Bo Obama, the family pet of former President Barack Obama, has died at the age of 12.
A male Portuguese water dog, Bo was “a constant, gentle presence in [the Obamas’] lives,” the former president wrote in a tweet mourning the dog’s death.
“He tolerated all the fuss that came with being in the White House, had a big bark but no bite, loved to jump in the pool in the summer, was unflappable with children, lived for scraps around the dinner table, and had great hair,” Obama continued. “He was exactly what we needed and more than we ever expected. We will miss him dearly.”
Bo Obama was born on Oct. 9, 2008, and he moved to the White House to join the Obama family on April 14, 2009. He was later joined by Sunny Obama, a female dog of the same breed, in 2013.
The Obama team brought out Bo during the president’s 2012 reelection campaign, uploading photos and videos of the family pet in an attempt to woo voters.
Though no dogs lived in the White House during the administration of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden’s German shepherds, Champ and Major, have attracted press scrutiny. Major Biden was involved in several biting incidents, and he once defecated on the floor of the White House.
“Major is still adjusting to his new surroundings, and he nipped someone while on a walk,” Michael LaRosa, the first lady’s press secretary, said of one incident in March in which the 3-year-old German shepherd bit a National Park Service employee on the White House’s South Lawn.
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Biden needled Trump about the latter’s lack of pets during the 2020 presidential campaign, urging voters to “put dogs back in the White House.”
Trump, former President James Polk, and former President Andrew Johnson were the only presidents in U.S. history not to own any pets.
