During the election night Barack Obama said that he had promised their two girls a dog after the election and was to fulfill this promise as they had earned it.
President Obama said the new puppy must meet two prerequisites.
They wanted it to be a rescued dog such as one from a shelter and the Obama dog had to be hypoallergenic as their daughter Malia had allergies.
On Sunday the 12th of April 2009, Obama accepted a six month-old Portuguese water dog named Bo as a gift from Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, ending months of debate about the best "hypoallergenic" breed for his family: Labrador or Portuguese water dog.
Bo's breeders happen to have bred Senator Edward Kennedy's Portuguese water dogs.
Bo the Obama dog was given up by his first owner as a poor fit and is now with his second owners, the Obamas, but never spent time in a shelter or with a rescue group, Bo is a "quasi-rescue dog," says Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of The Humane Society of the United States.
Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama said Bo the Obama dog is a gift to the Obamas' daughters, Malia and Sasha, from the Kennedys as they helped to line up Bo with Obamas.
"This breed possesses a lot of energy, so without training or a job to do, the Obama dog may entertain itself by running full-speed down the West Wing or barking at Republicans," said animal behaviourist Mary Burch of the American Kennel Club.
Cesar Millan, host of the National Geographic Channel's "The Dog Whisperer" and co-founder with his wife of a non-profit foundation to help abused dogs said Bo could be considered rescued, since he was removed from a situation that wasn't working.
"To help Bo the Obama dog settle in, the Obamas should walk him a lot in the early days to bond with him, drain his energy and make him hungry for his meals", Millan said.
That will give the dog a routine and help him see that the family is the source of his food, and he has to work for it, he said.
Conspiracy buffs might speculate that Bo the Obama dog was meant for the Obamas all along.
Was his adoption engineered to look like a rescue, or at least blur the line to head off criticism that the Obamas had picked a purebred from a breeder? Bo the Obama dog.