Biden’s dog, Commander, has been taken off the White House campus, a spokesperson said.
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President Joe Biden’s dog had to be taken from the White House after it kept biting staff.The German shepherd, Commander, is one of three dogs the Bidens have kept in the White House.Commander has bitten Secret Service staff at least 10 times, records show.
One of President Joe Biden’s dogs, a German shepherd named Commander, has been removed from the White House after a string of biting incidents.
“Commander is not presently on the White House campus while next steps are evaluated,” Elizabeth Alexander, a spokesperson for First Lady Jill Biden, said in a statement to CNN, which first reported Commander’s removal.
Commander has bitten Secret Service staff at least 10 times between October 2022 and January 2023, according to records from the Department of Homeland Security obtained by Judicial Watch.
At least one agent was sent to the hospital in one of these incidents, the records show. An 11th incident in September was reported by CNN.
The outlet, citing unnamed sources, wrote that the two-year-old dog has also bitten other White House workers and resident staff.
Commander’s removal from the White House comes after Biden’s two other dogs, Champ and Major, were reported to have bitten Secret Service staff in 2021.
Champ and Major were moved temporarily to Delaware in early March, before the pair returned to the White House later that month.
After Champ died at the age of 13, the Bidens adopted Commander as a puppy in December 2021. Meanwhile, Major was sent off the White House for good that month.
White House Chief Groundskeeper Dale Haney takes Commander, for a walk at the White House on December 6, 2022. Haney was photographed being bitten by Commander in September.
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The repeated biting incidents have prompted concerns over work safety for White House staff. They have reportedly become a source of strain between the Secret Service and the Biden family.
“We’re beyond the point of worrying about trust being broken. We have to speak up,” an anonymous person close to Biden’s Secret Service detail told CNN, describing the White House work environment as “hostile” and “dangerous.”
A former White House official told Axios they regularly interacted with Commander and Major, and said the Bidens and their top staff “refuse to engage in any problem-solving discussions” regarding the dogs’ behavior.
The White House’s statements to both outlets disagreed with those assessments.
“The President and First Lady care deeply about the safety of those who work at the White House and those who protect them every day,” Alexander told CNN. “They remain grateful for the patience and support of the U.S. Secret Service and all involved, as they continue to work through solutions.”
“The White House is chaotic and really stressful for pets — everyone knows this and have been trying to work through how to make things better and safer for everyone,” a White House official told Axios. “To say that they and their ‘inner circle’ aren’t working on this or are refusing to engage is just not true.”
On the other hand, Politico on Monday quoted two White House staffers saying that Commander is friendly and well-loved by Biden’s staff — and tends to bite only Secret Service agents.
“The White House is just a crazy environment for a dog,” one former White House official told the outlet. “There are enormous men with guns acting suspiciously hostile everywhere.”
The White House’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.