President Joe Biden’s German shepherd dog has been removed from the White House after biting several US Secret Service and White House staff.
The two-year-old dog, named Commander, is “not presently on the White House campus” following at least 10 biting incidents, a spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden said on Wednesday.
The dog most recently bit a uniformed Secret Service officer on September 25 and they were treated at the White House by medical personnel.
President Biden and Jill care deeply about the safety of White House staff and those who protect them every day, Elizabeth Alexander said.
“They remain grateful for the patience and support of the US Secret Service and all involved, as they continue to work through solutions,” she told AP.
“Commander is not presently on the White House campus while next steps are evaluated”.
It is unclear where the dog has been sent. Commander was last seen Saturday on an upper balcony of the White House.
The statement came hours after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked at her briefing on Wednesday about another allegation that Commander had bitten a White House staffer.
Jean-Pierre referred questions to the first lady’s office, which said Commander and Dale Haney, the head groundskeeper at the White House, were playing and that no skin was broken in an incident that was photographed by a tourist and shared with a news organisation, which published the image online
After the September 25 incident, Ms Alexander said at the time that “the White House can be a stressful environment for family pets” and that the Bidens were continuing to “work on ways to help Commander handle the often unpredictable nature of the White House grounds.”
The German shepherd purebred has bit or otherwise attacked Secret Service personnel at least 10 other times between October 2022 and January.
In one incident an injured law enforcement officer required hospital treatment, according to records from the Department of Homeland Security.
Commander is the second of Biden’s dogs at the White House that behaved aggressively.
They eventually sent the first dog, a German shepherd named Major, to live with friends in Delaware after those incidents.
The Secret Service provides security protection for the president and his family, and scores of its officers are posted around the executive mansion and its sprawling grounds.
Commander was a gift to Biden in December 2021 from his brother James. The family also has a cat named Willow.
