The German Shepherd’s aggression toward agents tasked with protecting its owners eventually led to its exile from Washington
Commander, the Biden family dog, bit Secret Service agents tasked with protecting the president and his wife at least 24 times before the canine was sent away from the White House, according to agency documents obtained by CNN on Wednesday.
The German Shepherd became such a workplace hazard it caused the agents to change how they did their job, internal emails show.
“The recent dog bites have challenged us to adjust our operational tactics when Commander is present – please give lots of room,” an assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division wrote in a team-wide email in June, urging recipients to “be creative to ensure our own personal safety.”
Commander was ultimately removed from the White House in September after a well-documented string of biting incidents involving Secret Service agents. However, only 12 such attacks were previously reported.
In November 2022, the dog bit a uniformed division officer’s right arm and thigh so severely he required hospital treatment. In April, an unnamed Secret Service employee filed for traumatic injury compensation with the US Department of Labor, explaining that Commander had “jumped at me and bit me in the left arm,” causing “two puncture marks and the skin was broken with blood present.”
The following month, a special agent informed colleagues that White House staff had been advised that “the pet should not be out on its own.”
Agents working outside the White House were similarly imperiled by the dog, documents show. A special agent from the counter-surveillance unit was bitten on the left forearm while providing security at the president’s Rehoboth Beach home in July, “causing a severe deep open wound,” an email seen by CNN states. “As a result of the attack [redacted] started to loose [sic] a significant amount of blood from [redacted] arm,” requiring six stitches and antibiotics.
The agency was warning its officers about the danger posed by the First Pet as far back as October 2022, when an unnamed technician wrote that he was “worried about the family pets [sic] behavior escalating and that… something worse was going to happen to others.”
As the attacks multiplied, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi asked the agency’s media team to start “crafting potential public responses” for reporters’ questions in July.
An inside source told CNN that the Bidens were “heartbroken” over the harm their “overprotective” dog had caused, insisting they had repeatedly “tried to work on it” with behavioral trainers and vets before finally sending the dog to live with family.
Major, another Biden family German Shepherd, was also sent away from the White House in 2021 after several biting incidents, despite attempts at “training” the dog.
