The dog joined the Biden family as a puppy in December 2021.
US President Joe Biden’s family dog Commander bit a Secret Service agent 24 times at the White House and other locations, the Washington Post reported. CNN. The extent of the chaos the German shepherds inflicted on the president’s bodyguards is documented in U.S. Secret Service files.
A senior agent observed the Secret Service changing its approach and advised officers to “leave plenty of room.” An agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Presidential Protective Division wrote to their team in June 2023, saying: “Recent dog bite incidents have challenged us to adjust our operational strategies in the presence of commanders – please Give plenty of space.” He warned that agents “have to get creative to ensure our own personal safety.”
The warning came months after the dog was removed from the White House after witnessing multiple incidents of biting.
New records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show at least 24 bite incidents between October 2022 and July 2023, involving Secret Service agents on their wrists, forearms, elbows, waists, chests, thighs and Bite on leg. Shoulder. Because the documents only cover the Secret Service and not employees at the White House or Camp David, Maryland, they may not include all incidents of German shepherd bites.
In October 2022, a Secret Service technician said they were “concerned about family pets’ behavior escalating and…worse things happening to other people,” the outlet reported.
In June 2023, an agent was “bitten deeply” on his forearm and had to receive stitches. Bloodstains on the floor in one area of the White House caused tours of the East Wing to be suspended for 20 minutes. Another agent needed six stitches after being bitten on the hand in July. An email said the agent “began to lose significant amounts of blood” after suffering “severe deep open wounds” from the bite.
The commander left the White House in October 2023, a week after an agent required treatment for a serious bite. The dog joined the family as a puppy in December 2021.
Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for First Lady Jill Biden, said in a statement to the media, “The President and First Lady are deeply concerned about the safety of the White House staff and those who protect them every day. Despite the additional dog training, , leashing, working with veterinarians, consulting with animal behaviorists, the White House environment proved too much for the commander to endure. He has been living with other family members since the fall.”
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the incident involving the commander was “considered an on-the-job injury.” “While Secret Service personnel neither handle nor care for the first family’s pets, we continually work with all applicable entities to minimize the adverse impact of the family’s pets,” he said.
