shoulder with the fisherman in the boat, and long stretches alone hit it hard. Households where everyone is out eight hours a day should plan for doggie daycare or a dog walker to head off behavior problems.

Health

Condition	Screening
Hip dysplasia	Official OFA radiograph
GM1 storage disease	DNA test, required before breeding
Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA)	DNA test plus ophthalmologic exam
Juvenile dilated cardiomyopathy	DNA test, echocardiogram in predisposed lines
Elbow dysplasia	Official radiograph

GM1 gangliosidosis deserves its own note. It is a serious inherited metabolic disorder, autosomal recessive, that appears in puppies between 4 and 6 months with progressive, fatal neurological decline. The genetic test developed in 1997 by Wang et al. lets breeders identify carriers and eliminate the risk of affected litters. Any serious breeder runs the required DNA test before breeding; a puppy sold without a GM1 certificate from both parents is a sign of a breeder to avoid.

Juvenile dilated cardiomyopathy (JDCM), specific to the breed, shows up between 5 weeks and 7 months and proves fatal within days. A DNA test identifies carriers. Dambach et al. (1999), in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, described the condition and its genetic basis.

Average lifespan runs 12 to 15 years. With complete parental testing and responsible owners, the breed's health profile is reasonable.

Grooming and care

Grooming the Portuguese Water Dog is demanding. Three maintenance routes:

Thorough at home: brushing three or four times a week with a slicker brush and a metal comb, a bath every three or four weeks, a home lion or retriever trim every six to eight weeks. It takes time and technique.

Regular professional: home brushing twice a week plus a professional grooming session every six to eight weeks. Expect $600 to $1,200 a year in grooming in the US.

Mixed: regular home brushing, a professional bath every four weeks, and occasional maintenance trims.

Because the coat is single-layered and grows continuously like a Poodle's, it does not shed out; it keeps growing. Regular trimming is required for function, not looks. Without it the coat mats, traps dirt, and holds a persistent wet-dog smell.

The ears need special attention. They hang, and the dog gets wet often, so they are a hotspot for recurring ear infections. Check them weekly, dry them completely after every bath or swim, and clean them whenever odor or wax builds up.

Nails every four weeks, daily tooth brushing. Heat tolerance is moderate to high thanks to the single coat; cold tolerance is low, especially in cold water without protection.

Training

Trainability is high. The breed is intelligent, motivated by food and play, and keeps learning well into old age. It is an excellent fit for dog sports: obedience, agility, dock diving, tracking, and water search and rescue.

Core principles:

• Positive reinforcement with treats, toys, or water (some lines value a swim as a reward more than food).
• Short, varied sessions. The breed gets bored with mechanical repetition.
• An early start at 8 weeks. Thorough socialization through the first year is the deciding factor.
• Bite inhibition from puppyhood. The breed tends to mouth everything within reach; left unworked, that turns into adolescent puppies prone to oral destructiveness.

The fish-retrieving instinct makes the Portuguese Water Dog a natural retriever on land and in water. Dock diving (a running leap off a platform into water) and competitive swimming are disciplines where the breed shines. Clubs for these sports are active across US coastal regions.

Living with one

The breed needs 90-120 minutes a day of varied physical exercise plus mental work. Swimming, long walks, retrieving, interactive play, obedience, or trick sessions. Without it, the dog turns to destructiveness, excessive barking, and separation anxiety.

A home with water access (ocean, river, pool, lake) is the ideal setting, not as a requirement but because it lets the dog use what it was built for. The breed can live comfortably in an apartment if the owner commits to daily exercise and regular grooming; its minimal shedding makes it workable in urban spaces.

With the children it lives with, it is an excellent companion: patient, playful, and tolerant of clumsy handling from small kids. It gets along with other dogs, and with household cats introduced from puppyhood there is usually no problem.

Plan ahead for separation anxiety. If everyone in the home is out for long days, arrange daycare, a dog walker, or a steady second dog for company. In this breed, long stretches of solitude carry a clear behavioral cost.

Is the Portuguese Water Dog for you?

It fits if you have an active lifestyle, enjoy the outdoors and especially the water, value a dog with minimal shedding (a factor for people with mild allergies), and can take on the cost and time of regular grooming. It fits families with children over age 5, people who compete in dog sports, and homes with someone around for most of the day.

It does not fit if you work long hours with no option for a walker or daycare, expect a low-maintenance coat, are sedentary, or live in a cold climate without access to warmer water. It also does not fit if you cannot take on basic genetic testing when choosing a puppy. A Portuguese Water Dog without parental GM1 testing is an avoidable risk.

FAQ

Is it truly hypoallergenic? No dog breed is genuinely hypoallergenic, but its minimal shedding and reduced dander make it tolerable for many people with mild allergies. Spending time around the breed before you commit is worth doing.

Does it really need to swim? Not strictly, but it helps enormously. Swimming covers physical and emotional needs in just a few minutes. A Portuguese Water Dog that never sees water tends to be more restless than one with regular access.

How much does a puppy cost in the US? Roughly $2,500 to $4,000 from an AKC-registered breeder with complete parental testing (GM1, PRA, JDCM, hip and elbow). Availability is moderate, and the PWDCA breeder directory is the best starting point for health-tested litters.

Is it the same as the Spanish Water Dog? They share a fishing background and a general body type, but they are distinct breeds. The Portuguese is somewhat larger, comes in two coat varieties (curly and wavy), and traces to the Algarve and the Atlantic coast. The Spanish Water Dog is native to Andalusia and the Mediterranean coast.

Can it live outside in a yard? That is the wrong setup for the breed. It was selected for work and close human company; a yard-only life without indoor access produces anxiety and behavior problems.