Not everyone is a fan of the First Dogs, and the incidents have raised concerns
President Biden’s dog has bitten his Secret Service agents at least 10 times, according to a report from a conservative watchdog group.
The dog, a 22-month-old male German shepherd called Commander, has been given “additional leashing protocols” following the biting incidents, said The Times.
One unlucky agent even required “a hospital visit”, the newspaper added.
Details of the dog’s behaviour were first obtained by Judicial Watch, who “forced the release of the records” using a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, following a “tip about the dog’s behaviour”.
Commander was a “gift from Biden’s brother James” in 2021, said Forbes. The dog has been viewed as a “smaller and friendlier” version of the Bidens’ former dog, Major, who was “banished from the White House” after “numerous biting episodes”, The Guardian added.
The communications director for First Lady Jill Biden described the White House as an “often stressful environment for family pets”. She suggested the dog would receive more training to “make this situation better for everyone”.
However, the Biden dogs are not the first presidential pooches to be involved in such incidents.
George Bush’s dog, Barney, a Scottish terrier, “wasn’t much in the mood for friendly attention” back in 2008, when he bit Reuters reporter Jon Decker, the Los Angeles Times reported. And a teenage friend of Malia Obama “was left bloodied and scarred” in 2017, said the Daily Mail, after being bitten on the cheek by the family’s Portuguese water dog, Sunny.
