Post scooped in Obama pup debut

The Washington Post has had plenty of scoops over the years. But over the weekend, the paper of Woodward and Bernstein lost out to a previously unknown website on a warm and fuzzy White House exclusive.

Pictures of the Obama family's new dog were unveiled not by the Post, which says it had been promised the first look at the presidential pooch, but on a site called http://firstdogcharlie.com.

The firstdogcharlie site ran pictures of the Obama’s 6-month-old Portuguese water dog on Saturday morning, along with word that the dog had been given to Malia and Sasha Obama by Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.

Puppy pix

On Sunday morning, the Post ran side-by-side pictures on its front page of the firstdogcharlie’s images of the presidential dog and one from official White House photographer Pete Souza. The photos appeared to be identical: a cute pup with a black head and white paws wearing multicolored Hawaiian lei.

The Post said it was had been promised an exclusive on the dog --- which the Obama daughters have named Bo – after losing an exclusive on Mrs. Obama’s plans to build a vegetable garden on the White House lawn to the New York Times.

Secret no longer

On Saturday evening, a White House aide told the Associated Press that the dog had not moved into the White House. The Post story said the puppy was being trained by Senator Kennedy's dog trainers. It reportedly behaved well on a secret visit to the White House to meet the family.

When reporters asked President Obama Friday when the dog would be arriving, he replied, “Oh man. Now that’s top secret.”

No word on whether the Post now gets an exclusive on Bo digging in Michelle's garden.