It’s a short trip from the White House to the doghouse.

Commander, the latest presidential pet to make headlines for his biting behavior, is following in the pawprints of many four-legged dwellers banished from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The 2-year-old German shepherd with a history of nipping Secret Service agents is “not presently on the White House campus,” the White House said Thursday. The Secret Service doesn’t have a complete tally of incidents, an agency spokesperson said. Commander was removed while the family evaluates next steps.

The Bidens’ other dog, Major, also a German shepherd, was sent to Delaware in 2021 for biting issues of his own.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden “remain grateful for the patience and support of the U.S. Secret Service and all involved, as they continue to work through solutions,” according to Elizabeth Alexander, the communications director for the first lady.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say where Commander had been taken.


The Bidens’ other German shepherd, Major, was sent to Delaware in 2021 for biting issues of his own.

Jean-Pierre said she had never been bitten by him. “I’ve seen Commander many times. I was never worried,” she said.

For all the joy presidential pets have brought to White House families, they have also created their share of drama.

During Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, from 1901 to 1909, the White House was home to six children and a menagerie of pets—including a hyena, a lion cub and a badger that, according to the president’s son, never bit faces, only legs.

The badger was given to Roosevelt at a presidential speech, according to Andrew Hager, historian-in-residence for the Presidential Pet Museum.

“The badger did bite Roosevelt once, but he thought it was fun,” Hager said. “Although eventually, it had to go to a zoo.”

Roosevelt also had a dog, Pete, which killed four squirrels, distressing the family. Pete made a name for himself by nipping and chasing White House staff, police officers and visiting dignitaries.

Pete chased down a French ambassador and tore the man’s pants, said Hager. That earned him a trip to a Virginia farm for retraining. When Pete returned, he chased down a Naval officer. That got him permanently decamped to the family estate at Sagamore Hill in New York.


Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most famous dog, Fala, is immortalized in a bronze statue on the National Mall. PHOTO: GEORGE SKADDING/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most famous dog, Fala, was a Scottish terrier immortalized in a bronze statue that sits in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. U.S. soldiers during World War II would ask for the name of FDR’s dog as a password.

Roosevelt had other pets who weren’t as well-behaved, said Hager, who wrote “All-American Dogs: A History of Presidential Pets from Every Era,” published last year.

One of them was a German shepherd, coincidentally named Major, who tore the British Prime Minister’s pants while trying to bite him, said Hager. Another Roosevelt dog, this one belonging to his wife, chomped a reporter on the nose during a White House press briefing.

Dwight Eisenhower had a Weimaraner that got sent to the family farm in Gettysburg, Pa., after urinating on a rug then worth $20,000, according to Hager.


President Dwight Eisenhower’s pet dog, Heidi, a Weimaraner breed, lived at the White House before being sent to the family farm in Gettysburg, Pa. PHOTO: WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Barney Bush the Scottish terrier had his own website and appeared in Bush family holiday videos but was called ‘a real jerk.’ PHOTO: HARAZ N. GHANBARI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Barney Bush, the Scottish terrier who kept George W. Bush company in the White House, had a website, Barney.gov, viewable today in archived form. He appeared in holiday videos from the first family—even though Jenna Bush Hager, Bush’s daughter, said Barney “was a real jerk.”

Barney was caught on video in November 2008 biting the finger of a Reuters reporter who knelt down to pet the dog, who was on a walk.

John F. Kennedy had ponies. Calvin Coolidge had a raccoon, according to historian Andrew Hager, who is not connected to the Bush family. Bill Clinton kept a black-and-white cat named Socks, who was less than pleased when the family later adopted a chocolate lab named Buddy.

“Cats tend to go off on their own and don’t get trotted out for press briefings,” said Hager. “It’s not that they don’t commit bad behavior, it’s that it’s often unseen.”


Socks, the Clinton family cat, in the White House briefing room. PHOTO: MARCY NIGHSWANDER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In 2009, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy and his wife gave a six-month-old Portuguese water dog to the Obama family as a companion for Malia and Sasha, then young girls growing up in the White House. That dog, Bo, wasn’t problematic, but Hager said it was rumored their second Portuguese water dog, Sunny, had an accident outside of an office being used by former President Barack Obama.

There are plenty more anecdotal tales of White House animals behaving badly, but it isn’t always possible to know if they are true, he said.

“There’s probably a lot more funny stories than bad ones. But the good pets don’t make a lot of news,” Hager said.


The Obama family had Portuguese water dogs Bo and Sunny in the White House. PHOTO: PETE SOUZA/THE WHITE HOUSE/ZUMA PRESS
Catherine Lucey contributed to this article.

LINK:
https://www.wsj.com/politics/b...d_pos1&mod=wknd_pos1

Fucking "misbehaving pets." These dogs are victims of the Bidens who use anything and everything for their purpose. These dogs aren't actually their "pets," they're for checking off the box about having a pet. I feel sorry for the dogs. What the Bidens have allowed to happen s animal abuse in my view.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That is why I posted the pets of the OTHER Presidents who actually care of their pets.

I don’t get it. A dog in the whitehouse is not going to change my opinion of the person. The Bidens are clearly not dog people and that’s perfectly fine.

Just stop with the charade.

If I were the Biden's dog, I'd want to chomp down somebody too. Maybe they should start thinking about a goldfish.

Piaractus brachypomus maybe.

And then there's the correlation between families w/ misbehaved pets also having misbehaved children.

quote:

posted October 06, 2023 03:49 PM Hide Post
I don’t get it. A dog in the whitehouse is not going to change my opinion of the person. The Bidens are clearly not dog people and that’s perfectly fine.

Just stop with the charade.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
The article is NOT about Joe,it is a humorous piece about the role of pets in the WH. FDR's dog played a big role in Fireside chats and I thought the Bush girls comments were hilarious. The variety of pets was impressive.

Don't forget Monica.

The poor decision making ability give one pause.
H m m m

That bites.

Poor doggie was just crying for help to get out of there.

Interesting update on tension between Biden and his USSS detail. It's not just the dog.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...st-things-worse.html