WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama and his family announced on Saturday that their beloved family dog Bo has died after a battle with cancer.
"Today our family lost a true friend and loyal companion," Obama said in a statement on Twitter about their Portuguese water dog. "For more than a decade, Bo was a constant, gentle presence in our lives—happy to see us on our good days, our bad days, and everyday in between."
According to the Obama Foundation, Bo was added to Obama's family while they were living in the White House in April of 2009. During Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, he promised his daughters, Sasha and Malia, that regardless if he won or lost, the family would get a dog after the election.
The Obama Foundation added that during his Grant Park victory speech he said to his daughters, "I love you both more than you can imagine. You have earned the puppy that is coming with us!”
Obama said Saturday that Bo "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's statement about Bo ended by saying. "he was exactly what we needed and more than we ever expected. We will miss him dearly."
In a post featuring a slideshow of images of Bo — including one of him sitting behind the president’s Resolute Desk in the Oval Office — Michelle Obama recounted his years bringing some levity to the White House.
“He was there when Barack and I needed a break, sauntering into one of our offices like he owned the place, a ball clamped firmly in his teeth. He was there when we flew on Air Force One, when tens of thousands flocked to the South Lawn for the Easter Egg Roll, and when the Pope came to visit,” she wrote.
Mrs. Obama wrote that she was grateful for the time the family got to spend with him due to the pandemic, and said that over the past year, “no one was happier than Bo.”
“All his people were under one roof again,” she wrote.
The Obamas still have their female Portuguese water dog Sunny, who was added to the family in August of 2013.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
