"Bo", the Obama family dog, watches as President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn this week on his return from Iowa. (Photo by Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images.)
by Mark Silva
Life with "Bo,'' the "crazy'' first puppy - who awoke the president and first lady one night (this may help explain why the first lady's "fave'' ratings are running at 76 percent):
"It was like 10 o'clock,'' First Lady Michelle Obama told children visiting the White House today, for Take Your Child to Work Day. "Everybody was asleep and we hear all this barking and jumping around. The president and I came out and we thought somebody was out there. And it was just Bo. He was playing with his ball.
"He's kind of crazy, but he's still a puppy,'' she said of the six-month-old Portuguese water dog that the Obamas have adopted (gift from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy). "So he likes to play a lot...
"He loves to chew on people's feet," she allowed, to the delight of about 100 children, who had plenty of questions, such as, what does the first lady do with her free moments?
"Well, right now I'm taking care of this puppy,'' she said. "So I'm doing a lot of dog walking and dog training.''
What if Bo were to run away, one child asked.
"I think everyone at the White House would probably help go out and find him," the first lady said, suggesting that the "bubble'' of White House life might be hard for even a freedom-seeking puppy on the South Lawn to burst.
"That's why we're working on training him, so that he doesn't run away and he listens when we call him.,'' she said. "And so far he's doing OK, so we hope we don't have that problem."
Comments
Top dog made the cover of the New Yorker.
Posted by: ornery | April 23, 2009 5:00 PM
Five days w/o a story about Bo - how did you do it?
Have heard about Sarah Palin lately?
Posted by: Terry | April 23, 2009 7:32 PM
Does anyone else think that Mark Silva really, really, really wants Barack Obama to adopt him?
Posted by: John D | April 24, 2009 2:24 PM