It is said that Barack Obama adopted her following the famous advice of Harry S. Truman: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Sunny, the Portuguese water dog who accompanied the former President of the United States, his wife Michelle, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, has died at 13 years old. The former president himself announced the news this Wednesday with an emotional farewell message on his social media.
“Yesterday we lost a very beloved member of our family. Sunny was a force of nature, athletic and full of energy. She loved our daughters, even when they bothered her while she was napping. She preferred people over dogs, drank water noisily and uncontrollably, and despite her breed, hated getting wet. But to our family, she was practically perfect. She was always loyal, affectionate, lively, and beautiful. We will miss her very much,” the statement reads.
The post was reshared by his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and had been viewed on X more than two million times in the three hours following its release, CBS News highlighted. They also shared a post on Facebook with several photos – including one with Pope Francis – which generated hundreds of thousands of reactions.
Sunny was born in June 2012 in Michigan, but joined the Obama family at the White House in August 2013, when Barack Obama was in his second term as President of the United States. She was acquired through a breeder and, upon announcing her arrival, the family made a donation to the Washington Humane Society.
The family decided to name her Sunny to “match her cheerful personality.” Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia – who were 12 and 14 years old when the dog joined the family – also had a close relationship with Sunny, Obama said.
Since then, she shared the spotlight with Bo, the other family dog, and got used to an unusual life for a pet among the gardens, rooms, and events of the presidential residence.
“We adopted Sunny at the beginning of our second term in the White House, and all of us – including our first dog, Bo – fell in love with her instantly,” the former Democratic president recalled when announcing her passing. “We will miss her very much, and we imagine she is now with her older brother, looking after him,” Obama wrote referring to Bo, who died in 2021 after more than a decade with the family.
Sunny arrived in Washington four years after Bo, the Obamas’ first dog, who had joined the family in 2009. Her arrival made both Portuguese water dogs inseparable companions and a common sight at the presidential residence, where they appeared in official photos, celebrations, and various public events. “She fiercely protected Bo, as she rightly perceived that he was not always as alert and attentive as she was,” Obama said.
“We also had a hard time keeping up with her, as Sunny was a force of nature,” said the 44th president in his tribute to the four-legged family member. Obama recalled that the dog “jumped over the hedges of the South Lawn as if they weren’t there, chasing squirrels, birds, and anything else that moved.”
Sunny thus accompanied Malia and Sasha through much of their growth and stayed with the Obamas after their time in the White House ended. She also outlived Bo, who died in May 2021 after suffering from cancer, and whose loss then led the family to publicly say goodbye to their first pet during the years of the presidency.
Bo and Sunny often made appearances at the White House during public events and held a prominent place in the family’s annual Christmas card. First Lady Michelle Obama commented in 2015 that both dogs were so popular that they had their own official schedules at the White House.
“Everyone wants to see them and take pictures,” Michelle Obama said at the time. “I receive a memo at the beginning of the month with a request about their schedules, and I have to approve their appearances,” she commented.
Although numerous U.S. presidents have lived with dogs as pets, Donald Trump did not have any pets during his time in the White House, notes the newspaper El Mundo.
The tradition of presidential pets, the Spanish media points out, leaves famous anecdotes: from Millie, George H.W. Bush’s English springer spaniel who “wrote” the bestseller “Millie’s Book”, to Buddy, Bill Clinton’s chocolate labrador who accompanied the family during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Other dogs reached the digital era, such as Barney, George W. Bush’s Scottish terrier, who had his own website and starred in the “Barneycam” video series with a camera around his neck, while Lyndon B. Johnson sparked outrage among animal rights advocates by lifting his beagle, Him, by the ears in front of the press.
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