WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are mourning the death of Sunny, the Portuguese Water Dog who spent 13 years with their family and became one of the most recognizable presidential pets of the modern White House era. The Obamas announced the loss Wednesday, saying Sunny died Tuesday, Sept. 15, at age 13. They described her not simply as a former White House dog, but as a cherished member of their family.
Sunny joined the Obama household in August 2013, during the former president’s second term. She arrived as a companion for Bo, the family’s first Portuguese Water Dog, and quickly became part of daily life for Barack and Michelle and their daughters, Malia and Sasha. The Obama Foundation said the entire family — including Bo — immediately fell in love with her.
But Sunny was never merely Bo’s quieter sidekick. Obama remembered her as a “force of nature,” an athletic dog with seemingly endless energy who raced around the South Lawn, jumped over hedges and chased squirrels, birds and nearly anything else that moved. While Bo could often be persuaded with food, Sunny preferred something different: attention, games, belly rubs and getting the people around her to play.
That personality made Sunny a familiar presence during the family’s White House years. She appeared at public events, roamed the grounds and was photographed alongside Bo and members of the first family. In 2015, both dogs were even present when Pope Francis visited the Oval Office, becoming part of one of the many memorable images from Sunny’s years in Washington.
Behind the public photographs, however, the Obamas remembered the smaller details that made Sunny unmistakably theirs. She loved Malia and Sasha, even when they disturbed her naps, and she regularly followed White House staff members as they worked. She was also fiercely protective of Bo, appearing to recognize as he aged that her older canine companion needed her looking out for him.
Sunny also had quirks that became part of the family’s memories. Despite being a Portuguese Water Dog, she reportedly hated getting wet. The Obamas remembered her as a loud and messy drinker who generally preferred people to other dogs — with the important exception of Bo.
Bo died in May 2021 at age 12 after battling cancer, leaving Sunny as the family’s remaining companion from their White House years. His death prompted an outpouring of condolences at the time, but Sunny remained with the family for another five years, carrying forward a connection to a period when the two dogs had become almost inseparable from the public image of the Obama household.
The family’s latest tribute focused less on Sunny’s fame than on what 13 years of companionship meant privately. They remembered her as loyal, sweet and continually ready for another adventure, saying she retained her spirited personality through the end of her life. No cause of Sunny’s death has been publicly announced.
For millions of Americans who watched the Obama daughters grow up in the White House, Sunny and Bo became familiar figures in family portraits, holiday events and photographs from the South Lawn. For the Obamas, though, Sunny’s importance was far simpler: she was the dog who followed them from an extraordinary chapter of public life into the quieter years that followed.
Now, after 13 years, that chapter has ended too. In perhaps the most emotional line of their farewell, the Obamas said they imagine Sunny reunited with Bo, “making sure he’s okay.
