Commander, President Joe Biden’s dog, has a well earned reputation for biting people, particularly members of the Secret Service detail assigned to protect the president and members of his family. There has been a total of 11 bites that have been reported thus far — who knows how many have gone unreported at this point — one of which actually sent an agent to the hospital to receive treatment. As a result, the German Shepherd has been booted from the White House, as the work environment in the presidential mansion has been said to be “hostile” and “dangerous” with the pub around, according to a source who is close to the Secret Service detail.
Dog trainers weighed in on the situation, informing the Daily Caller that the reason for Commander’s unruly behavior is, at least in part, due to the lack of leadership and direction from the president and his wife, pointing out that only Biden can seemingly control the mutt. Even Commander thinks Biden sucks as a leader. How sad is that?
“I think that’s probably a lot of it, I’d say [the dog] is probably lacking some direction and lacking some good leadership, but I don’t know how conducive that would be, given the environment that he’s in, for it to be successful with this individual dog,” David Tirpak of Miracle K9 Training said in an interview with the Caller. He then stated that German shepherds come under added stress when they are controlled by an someone who is not the original person, like their owner, which in this case is Joe Biden, who they have created a bond with.
via the report:
Because dogs are creatures of “habit and predictability,” the environment of the White House, in addition to having multiple people handle Commander, are most likely contributing to the dog’s behavior, Tirpak added.
Biden’s brother and sister-in-law gifted Commander to the president in December 2021 after the family had just lost or rehoused two German shepherds earlier in the year, The Washington Post reported. The dog isn’t the first German shepherd to be ousted from the White House: Biden’s other dog, Major, was sent to live with some friends after he bit two people within a month in 2021.
Commander is known to have had at least 11 biting incidents, though multiple sources told CNN that Commander has been involved in more than what has been previously revealed by the White House.
The most recent incident involving Commander happened on Monday of this week, though it’s not the most severe injury the dog has inflicted on someone. No, that bite happened in November 2021 when the German Shepherd took a bite out of a Secret Service agent that required treatment at a local hospital. According to information pertaining to the attack, the incident was unprovoked. Commander bit the agent’s arm and thigh, according to a series of emails and other records obtained by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
At one point, a Secret Service officer and First Lady Jill Biden lost control of the dog in October 2022 and Commander “continued to circle” another agent, the emails obtained by Judicial Watch show. Dogs, especially an intelligent and loyal breed such as German shepherds, need to be around the owner with whom they’ve built a connection in order to help their behavior, Tom Davis of Upstate Canine Academy told the Caller.
“President Biden has to be the one that’s going to step up and control the dog,” Davis stated matter-of-factly.
“It’s not only his responsibility, but he’s the one that has the best shot [at controlling the dog]. I mean, everybody knows that when you get a dog, they’re your best friend,” Davis added.
🚨 BREAKING: Joe Biden's dog ‘Commander’ has been removed from the White House after multiple biting incidents, including one caught on camera pic.twitter.com/6l5l7lELq2
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 5, 2023
The kicker here is that they were apparently working with Commander to try and get him to stop with the biting. Obviously it didn’t take. Maybe this dog is just bad news? I mean, let’s be honest. Biden can’t even take care of himself, how is he going to provide the kind of care a dog requires?
After Commander’s first biting incidents, precautions should have been taken sooner to ensure the German shephard stopped his behavior rather than focusing on what could be causing the bites, Ridgeside K9 owner Aaron Taylor told the Caller.
“In this case, we have a protection-based dog who is protective of the environment, obviously territorial, and clearly reactive and will bite for real,” the dog training company owner said. “Okay, now that that’s known, and we have documented history, how are we managing the dog? Why he bites, it doesn’t matter because he will bite.”
The Secret Service even took steps of their own to try and down play incidents by alerting one another via radio about what areas of the grounds to avoid when Commander was outside, while other agents were informed about which entrances they needed to avoid so they wouldn’t come across the hostile pup.
Commander is the way he is because Biden is a terrible leader. The same can be said for America.