Former
US president Barack Obama’s family dog Bo, a male Portuguese Water Dog with a
mop of black and white fur who became a familiar playful sight around the White
House, has died.
Obama
announced the death late on Saturday, saying the dog had been “a constant,
gentle presence in our lives – happy to see us on our good days, our bad days
and everyday in between”.
“We
will miss him dearly,” he said on Twitter.
In this file photo taken on 14 April 2009, Malia Obama walks her new six-month old Portuguese water dog Bo alongside US President Barack Obama, Sasha Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC.
His
wife Michelle Obama said in a separate tweet that Bo, 12, had been suffering
from cancer.
Bo
came to the White House in 2009, soon after the start of Obama’s first term and
was joined a few years later by a female of the same breed called Sunny.
Obama,
who left office in 2017, praised Bo’s calm demeanour in the White House, saying
the dog “had a big bark but no bite, loved to jump in the pool in summer,
was unflappable with children, lived for scraps around the dinner table, and
had great hair”.
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