First Dog confirmation goes on; Portuguese water dog leads

Thursday, February 26. Having been promised to them more than three months ago, Sasha and Malia Obama are moving a little closer to knowing what sort of dog they will be looking after in the White House. Their mum, First Lady Michelle Obama, told People magazine that she was fully in favour of selecting a rescued Portugese water dog as America's 'First Mutt'.

But though the revelation was widely reported as meaning it would definitely be a PWD that had the honour of trotting around the corridors of power, White House aides have since said the Obama family has not yet ruled out the labradoodle breed. Michelle Obama's press secretary said yesterday: "They have not selected a breed... Mrs Obama likes the Portuguese water dog, but she is only one of four votes.''

Because of Malia's allergy, the choice of dog is limited (though hairless Peruvian breeds were suggested) and in January it was announced that there were just two types of dog left in the race: a labradoodle or a PWD. With the backing of the First Lady, the PWD does now seem to have crept into the lead but aside from the type of dog, the Obamas are now having trouble deciding on what name to give the new pet when it arrives in April after Sasha and Malia's spring break.

"Oh, the names are really bad. I don't even want to mention it, because there are names floating around and they're bad," the First Lady told People. "Frank was one of them. Frank! Moose was another one of them. Moose. I said, well, what if the dog isn't a moose? Moose. I'm like, no, come on, let's work with the names a little bit."

LAST UPDATED 11:29 AM, FEBRUARY 26, 2009