Recently in Barack Obama Category

OK, so I've been wondering what's happened to Bo the First Dog?

After a flashy unveiling earlier this month, the Portuguese water dog seemed to vanish from view. 

Where's Bo? Is someone walking and playing with him? Has he destroyed the drapes yet?  

Well now Rachel L. Swarns of the New York Time's Caucus Blog gets to the bottom of the mystery.

Meet Mr. Haney.

Dale Haney, it just so happens, is a White House horticulturalist who has tended every presidential dog since King Timahoe, Richard M. Nixon's Irish setter.

Wow. Some gig, huh?

I must say that Mr. Haney looks a bit distracted in the photo caught above, however. And there's not a lot of walking going on, though Bo is trying his best, straining for freedom.

The news might come as something of a surprise to those who remember President Obama's dog declaration earlier this month. He announced, as he introduced Bo to the American public, that he and his wife and two daugthers would be walking the dog. "We all have to take turns walking the dog," the president said. "We're trying to be responsible dog owners.

Ah, and so the truth comes out. First Lady Michelle Obama admitted to a group of school children recently that Bo woke up the entire Obama houshold with his barking one night last week.

"Oh, he is a crazy dog," she said. "He -- you know, he loves to chew on people's feet."

So for now, it's Bo and Mr. Haney.

The Times said Mr. Haney was unavailable for comment.

Photo: Doug Mills

Well that sure didn't take long.

Bo, the new First Dog, already has a children's book written in his honor. Titled Bo, America's Commander in Leash, the book by Naren Aryal (published by Mascot) is expected to be in book stores by the end of this week.

We posted before about the dad of Bo, the new First Dog. Now, just as we predicted, another relative has surfaced, this one a half sister named Ruby in Minnesota. Reporter Laurie Swenson of the Bemidji Pioneer reported on the find below.

A Bemidji (MN) family has a White House canine connection. Ruby, a 2-year-old Portuguese water dog owned by Julie Quanrud and her husband, Ric Meixell, is the half-sister of President Barack Obama's new family dog, Bo.

"I was suspicious because the muzzle is the same," Quanrud said, adding that she became even more suspicious when she saw the Obama family's dog had the exact same white markings as Julius, a full sibling of ruby's. After discovering the Ruby and Bo have the same father -- Valkyrie's Dr. Watson Is Here -- Quanrud received about 20 e-mails Tuesday afternoon from fellow members of the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America (Twin Cities) who saw reports of the presidential pooch and knew Ruby's lineage.

"To think that this dog is lying on the carpet in the White House right now, and we're sitting her with his sister, is pretty wild," Quanrud said.

Photo: Laurie Swenson/Pioneer

 

We're not sure if Bo is getting to use his special Summa Canum dog house, a gift from Sustainable Pet Design of Los Angeles.

We posted earlier about the special gift of the White House dog house.

The dog house is very nice.

But we sort of hope Bo is getting to snuggle up with his kids in their beds at night.

At the urging of my colleague Sandy Mazza -- who has (nicely) demanded that more Bo photos be published on this blog -- here is a Baltimore Sun link to numerous photos of the new First Dog, a few of which we've posted below. Sandy is specifically hoping to see a shot of Bo wearing a little jacket, but I am not sure he has that much of a wardrobe yet. Give it time.

And there's more on Bo's debut today at CNN.

Enjoy.

Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images

Bo: Ready for his closeup.

AP Photo

Below: Learning to hang on (AP Photo)

Wouldn't you know it, now everyone's trying to get into the act. 

Bo's kin are now seeking the public spotlight. Given time, this could reveal a mongrel or two (every family has one, you know), trying to cash in on the clan's new White House fame.

Turns out Bo's dad, however, is a respectable pedigree named Watson, according to this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Craig Rader of Ambridge shows off his Portuguese water dog, Watson, the father to President Obama's new puppy Bo.

