The other special members of US First Family

When President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, daughters Sasha and Malia selected a Portuguese dog to join them at White House at the beginning of his first term in 2009, it was an endorsement of a long heritage practised over time.

In his victory speech on November 4, 2008, Obama had said: “Sasha and Malia, I love you more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new puppy that is coming with us to the White House.”

And so the family welcomed a black and white water dog called Bo.

At the start of his second term, President Obama and his family welcomed another first dog at White House. They named him Sunny and described him as an energetic running-mate for Bo.

The two pets have become part of the official family and grace the portraits. The dogs smile in tandem with the rest of the First Family in poses.

When Sunny was ‘inaugurated’, Michelle said on her twitter handle: So excited to introduce the newest member of the Obama family – our puppy, Sunny! And attached the photo of the two happy mongrels.

BEST FRIEND

Obama’s action was as if the American president went ahead to rubberstamp the belief that a dog is man’s best friend or put another way ‘in Dog we trust.’ The portraits of dogs are immortalised in museums named after them.

Kenyans look forward to seeing if Bo and Sunny will accompany the visiting President to the land of his father and grandfather.

At Washington DC’s prestigious Newseum lies a collection of portraits and decorated images of US presidents and their favourite first dogs.

In the pecking order of dogs that made history, Abraham Lincoln’s stands out as the first presidential pet to be photographed. But the caption adds it was not a happy occasion. Lincoln was leaving a mongrel in Illinois and wanted a memento for his sons before setting for his 1861 inauguration.

American journalists have documented telling moments of dogs at White House. So interesting is the story of first dogs that Franklin Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier named Fala had his own Press Secretary and Warren G Harding’s Airedale, Laddie Boy had his own valet and had a hand carved chair at cabinet meetings.

But the fascination with dogs is not just about America’s men who have occupied White House. The people have always showed for presidential pets.

From the exhibitions at the Newseum, literature on hangings recount that more than 50 dogs have resided at White House where 44 presidents have served in 226 years of democracy since the father of the nation and First President George Washington became president in 1789.

In one of the graffiti headlined American Presidents and Their First Dogs: “We celebrate the First Dog and their unique place in history. Here’s to Tipsy, Tipler, Fido, Faithful, Dot, Jack, Rollo, Laddie Boy, Prudence Prim, King Tut, Weegie, Checkers, Liberty, Lucky, Rex Millie, Buddy, Barney, Spot, Bo, and Sunny. To all our president’s best friends and to the dogs world over we salute you.”

Strangely in Africa, dogs are both friends and foes. In many villages, they roam freely and are objects of battering while at the same time they are guardians.

DIFFERENT REASONS

American presidents have used dogs for different reasons. “John F Kennedy (1961-1963) was allergic to dogs. Even so, the Kennedys had nine, including Pushinka, a gift from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev,” says www.newseum.org.

The Newseum also theorises that Herbert Hoover won fans, and possibly his 1928 election, by posing with his police dog, King Tut for campaign photos.

But one dog called Spot holds a unique record as the only pet to live in the White House under two different presidents. Born there in 1989 during the tenure George W Bush presidency, Spot returned in 2001 when Bush’s son George W took office.

At the Newseum, the story of President George W Bush’s Scottish terrier, Barney, which became viral online with his “Barney Cam” videos showing life at the White House from a dog’s-eye view is also featured for visitors.