‘Major is still adjusting’: New White House trouble hounds Biden’s dog
Major #Major
President Joe Biden’s dog Major has been involved in a second biting incident at the White House, NBC News has confirmed.
“Major is still adjusting to his new surroundings and he nipped someone while on a walk. Out of an abundance of caution, the individual was seen by the White House Medic Unit and then returned to work without injury,” said Jill Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa.
The incident, which was first reported by CNN, is the second nipping incident for the Bidens’ rambunctious 3-year-old German shepherd. He “nipped” a Secret Service agent’s hand earlier this month.
“No skin was broken,” a Secret Service official said at the time, describing the injury as “extremely minor.”
Afterward, Major and the Biden’s other German shepherd, Champ, 12, briefly returned to the Bidens’ home in Wilmington, Delaware, where Major got some additional training.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Wilmington trip had been planned because Jill Biden was traveling and that it wasn’t punishment for Major.
The president told ABC News in an interview after the first incident that he still thought Major was a good boy who was just having a little trouble acclimating to his new surroundings.
“You turn a corner and there’s two people you don’t know at all,” Biden said. “And he moves to protect. But he’s a sweet dog.”
Major, the first shelter dog to live in the White House, isn’t the first German shepherd named Major to live there.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s dog Major “was known to chase White House maids to the point that they had to use their brooms and dust mops to keep him at bay,” according to the Presidential Pet Museum, and was involved in at least three biting incidents.