After serving as vice-president, President Biden needed no settling-in period to adapt to life at the White House.
Champ, the Bidens’ 12-year-old German shepherd, has also spent most of his life in Washington but the same is not true of Major, a three-year-old German shepherd the Bidens adopted as a puppy, who has bitten two people at his new home.
Michael LaRosa, Jill Biden’s press secretary, told CNN: “Major will undergo some additional training to help him adjust to life in the White House.”
Last month a Secret Service agent was examined by White House medics after a brush with Major. The president described his pet as a sweet dog, loved by “85 per cent of people” at the White House. He emphasised that he had not broken his victim’s skin.
Less than three weeks later, however, Major nipped a member of the National Park Service in the White House grounds. LaRosa said no injury was caused but the dog’s behaviour was deemed unpredictable.
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At his inauguration Biden said he understood that “many Americans view the future with some fear and trepidation”. After Major’s retraining the hope is White House staff will no longer be among them.