Bo, Sunny lap up busy life in White House
WASHINGTON — It’s hardly a dog’s life of just eating and sleeping for President Barack Obama’s pets, Bo and Sunny.
The Portuguese water dogs — Bo with his white chest and front paws, and the all-black Sunny — are canine ambassadors for the White House, popular and so in demand that they have schedules.
“Everybody wants to see them and take pictures,” Michelle Obama said. “I get a memo at the beginning of the month with a request for their schedules.”
The dogs have entertained crowds at the annual Easter Egg Roll and Bo has been at the first lady’s side when she welcomes tourists on the anniversary of the president’s inauguration. The dogs also have cheered wounded service members, as well as the hospitalized children the first lady visits each year before Christmas.
Bo, now 7, joined the Obama family in April 2009. He was a gift from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., a key supporter of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Bo helped Obama keep a promise to daughters Malia and Sasha that they could get a dog after the election.
Sunny, nearly 4, came along in August 2013.
Bo already had a job as a “helper” to Dale Haney, the head groundskeeper at the White House, which happens to be a national park.
“He leaves every morning and he goes down with Dale and he’s with all the National Park Service guys. And you’ll see him, and he’s like walking around with them, and looking at the plants,” the first lady said. “I think he thinks he has a job because he takes it very seriously.”
Obama promised last year to “clean things up a little bit” before leaving the White House in January because the dogs “have been tearing things up occasionally.”