“Major, the younger dog of the Bidens, will undergo additional training to adapt to life in the White House,” Michael LaRosa, Jill Biden’s press secretary, told CNN. “The off-site private training will take place in the Washington DC area and is expected to take several weeks.”
At the time, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the removal of the dogs from the White House was “planned” because of Jill Biden’s itinerary.
“(Champ and Major) are still getting used to their environment and new people,” Psaki said. “Major was surprised by an unknown person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury to the individual.”
Less than three weeks later, CNN reported that Major had bitten another White House worker, this time a member of the National Park Service. This incident was confirmed by LaRosa.
‘Yes, Major set someone in motion. “Out of an abundance of caution, the individual was seen by the White House’s medical unit and then returned to work without injury, ” LaRosa said.
Major is the first shelter dog to live in the White House. Champ, Bidens’ older dog, has been with the Biden family for more than ten years – since December 2008, weeks after Biden became Barack Obama’s vice president. Major was adopted in November 2018, months before Biden announced that he would run for president in 2020.
Psaki said the dogs “will come and go, and it will not be uncommon for them to return to Delaware occasionally, as the president and first lady do regularly.”
Major is not the first rescue animal in the White House. Before Major, there was Yuki, a mixed race left by his owner at a gas station in Texas and rescued by President Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughter Luci. Bill Clinton’s family cat, Socks, was also a rescue.
“Eighty-five percent of the people there like him. He – all he does is lick them and wag his tail,” Joe Biden said. “But … I realize that some people are understandably afraid of dogs.”
The president added: “Major was a rescue puppet. Major did not bite anyone and penetrate the skin.”
CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.