Bo and Sunny, the Obamas' Portuguese Water Dogs in the White House

The promise was made before the election was even won. On the night of November 4, 2008, in his victory speech in Chicago, Barack Obama turned to his two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and told them they had earned the puppy that would come with them to the new house. That new house was the White House. The catch: Malia has allergies, so the dog could not be just any dog. The answer was a breed that was uncommon outside cynology circles at the time, the Portuguese Water Dog, and it arrived as a gift from a dying senator. This is the story of Bo and Sunny.

The puppy promise and Malia's allergy

Throughout the 2008 campaign, the Obama family made clear that a dog was part of the deal with the girls. But one specific restriction narrowed the options sharply. At a post-election press conference, Obama summed it up himself: "Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic."

That single line ruled out most of the breeds popular in the US, starting with the Labrador and the Golden Retriever, both heavy shedders. The search shifted toward low-shedding, curly-coated breeds, and the Portuguese Water Dog fit that profile well.

The word "hypoallergenic" deserves a caveat, because it causes a lot of confusion. The American Veterinary Medical Association notes that no dog is completely free of allergens. The allergy is triggered by proteins in a dog's dander, saliva, and urine, more than by the hair itself. What breeds like the Portuguese Water Dog offer is very low shedding, which reduces how much of those allergens spread through a home, without eliminating them.

Bo: a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy

The family's first dog, Bo, arrived at the White House on April 14, 2009. It was not a purchase or a standard adoption: it was a gift from Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy and his wife, Victoria, both devoted fans of the breed.

The details of Bo's origin are well documented:

Born: October 9, 2008.
Breeder: Martha and Art Stern, of Amigo Portuguese Water Dogs, in Boyd, Texas.
The "Hope and Change" litter: the breeder named the litter after Obama's campaign slogan.
The Kennedy link: one of Bo's littermates was Cappy, Senator Kennedy's own dog. The senator's gift was literally a brother of his own dog.

The puppy had been returned by his first family, who had called him Charlie. It was Malia and Sasha who gave him his final name, Bo, inspired partly by the musician Bo Diddley and by the "Diddley" nickname of Michelle Obama's father. One detail did not go unnoticed: the family's initials, Barack Obama, match the dog's name.

Sunny: the second arrives in 2013

Four years later, the family decided Bo needed company. On August 19, 2013, Michelle Obama announced it on Twitter with a photo: "Thrilled to introduce the newest member of the Obama family, our puppy Sunny!"

Sunny was born on June 11, 2012, and came from a breeder in the Great Lakes region, in Michigan. Same breed as Bo, a Portuguese Water Dog, but with a slightly livelier temperament according to those who handled them. With her arrival, the White House had two "first dogs" at once until the end of the second term in January 2017.

It was not all idyllic. In January 2017, in the final days of the presidency, Sunny bit an 18-year-old visitor in the face, a friend of Malia's, who needed stitches. The presidential physician treated the incident. It serves as a useful reminder: the Portuguese Water Dog has a reputation for being even-tempered and sociable, but any dog can react badly to an abrupt approach, and a person's face leaning down toward a dog is one of the gestures many dogs tolerate worst.

The Portuguese Water Dog: full breed profile

Before a president put it on the map, this breed was nearly unknown to the general public. It is worth knowing well.

Registry: the American Kennel Club places the Portuguese Water Dog in the Working Group. Its original Portuguese name is Cão de Água Português. (FCI classifies it in group 8, section 3, water dogs.)
Origin: Portugal, specifically the Algarve coast. For centuries it worked alongside fishermen: it swam to retrieve lost tackle, carried messages between boats, and helped herd fish toward the nets. Hence its strong aquatic ability.
Size: medium. According to the American Kennel Club, males stand 20-23 in at the shoulder and weigh 42-60 lb; females stand 17-21 in and weigh 35-50 lb.
Appearance: a robust, muscular body. A profuse single coat with no undercoat covers the whole body, in two varieties: curly (compact cylindrical curls) and wavy (looser and glossier). Common colors: black, white, brown, and combinations of these with white.
Temperament: the AKC describes it as alert, eager to please, and highly trainable. It is an active, athletic breed that bonds closely with the family, which makes it a good companion as long as it gets enough exercise.
Lifespan: roughly 11-13 years according to the AKC.
Shedding: very low, one of the reasons for its "hypoallergenic" reputation. In exchange, the coat grows continuously and needs constant upkeep.
Grooming: demanding. It needs frequent brushing to prevent mats and regular trims every few weeks. The traditional "lion clip" (rear third clipped short) is common, inherited from its work in the water.
Health: like any breed, it carries predispositions worth screening for through responsible breeders and genetic testing. The Merck Veterinary Manual lists hip dysplasia as a frequent orthopedic problem in medium and large dogs, and progressive retinal atrophy as a hereditary eye disease present in many breeds.

Why a presidential dog drives demand for a breed

Bo's case illustrates a phenomenon vets and shelters know well: the "celebrity effect" on breed popularity. When a dog appears alongside a highly visible public figure, searches and purchases of that breed tend to spike.

After Bo arrived, the Portuguese Water Dog went from a minority breed to receiving enormous media attention in the US. The risk of these spikes is familiar: many families acquire a dog by imitation, without weighing what it involves. This breed needs a lot of exercise, a lot of professional grooming, and a lot of stimulation; buying one expecting a quiet plush toy because it was seen next to a president is a recipe for regret.

The Humane Society, without taking anything away from the charitable donation the Obamas made in Sunny's name, publicly voiced its wish that more families would consider adopting a shelter dog first. It is a recurring criticism of presidential dogs worth recording: Malia's allergy genuinely limited the options, but the adoption-versus-breeder debate stays fully relevant in any home.

How the story ends

Bo and Sunny finished the second term and left the White House with the family in January 2017. Four years later, on May 8, 2021, the Obamas announced that Bo had died of cancer at age 12. In their farewell message, the family wrote that Bo had been "a constant, gentle presence in our lives" and "exactly what we needed" during the presidential years.

Bo and Sunny were not the first dogs to live in the White House, a tradition that dates back to the early days of the American republic. But they did achieve something singular: they turned a breed of Portuguese fishermen's dogs, unknown to almost everyone, into one of the most photographed dogs on the planet for eight years. For better and for worse, that is how the power of a presidential dog works.

What to check

Whether a low-shedding breed actually matches your household's allergy situation, confirmed with an allergist rather than assumed from a label.
Whether you can commit to the Portuguese Water Dog's grooming load: frequent brushing plus a trim every few weeks.
Whether your daily routine has room for a high-energy working breed that needs real exercise and mental work.
Whether a breeder screens for hip dysplasia and progressive retinal atrophy before you commit to a puppy.
Whether a shelter or breed-specific rescue is a viable first option before going to a breeder.