White House Dog Relocated Following Security Concerns

(HorizonPost.com) – President Biden’s “First Dog” Commander was sent to live with family last year due to a series of at least 24 biting incidents, including some that required medical attention, CNN reported.

Commander was adopted as a puppy in December 2021 not long after the Bidens’ 13-year-old dog Champ passed away. By the time Commander arrived at the White House, the Bidens’ younger dog Major had been “rehoused” after a series of biting incidents involving members of the Secret Service.

However, it wasn’t long before Commander developed a reputation for biting as well.

According to internal US Secret Services documents obtained through a FOIA request, CNN found that the Secret Service was forced to change its procedures somewhat to ensure its personnel avoided getting injured by the dog.

The 24 biting incidents CNN recorded in its report do not include the incidents CNN separately reported during Commander’s less than 2 years at the White House.

In a June 2023 email, the Secret Service agent in charge of the president’s protective detail instructed agents to give Commander “lots of room” to ensure “personal safety.”

The instruction did little to stop the biting incidents and several months later, Commander was sent away to live with family.

The 400 pages of records reviewed by CNN showed the extent of the problem, with Commander routinely taking a bite out of Secret Service officers and protective detail agents in his brief time as First Dog. The incidents recorded in the documents occurred not only at the White House, but also at Camp David, Biden’s Wilmington home, and the Biden family’s Rehoboth Beach vacation home.

One incident even occurred while the Bidens were spending Thanksgiving at the Nantucket home of a friend.

In a statement to CNN, Jill Biden’s communications director Elizabeth Alexander said the First Family had worked with animal behaviorists, veterinarians, and dog trainers to try to correct the problem but the environment at the White House “simply proved too much for Commander” so he was sent to live “with other family members” in the fall.

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