A feature of the Obama White House, Sunny dies at 14

(CNN) — Sunny, the Portuguese water dog who romped into the White House at the start of President Barack Obama’s second term and injected the mansion with playful — at times, too playful — energy, has died. She was 14.

The former first dog’s death was announced on social media by the former president, who described the pet as a “cherished member of our family.” He did not identify the cause of death.

For four years, between 2013 and 2017, Sunny was a regular and rambunctious presence at the executive mansion alongside her companion Bo, another Portuguese water dog the Obamas received as a gift from Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2009.

With their dark curly coats, the dogs made the upper floors of the White House residence their domain, along with the rambling 18-acre campus, where they wrestled on perfectly manicured grass. Sunny accompanied the first family aboard Air Force One on their annual vacations to Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard. In 2015, she even met Pope Francis in the White House Blue Room.

Her personality, at times, took on the roguish energy of a younger sibling. In her memoir, former first lady Michelle Obama described Sunny as “a free-spirited rambler who seemed to see no point in being house-trained, given how big her new house was.”

During a holiday event the year she arrived at the White House, an exuberant Sunny jumped onto a 2-year-old as the first lady tried to restrain the animal on her leash.

The toddler, wearing a glittery red dress, fell gently to the ground. But she was unfazed, and Sunny gave her a gentle lick on the face to make amends.

“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,” the former president remembered on Wednesday.

“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,” he went on.

Sunny, a purebred, was born in 2012 in Michigan. She was purchased from a breeder, rather than adopted from a shelter, but the Obamas made a donation to the Washington Humane Society in Sunny’s name when she arrived as a way to demonstrate support for shelter animals.

When she joined the family, which also included the Obamas two school-aged daughters, they were settling in for another four years in Washington, and looking to jolt their first pet from a spell of dejection.

“Bo was starting to look a little down in the dumps,” Obama told CNN in an interview in 2013. “Sunny, the new dog, she’s only a year old. And the truth is, she’s faster than he is. She jumps higher. She’s friskier.”

He also said house training was a work in progress.

“There have been a couple of accidents,” he said. “We live in rental housing. We didn’t put down a deposit. We’re making sure it gets cleaned up for the next occupant.”

Sunny joined a lengthy legacy of first pets, including George W. Bush’s Scottish terrier Barney, who filmed videos with a camera strapped around his neck; and Bill Clinton’s chocolate Labrador Buddy, who had to be kept separated from the family cat Socks.

The current White House occupant, President Donald Trump, does not have pets.

Sunny’s entry into the family set Michelle Obama into “parenting mode,” the president said in the CNN interview, as her daughters were getting older.

The dogs were deployed for official events at the request of Obama’s communications team — “excellent ambassadors, imperious to criticism and unaware of their own fame,” Michelle Obama wrote in her book.

Sunny was often seen early in the morning being walked around the White House on a leash by Dale Haney, the superintendent of the grounds. She was not shy around reporters or visitors who reached out to pet.

Even after several years living in the rarified quarters, Sunny could still prove feisty. In 2016, the president was still complaining that she left “gifts” for him outside his office in the residence.

“There have been times where she just decided that the area near the Lincoln Bedroom and my office – at the other end of the hall from her crate – is included in being outside when it comes to pooping, which is not true,” Obama told People Magazine. “It’s still the inside. She didn’t always understand that.”

And as the Obamas were preparing to move out in January 2017, the dog reportedly bit an 18-year-old guest in the face, leaving a cut that required stitches.

Sunny and Bo moved with the Obamas to a new home in Washington after their time in the White House ended. The dogs helped the couple adjust to life as empty nesters when their daughters, Malia and Sasha, moved out for college.

Bo passed away in 2021, at the age of 12.

“She was fiercely protective of Bo, who she rightly sensed wasn’t always as alert and attentive as she was,” Obama wrote in his remembrance on Wednesday.

“We will miss her terribly,” he wrote, “and imagine she’s with her big brother now, making sure he’s okay.”

CORRECTION: This story has been update to correct Sunny’s age at time of death.

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