On a day when our nation's first puppy got acquainted with his White House surroundings, his father, Watson, lounged inside a strip mall in Ambridge.

Seemingly unaware of his progeny's sudden star status, Watson carried on as usual: napping, monitoring sidewalk traffic and nestling his head into customers walking through the door of 21st Century Media, his owner Craig Rader's home electronics business along Ohio River Boulevard.

The Raders got a phone call Sunday night during Easter dinner informing them that the Obamas had chosen 6-month-old Bo, a Texas-born Portuguese water dog and son of Watson, as their family pet.

"We're very shocked and surprised that we're now related to the Obamas -- through dog relations," said Susan Rader, at home in Ambridge yesterday with her sons, 4-year-old Garrett and 2-year-old Kyle.

When the Obama dog finally arrives, he or she will need a place to stay.

So how about this specially designed White (dog) House?

Wow.

The Obama Dog Home comes from Sustainable Pet Design and is formally called Summa Canum (that's Latin for "Top Dog"). Los Angeles landscape designer Stephanie Rubin, owner of the company and inventor of something called the Greenrrroof Animal home, already has arranged delivery of the gift.

Sustainable Pet Design is pleased to introduce Summa Canum, The Obama Dog Home ... created not only to provide an appropriately sustainable and stylish home for the new leader of the free canine world, but to introduce eco-friendly pracitces and materials to the American people.

Modeled on Greek Revival architecture (looks sort of like the Banning Mansion, doesn't it?), the dog house is constructed from the wood of Tennessee Aromatic Cedar trees that President Andrew Jackson planted along the driveway of his estate.

I could go on.

But it's all pretty much left me speechless and in awe.

 

HT: Ohmidog! 

  

So here it is: The First Family has decided on a Portuguese water dog. Just like Fernando who goes to our dog park. !  Go Fernando!   (He's the one sitting alone in the photo above, my dog Tess is under the bench). Good choice. They seem to be great dogs.

First Lady Michelle Obama told People magazine that her family has decided to adopt a Portuguese water dog, pointing to the breed's medium-sized and good-natured reputation. The breed is also hypoallergenic -- a must, given daughter Malia's allergy to dogs.

The first lady said her daughters will have to wait until the end of April to get the dog, since her family is planning on going away for Spring Break.

The only thing left to pick is the name, and Mrs. Obama said she is not a fan of her daughters' choices.

"There are names floating around and they're bad," Mrs. Obama said in the interview. "You listen and you go - like, I think, Frank was one of them. Frank! Moose was another one of them. Moose. I said, well, what if the dog isn't a moose? Moose. I'm like, no, come on, let's work with the names a little bit."

 

You can read more about the breed on the AKC Web site and also here at another dog breed site. And PetPlace also has some good info on the dogs. (Does the White House have a swimming pool?) They're described as friendly and active with webbed feet, making them terrific swimmers.

So now what to name the First Dog?

Some suggestions I kind of like (some are mine, others came from elsewhere) include: Liberty. Patriot. Freedom. Justice. Change. Hope. Bailout.

Or how about DOTUS (a take-off on POTUS, President of the United States)? I kind of like that one, though I'm sorry to say I didn't think of it. (Someone also suggested FIDOTUS, but that might a bit cumbersome to call).

They could also go for a water or fishing name -- or look to Portugal, to reflect the dog's origins. Like Fernando! I love Fernando.

Anyway, we'd really like to hear what you think about a name, so send them in via comments or emails and we'll post them.  

General guidelines say that a dog's name should be easy to pronounce and probably should end in a vowel sound since pets hear those sounds better. Nicknames for dogs usually wind up that way anyhow. (So Patriot might wind up Patty, Justice could end up being Justy, DOTUS would probably morph into Dody or Dodo, etc.) It should be something with no more than 2 syllables, or so the expert namers say.  

They say you should always make sure whatever name you pick is something that won't embarrass you when calling out the dog's name in public, of course.

Oh, the suspense, the pressing issues of our day.

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