Puppy’s origins raising questions

The twists and turns of the Portuguese water dog’s route to the White House make for the kind of intrigue that political junkies and the highly opinionated dog world delight in.

Barack Obama said during the presidential campaign that he had promised his two girls a dog after the election.

Obama and his wife repeatedly said they wanted it to be a rescued dog such as one from a shelter.

Enter Bo, a 6-month-old puppy given up by his first owner and matched with the Obamas through his breeders. Because he was a poor fit and is now with his second owners, the Obamas, but never spent time in a shelter or with a rescue group, Bo is a "quasi-rescue dog,” said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of The Humane Society of the United States.

Some might speculate that Bo was meant for the Obamas all along. Was his adoption engineered to look like a rescue — or at least head off criticism that the Obamas had picked a purebred?

The Humane Society’s Pacelle acknowledged that the Obamas never flat-out promised to get a dog from a pound or rescue group. And the society has kind words for Obama on its Web site: "Thanks, Mr. President, for giving a second-chance dog a forever home,” it says.

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