Just A Guy Thing

By now, pretty much the entire world has seen Bo, the Obama’s new Portuguese water dog. But here are ten facts about the first dog you probably didn’t know:

1. The Obama girls have named the dog Bo because they have cousins with a cat of the same name and because Mrs. Obama?s father was nicknamed Diddley, after the late musician Bo Diddley.
2. Though some breeders claim they are a hypoallergenic dog breed, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. However, Portuguese water dogs (PWDs) have a single-layered coat that does not shed and therefore their presence is tolerated extremely well among many people who suffer from dog allergies.
3. Portuguese Water Dogs once existed all along Portugal’s coast, where they were taught to herd fish into fishermen’s nets, to retrieve lost tackle or broken nets, and to act as couriers from ship to ship, or ship to shore.
4. In Portugal, the breed is called C?o d’?gua (pronounced Kown-d’Ahgwa; literally “water dog”). In its native land, the dog is also known as the Portuguese Fishing Dog (C?o Pescador Portugu?s).
5. According to the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America, the breed has two types of coats: the curly coat: “Compact, cylindrical curls, somewhat lusterless. The hair on the ears is sometimes wavy”; and the wavy coat: “Falling gently in waves, not curls, and with a slight sheen.” Looks like the Obamas got the wavy coat.
6. PWDs must be trimmed about every two months. If not, their hair will grow indefinitely, eventually covering their eyes and impeding vision.
7. Portuguese Water Dogs have a multi-octave voice. They tend to be quiet dogs although they will warn when the home is approached, and they will communicate their desires vocally and behaviorally to their owner.
8. While excellent companions to those who understand their needs, Portuguese Water Dogs are not for everyone. Their intelligence and working drive demand consistent attention in the form of regular vigorous exercise and mental challenges.
9. The PWD was a breed on the verge of extinction when, during the 1930s, Vasco Bensaude, a wealthy Portuguese shipping magnate, began to seek out fishermen’s dogs and utilize them in a breeding program to re-establish the breed.
10. Senator Ted Kennedy is the owner of three Portuguese Water Dogs: Splash, Sunny, and Cappy. Splash serves as the fictional narrator in Kennedy’s children’s book called My Senator and Me: A Dog’s-Eye View of Washington, D.C.

photo credit: NY Daily News