Portuguese Water Dog Personality: Why Bo Should Be with Pres. Obama Often

Even though Bo the Portuguese Water Dog was chosen by Ted Kennedy as the official First Dog for the hypoallergenic-challenged Sasha and Malia Obama, our President may ultimately learn one thing: Perhaps Bo should be spending more time with the President than the kids. It's probably no secret that Obama decided to pick the Portuguese Water Dog because those types dogs are one of the most intelligent on the planet. I'll even go so far as to say that Presidents frequently pick dogs that look like the President--or at least share certain traits. Because President Obama is inarguably the most intellectually curious President since Bill Clinton, having a Portuguese Water Dog in Obama's midst seems more than appropriate when matching up the proper dog for the White House.

Yet it's also likely that both Obama and Bo would go stark raving mad if not having that intellectual stimulation. The jury is out on Obama, but it's well-documented that if the Portuguese Water Dog doesn't keep intellectually and physically engaged, they're prone to do things worse than Barney the Dog's snarl and bite at a reporter this last year during George W. Bush's final months in office. This is one dog you see who gets downright cranky when they have to do what most other dogs do: Sleeping too much and being stuck between four walls.

The Obamas should have been told that when this is a dog mainly for Sasha and Malia who will be away at school most of the time. Follow that up with President Obama always on the move and Michelle Obama doing about the same, it may leave Bo in a situation that means not enough intellectual and physical engagement. Of course, someone else in the White House staff will take care of those duties. But that means Bo would ultimately bond with a staff member rather than with the people (or person) who really matters.

Since the Portuguese Water Dog's beginnings in Portugal, there's always been an inherent personality trait of being very obedient to a single master. A lot of that probably comes from its earliest uses in herding sheep or working exhaustively with fishermen--hence the "Water" in their title. While the Water Dogs can usually be successfully independent to a point, they don't want to be alone as you've likely seen evidence of with poodles that are connected genetically to the Water Dog. Whining will occur when they're left alone too long or aren't getting the attention they crave. The only difference is that they don't look like they're ready to have a nervous breakdown as many poodles do when left alone for three seconds.

Others might argue that the Water Dog would do the same thing if taken to the brink of where they don't want to be mentally. When engaging in those needed mental and physical exercises, they always want to do it in the company of a master they know well. That's why President Obama should reconsider Bo's role in the White House and perhaps become a closer companion to our President rather than a stay-at-home dog to the kids who will be busy on their own.
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Should President Obama consider it, such a bonding wouldn't be out of the ordinary within and outside the walls of the White House. Those supreme bonds between a Prez and his dog may have reached its apex during the Roosevelt era with FDR's famous Scottish Terrier, Fala. Since Obama has mined the Rooseveltian approach to politics, it wouldn't hurt to look into FDR's relationship with Fala as a good starting to point to how meaningful it can be. If Bo got one tenth of the attention Fala received back in the 1940's, he'd be one happy Water Dog.

Fala was arguably the most famous Presidential dog of the entire 20^th century, even though he didn't come to live with FDR and family until 1940 after the Roosevelts had been in the White House almost eight years. Roosevelt bonded well with Fala enough to take him outside the grounds of the White House to his other homes in upstate New York and Warm Springs, GA. Fala then became the first Presidential pooch to travel internationally with a President to important locations where history was being made. Obama probably wouldn't do that, outside of Bo likely being the most obedient dog ever should the rules be broken again and he becomes a jetsetter on Air Force One.

It's not hard to see why FDR bonded so much with Fala when Scotch Terriers have the same regal qualities FDR had. They're also highly intelligent dogs that any President with a high I.Q. would appreciate having around the premises when the Commander-in-Chief's White House cohorts may not even have half the intelligence. In FDR's case, his ill health was an obvious factor in the enjoyment of having Fala around.

For Obama, there doesn't seem to be much evidence that he's ever bonded closely with a dog or cat--or at least in photographs available publicly. He has more of an independent streak to him and appears to keep his family as his focus of affection. Only through the prodding of Sasha and Malia, though, did the purchase of the Water Dog occur...with a slight look of bemusement about it from our President. But don't be surprised to see Bo start bonding well with Obama first as a natural trait. After that happens, it'll be up to Obama to return the bonding via taking Bo everywhere he goes and taking to time train him. (Keep in mind Water Dogs learn tricks faster than any other dog.)

The whole process there can be a rewarding part of a Presidency, especially during an insanely stressful one. When a President and his dog can understand one another on levels better than world leaders, it provides a joyful connectedness between Man and Dog that ultimately erases the stigma of a President being above it all...

Sources:

http://www.critterology.com/articles/portuguese-water-dogs

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/elro/fala.html