First Dog Bo will not join President Obama and his family on their Hawaiçi vacation, which begins tomorrow, the state Department of Agriculture confirmed today.

State Veterinarian Dr. James Foppoli had emailed the White House about Hawaiçi’s strict anti-rabies quarantine rules in anticipation of a visit by the famous Portuguese water dog, said Janelle Saneishi, spokeswoman for the state Deptartment of Agriculture.
A military liaison later told the department that Bo will not make the trip, Saneishi said today.
Bo would have faced two options if he had come — 120 days in quarantine in the Agriculture Department’s Halawa facility, or two rounds of veterinarian-monitored rabies vaccinations and a blood test followed by a 120-day waiting period on the Mainland.
Had Bo joined the First Family in their beachfront vacation home in Kailua, he also would have been subject to Hawaiçi’s sometimes contradictory leash laws.
City ordinances require dogs to be leashed on Kailua Beach — and their owners to clean up their feces. But the state Department of Land and Natural Resources — which has jurisdiction over the ocean — allows dogs to swim in the water without leashes, Laura Stevens, DLNR’s education and outreach coordinator, said today.