Around election time last November, we blogged about one of President Barak Obama’s most important campaign promises. He promised his daughters, Malia and Sasha, that he would buy them a puppy after the election.

The story piqued our interest because in a widely reported quotation the President said that the dog had to be hypoallergenic, because his daughter Malia suffers from allergies. This past weekend the President fulfilled his promise. The White House announced that the Obama family has welcomed a Portuguese water dog named “Bo” into the family.

Portuguese water dogs have a single-layered coat and the dogs do not shed. This means that their presence in the home may be tolerated better by allergy sufferers. Any person with dog allergies should definitely spend time with any animal before purchasing to test whether or not the dog negatively affects them.

According to the book, The Complete Portuguese Water Dog, the breed is first recorded in history in 1297 A.D. The dog was described in a monk’s report about a drowning sailor who had been pulled from the seas by a dog with a “black coat, the hair long and rough, cut to the first rib and with a tail tuft.”

To see a picture of the new First Dog and to read about some of the intrigue behind the release of the puppy story to the media, check out this article from USA Today.