WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s dog, Commander, is “not on the White House campus at this time.” a series of biting incidents White House staff and US Secret Service officials were involved, a spokeswoman for First Lady Jill Biden said late on Wednesday.
Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, said Biden and his wife care deeply about the safety of White House staff and those who protect them every day.
“They continue to be grateful for the patience and support of the U.S. Secret Service and everyone involved as they continue to work toward solutions,” she said in an emailed statement, adding: “Commander is not on White’s campus at this time House while the next steps are there.”
Alexander did not say where the dog was sent. The two-year-old German Shepherd was last seen on an upper balcony of the White House on Saturday.
The statement came hours after White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked at Wednesday’s daily press briefing about a new allegation that Commander bit a White House staffer.
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Jean-Pierre referred questions to the first lady’s office, which said that Commander and Dale Haney, the chief groundskeeper at the White House, were playing and that there was no skin in an incident that was photographed by a tourist and shared with a news organization had been injured. who published the picture online.
Commander has been involved in a number of biting incidents, most recently on September 25th. A uniformed intelligence officer was bitten at the White House that night and was treated at the scene by medical personnel, USSS communications chief Anthony Guglielmi said.
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 commanders deal with the often unpredictable nature of the White House grounds.”
The purebred German Shepherd has bitten or otherwise attacked According to Department of Homeland Security records, intelligence attacks occurred at least 10 other times between October 2022 and January, including one incident that required a hospital visit for the injured police officer.
Commander is the second of Biden’s dogs in the White House to behave aggressively, including biting Secret Service and White House employees. Finally they sent the first dog, a German Shepherd named Significantto live with friends in Delaware after these incidents.
The Secret Service provides security for the president and his family, and many of its officers are stationed around the mansion and extensive grounds.
Commander was a gift from his brother James to Biden in December 2021. The family also has a cat, pasture.
