Few can forget the mostly lighthearted press that swirled around President Obama’s 2008 announcement that the family was looking to get a dog. The rescue world wasted no time in urging Obama to “adopt, not shop,” and the First Family was deluged with suggestions and even offers of dogs by friends, colleagues, and the public.

The ultimate decision regarding the kind of dog, however, was dictated by the allergies of one of the Obama daughters, Malia.

One of the offers that the family received was actually a pretty good one given ten-year old Malia’s sensitivities. The director of the Peruvian Hairless Dog Association, Claudia Galvez, wrote a letter to the White House via the US embassy in Lima, Peru, suggesting that her four month old Perro sin Pelo del Peru puppy (aka Peruvian Hairless/Peruvian Inca Orchid) named “Ears” was ready to move in and make the Oval Office its new home. Upon arrival, however, his name would be changed to “Macchu Pichu” after the Incan citadel set high in the Andes Mountains.

Never one to miss an opportunity to run a poll, AOL conducted one for US citizens asking if Macchu Pichu was the best choice of breed for the First Family. A full 40% of respondents said, “Yes!” while 16% were undecided. In the end, of course, the Obamas got a Portuguese Water Dog named “Bo,” a dog who’d been returned to a breeder in Texas which, from the Obama’s perspective, made it a suitable compromise between a rescue dog and a purebred dog bred by a breeder. Tipping the scales in Bo’s favor was that the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s own PWD came from the same breeder.

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