WASHINGTON — Sunny, the boisterous Portuguese water dog who spent more than 13 years with the Obama family, died Tuesday, the family announced Wednesday. Born in June 2012, she was 14.
“Yesterday, we lost a cherished member of our family,” former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama wrote in a joint social-media post. The family did not disclose a cause of death.
Sunny arrived at the White House on Aug. 19, 2013, near the beginning of Mr. Obama’s second term. A curly-coated black dog from a breeder in the Great Lakes region of Michigan, she joined Bo, a gift from the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy who had moved into the White House four years earlier. Bo passed away in 2021.
The Obamas called her “a force of nature” in their tribute:
Yesterday, we lost a cherished member of our family.
We got Sunny at the start of our second term in the White House, and all of us – including our first dog, Bo – immediately fell in love. We also had trouble keeping up with her, for Sunny was a force of nature. Athletic and full of boundless energy, she leapt over the hedges on the South Lawn like they weren’t even there, chasing squirrels, birds and anything else that moved. And whereas the way to Bo’s heart usually involved a treat, Sunny was more interested in having us run around with her, roll on the floor with her, or have her belly rubbed for as long as we were willing.
She loved the girls, even if they were pestering her when she was napping. She loved our team, and would often follow them around, helping them on the job. She was fiercely protective of Bo, who she rightly sensed wasn’t always as alert and attentive as she was. She had her eccentricities: other than Bo, she preferred people to dogs; she was a loud and sloppy drinker; and despite being a Portuguese Water Dog, she hated getting wet.
But as far as our family was concerned, she was pretty much perfect, and for thirteen years, she would be by our side – always loyal, always sweet, always ready for adventure, still fiery and gorgeous till the very end of her days.
We will miss her terribly, and imagine she’s with her big brother now, making sure he’s okay.
- Barack and Michelle Obama
In December 2013, Sunny and Bo accompanied Mrs. Obama to Children’s National Medical Center, where the first lady read “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” to young patients.
The dogs’ popularity eventually generated its own administrative demands, including a dedicated subsection on the White House website and official social media accounts.
“I actually have a whole request sheet just for them,” Mrs. Obama said during a 2016 hospital visit. “They are excellent ambassadors. They’re probably the most popular living creatures in the White House.”
Sunny’s high energy antics generated front page headlines when, at a White House holiday party in 2013, she knocked over a 2-year-old girl.
The girl was unhurt, according to contemporaneous reporting.
Photographs shared Wednesday showed her across the years: on the White House grounds, stretched out beside family members and receiving attention from the pope.
For all that public familiarity, the Obamas presented Sunny’s death as a private family loss. She had remained, they wrote, “always loyal, always sweet, always ready for adventure.”
“We will miss her terribly, and imagine she’s with her big brother now, making sure he’s okay,” Mr. Obama wrote.
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