First Dog Bo Obama is From the Hope and Change Litter

The First Family’s new dog arrived at the White House in April. Bo, a Portuguese Water Dog named after singer Bo Diddley, was a gift to Malia and Sasha from Sen. Edward Kennedy. The Sen. Kennedy’s family has three Portuguese Water Dogs: Splash and Sunny, and the newest member of the family, Cappy, a pup from the same litter as Bo, affectionately named the “Hope and Change Litter.”

Since the Obamas had planned to rescue a dog, after having received Bo as a gift, they have instead pledged a donation to the Humane Society of the United States. The Obamas are Bo’s second adoptive family, after another one returned him to the breeder.

The eldest of Senator Kennedy’s three dogs, Splash, is a star in his own right. In the past a frequent visitor to the Senate, he is the narrator of a children’s book written by Kennedy and published in 2006. In My Senator and Me: A Dog’s-Eye View of Washington, D.C., Splash recalls his daily life helping the senator pass an education bill, explaining how a bill becomes a law and the roles of Congress and the Senate. Proceeds from the sale of the book are donated to charities, including Read Boston, an organization that supports literacy in Boston public schools.

Portuguese Water Dogs once existed all along Portugal’s coast, where they were taught to herd fish into fishermen’s nets, to retrieve lost tackle or broken nets, and to act as couriers from ship to ship, or ship to shore. They have distinctive webbed feet, one of the reasons they are such good swimmers.

PHOTOS: Sue Richards