Biden’s Dog Caused ‘Minor Injury’ at White House: Psaki

Biden’s Dog Caused ‘Minor Injury’ at White House: Psaki
Major, one of the family dogs of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, explores the South Lawn after on his arrival from Delaware at the White House in Washington on Jan. 24, 2021. (Adam Schultz/White House via Reuters)
Zachary Stieber
3/9/2021
Updated:
3/9/2021

One of President Joe Biden’s dogs last week caused an injury to a person, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed on Tuesday.

Major, the family’s younger dog, “was surprised by an unfamiliar person, and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury to the individual, which was handled by the White House medical unit with no further treatment needed,” Psaki said.

CNN had reported, citing unnamed sources, that Major bit a member of White House security, triggering the removal of both the dog and the Biden’s second German Shepherd to their home in Delaware.

Psaki said the dogs’ relocation was previously planned.

A dog bed leans against the South wall of the White House near the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on March 9, 2021. (Tom Brenner/White House via Reuters)
A dog bed leans against the South wall of the White House near the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on March 9, 2021. (Tom Brenner/White House via Reuters)

“It had been previously planned already for the dogs to be cared for by family friends in Delaware during Dr. Biden’s travels to military bases this week,” she said, referring to First Lady Jill Biden.

“She has a three day trip this week, and the dogs will return to the White House soon,” Psaki added. The dogs, she said, “are still getting acclimated and accustomed to their surroundings and new people.”

The president moved the dogs into the White House shortly after he was sworn into office on Jan. 20. Biden posed with the dogs in a recent Oval Office photograph, which was captioned, “Not many people have Oval Office walk-in privileges. Happy to report that these two are on the list.”

The Bidens adopted Major from the Delaware Humane Association in 2018.