Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz, who was the trainer for First Dog Bo Obama, as well as Splash, Sunny and Cappy Kennedy, passed away at Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton, Virginia. She was 52. Ms. Sylvia-Stasiewicz was the co-author of “The Love That Dog Training Program.”
From today’s Washington Post:
She was leading dog training classes days before her death. After being admitted to the hospital, she went into a coma and died of respiratory distress, her friends said.
Ms. Sylvia-Stasiewicz started training Bo, the Obama family Portuguese water dog, at the suggestion of Vicki Kennedy, the wife of the late Massachusetts Democratic senator. The Kennedy family had sent its three dogs, Splash, Sunny and Cappy, to be trained by her and had been pleased with the results.
“She had a wonderful presence,” Vicki Kennedy said Friday in an interview. “They would instantly look up to her.”
Ms. Sylvia-Stasiewicz worked with the Obama family dog for months before she found out who its intended owners were. Kennedy had only requested that Ms. Sylvia-Stasiewicz observe whether the dog would be suitable for a very busy family with two young daughters.
“I trained and lived with him as he were one of my own,” she told the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star in 2009. “He’s sweet and cuddly, and he pays attention to you.”
Bo was an attentive student who never disappointed Ms. Sylvia-Stasiewicz by messing up the carpet.
“I had not one accident ever,” Ms. Sylvia-Stasiewicz said of Bo and Cappy. “It’s been years since I had one like that – a bladder you would kill for.”
Ms. Sylvia-Stasiewicz’s survivors include a son, Blaise, and a daughter, Paige. We extend our deepest condolences to her entire family.
Photo credit: Evan Sklar, Workman Publications.
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