The Obama family has said goodbye to Sunny, its Portuguese water dog and companion for 13 years, closing a warm chapter that began in the White House.
An Obama.org remembrance says the family marked Sunny’s passing on Sept. 15, 2026. It does not identify where she died or disclose the circumstances.
Sunny joined Barack and Michelle Obama during his second presidential term. She soon became part of family life alongside Bo, the Obamas’ first dog, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha.
Barack Obama described the family’s first reaction to Sunny:
“We got Sunny at the start of our second term in the White House, and all of us, including our first dog, Bo, immediately fell in love.”
The Obama family’s life with dogs began with a promise Barack Obama made to his daughters after his 2008 campaign: “You have earned the puppy that is coming with us!” Sunny arrived later and became, in his words, “the perfect little sister for Bo.”
For readers more familiar with Obama’s current policy agenda, the remembrance offers a look at a quieter part of the former president’s family life. Sunny brought what the family described as warmth and energy to both the White House and their home.
Obama said Sunny loved Malia and Sasha, “even if they were pestering her when she was napping.” She also played with Sasha and Bo on the White House South Lawn.
But Sunny and Bo were more than household pets. They became familiar faces at White House events, including the annual Easter Egg Hunt, and drew requests from visitors who hoped to meet them.
Michelle Obama explained the level of interest during a 2016 speech at Children’s National Health System:
“I actually have a whole request sheet just for them...in my daily briefing book, you get a whole set of requests -- ‘can Bo and Sunny take pictures with this group, and this ambassador is coming in and they made a request to see Sunny and Bo,’”
In 2014, Sunny played in the White House Map Room with Jayla Raymond, an 8-year-old visually impaired singer from Louisiana. Michelle Obama had learned of the child’s wish to meet the first lady, and Jayla received an invitation during the Christmas season.
A year later, Sunny and Bo greeted Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to the Oval Office. White House photographer Pete Souza captured an image of Sunny waiting to be petted by the pope.
Souza later celebrated Sunny’s life on Instagram:
“She was a willing subject, and has the rare distinction of being petted by both a President and a Pope,”
Obama’s public comments to activists often draw political debate. Sunny’s place in his public life was simpler: She gave visiting children, diplomats and White House guests a shared point of affection.
Those encounters also showed why presidential pets can matter beyond ceremony. A dog needs no political introduction. For a child entering the White House, time with Sunny could turn an imposing visit into a personal one.
Bo died in 2021 after a cancer diagnosis, leaving the family without the dog Sunny had joined years earlier. The remembrance does not provide Sunny’s birth date or say whether the stated 13 years refers to her age, her time with the family, or both.
It also leaves private the cause and setting of Sunny’s death. What the family chose to share instead was the record of a faithful dog who moved with ease between family rooms and formal White House events.
Barack Obama closed his tribute by remembering the qualities that lasted through Sunny’s final days:
“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.”
That tribute adds another personal chapter alongside Obama’s other recent family reflections. This one needs no political argument. It concerns the familiar grief of losing a dog that had become part of the household.
Politics divides Americans. Loyalty, family and the loss of a faithful companion still speak a language nearly everyone understands.