The Obamas returned home from their Martha’s Vineyard vacation.  The press was around to document every moment, but the cutest picture was of  Bo hanging in Air Force One.

Check out more pics of the Obamas on The Huffington Post.

*Pic courtesy The Huffington Post

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Since this is a dog blog, a couple of times a month our boy Bo (woof!) thought it would be nice to get the news through a dog’s eyes.

Bo invites everyone to read a chapter from his upcoming book BAD TO THE BONE due out early October. It’s a funny memoir about the crazy adventures we have shared together over the last 14 plus years, told through Bo’s eyes.

Okay Bo, take it from here….

I need to get something off my chest that’s been bothering me the past several months. To some it may sound immature and petty, but to me it’s taken the joy out of my afternoon naps.

What is the deal with President Obama naming his dog after me? Why my name? It ain’t cool Mr. President.

Let me set the record straight so everybody understands, there’s only room for three Bo’s in this world; Bo Diddley, Bo Jackson and Bo Hoefinger. That’s it. No others need apply.

If you want to be a Bo, you can’t be. Membership is closed. Oh sure, you can be a Beau or a Bow, but you can’t be a Bo.

Got it? Good.

Oh, and don’t even think about Read the rest of this entry »

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Bo isn’t the only dog vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, pups abound. You don’t need to be the First Dog to have a good time on this island.

Although you can’t bring dogs to the main beaches in the summer, you can usually find a quiet place for a secret swim. There’s also a new dog park where you can go enjoy an afternoon of fun with your pooch.

If you feel like shopping you can stop by the very popular Black Dog to get some fun tee shirts and Good Dog Goods to buy necessities for your pup.

One of the biggest draws on the island is the Black Dog, a general store full of branded merchandise, along with a bakery and a popular restaurant.

But now, with talk of the arrival of Bo, there’s some competition.

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The big day is finally over, the new President is in the White House. So, the next big question is finding out when the new first dog will be indogurated.

The choice seems to have come down to a Labradoodle or Portuguese Water Dog.

The Portuguese Water Dog dates back to the 1200s and worked on boats with Portuguese fishermen, according to the website of the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., has helped make them famous, returning to the Capitol after brain-cancer treatment with his two Portuguese water dogs.

The Labradoodle, on the other hand, is a relatively new dog whose crossbreeding between a Labrador and a poodle goes back only to the 1980s.

In his election-night victory speech, Obama promised his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, they could have a puppy in the White House. He later said Malia is allergic and they would need a “hypoallergenic” dog, and that they also wanted a pound dog.

Both dogs are non-shedders and don’t cause as much reaction in allergy sufferers as other dogs, according to Stu Freeman, president of the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America.

“There really is no hypoallergenic dog,” he says. “We tell people to spend time around the dogs to make sure they’re going to be OK. The hair might not bother them, but the saliva might.”

Freeman adds it can be difficult to find either breed in shelters because “rescue groups will always get word they’re in shelters and save them.”

Obama told Stephanopoulos they were going to start “looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up.”

It would be great if either of these dogs could be adopted from a shelter, but it’s looking doubtful. Do you think President Obama conceded to saying he would look for a shelter dog because of the pressure he felt to do so?

Of course, now there’s a debate about the choices with the AKC, they don’t recognize the Labradoodle as a breed.  The ASPCA isn’t advocating for either dog, they are hoping the potential first dog will be a rescue or shelter dog.

We hope a rescue gets chosen too.  Give me a bark, let me know what you think.

* The cutie above is Copper, the Labradoodle.

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On November 6th I posted Obama’s Puppy Pledge to see what Dogsters thought about the president-elect keeping his promise to adopt from a shelter.

On Friday, during the news conference, I sensed a bit of wavering when  the president-elect stated  “Obviously a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.”

Obama was referring to Malia’s allergies and the need for finding a hypoallergenic dog, which may not be at a shelter.  I guess only time will tell what dog will become the first dog.

There has been a long history of dogs at the White House so I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few.

The Reagans’ dog Lucky, a bouvier des Flandres, had trouble with the first dog’s constant scrutiny. Lucky once relieved himself in front of Marine 1 as Nancy Reagan looked on in mock horror. Lucky was more happy living out his days at the Reagan ranch above Santa Barbara, Calif.

The happiest White House dog may have been Liberty, the golden retriever given to Gerald Ford as a puppy. Liberty spent much time in the Oval Office, serving as a convenient object of attention when Ford needed to end a conversation.

In the 1944 presidential campaign, Franklin D. Roosevelt used his Scottish terrier to take a bite out of the Republicans. The GOP spread the rumor that a destroyer had to be dispatched back to the Aleutians to pick up the first dog.

To read all the  fun and interesting facts about the White House dogs run on over to  Search For The First Pooch Is No Joke by Joel Connelly.

* The above picture is former President Ford with Liberty.

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