One among President Biden’s canine has bitten a number of Secret Service brokers, and even despatched one to the hospital, a part of a sequence of at the least 10 incidents of “aggressive conduct,” in accordance with inside emails lately obtained by a conservative watchdog group.
The correspondence exhibits that Commander, the practically 2-year-old German shepherd, has struggled to regulate to life on the White Home, the place he arrived in 2021, and Delaware, the place the Bidens personal two houses.
Early in November 2022, as an example, officers on the White Home medical group selected to ship an officer whom Commander had bitten on the arm and thigh to the hospital, in accordance with the emails obtained by Judicial Watch, a Washington-based conservative group.
Only a week later, whereas strolling with Jill Biden, the primary girl, Commander bit an agent on the left thigh. That very same month, one other agent was left “shaken,” in accordance with the emails, when he felt the necessity to hoist up the chair he was sitting on to make use of as a defend when Commander started barking at him from the highest of a White Home staircase.
Six of the incidents had been bites that resulted in some type of medical consideration, in accordance with the emails, which had been despatched between October 2022 and January 2023. Brokers performed down different aggressive incidents by which Commander didn’t puncture pores and skin or was relatively “playful.”
He’s not the primary of Mr. Biden’s canine to misbehave. In March 2021, the Bidens shipped two different canine, Champ and Main, to Delaware for about two weeks of coaching after Main, a shelter canine, had what was described as a “biting incident” with a White Home employees member. Champ died later that yr.
The Bidens have partnered with the Secret Service for “extra leashing protocols and coaching” to rein in Commander, in accordance with Elizabeth Alexander, a White Home spokeswoman.
“The White Home complicated is a novel and sometimes nerve-racking surroundings for household pets, and the primary household is working via methods to make this example higher for everybody,” Ms. Alexander mentioned in a press release.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, mentioned the company isn’t chargeable for coaching the primary household’s canine. Govt residence employees deal with strolling the canine, with brokers sometimes following shut behind, he mentioned.
“Whereas particular brokers and officers neither take care of nor deal with the primary household’s pets, we repeatedly work with all relevant entities to attenuate adversarial impacts in an surroundings that features pets,” he mentioned. It’s unclear how a lot formal coaching Commander has obtained.
The White Home has established designated areas for Commander to run and train. The canine was seen strolling alongside White Home grounds and relieving himself on Tuesday.
“In accordance with the Secret Service, every incident referenced was handled equally to comparable office accidents, with related notifications and reporting procedures adopted,” Ms. Alexander mentioned.
