When Barak Obama was elected US president, he promised his family a dog for the White House. Since then he has confirmed the pet of choice will be a Portuguese water dog.
Portuguese water dogs are a rare breed in the UK. Similar to poodles, the dogs once existed along Portugal’s coast where they were trained to carry out fishing duties including herding fish towards nets, retrieving lost tackle and broken nets and acting as couriers from ship to ship.
To find out more about the rare breed of dog the five thirty show is joined on the sofa by water dog Finn and his owner Graham Ross along with dog whisperer Elaine Henley.
Henley maintained the Portuguese water dog will be a good pet for the White House family if they care for him correctly.
“I think it will be a good dog for the Obamas as long as they provide the dog with plenty of exercise and, being a working dog, he will need company. He is not going to be a dog that will enjoy being left on his own,” said Henley.
Owner of water dog Finn, Ross admitted his choice of the rare breed was down to his wife.
“She said if she couldn’t have a handsome husband, she would at least have a good-looking dog,” he joked.
“We chose him because he is fun, energetic, a good swimmer and he is very, very friendly with dogs and with people,” he added.
Although a water dog, Ross had to teach Finn how to swim using a dog life jacket which provided assistance after sinking on his first attempt. After two lessons, however, Ross confirmed Finn had found his calling and lives up to his name.
