New pictures have emerged which show Joe Biden’s German Shepherd, Commander biting yet another White House staffer just as presidential sources tried to lay the blame for the animal’s aggressive behavior on Secret Service agents.
White House sources on Monday made the assertion that Commander targets members of the president’s security detail because of their ‘unfriendly expressions.’
Now DailyMail.com can reveal that the two-year-old German Shepherd bit another member of staff barely two weeks ago.
The staff member, Dale Haney, 71, is not part of Biden’s security team and was simply playing with the dog.
The images obtained by DailyMail.com, show the dog sinking his teeth into the arm of lanyard-wearing Haney, the superintendent of the White House grounds, in the White House gardens on September 13.
The moment was captured by a tourist in the White House gift shop who unwittingly caught the bite on camera while taking pictures of the dog.
The visitor who asked not to be named recalled: ‘I was really just wanting to take pictures of the dog, it’s the next best thing to seeing the president after all.
‘Commander was bouncing around. He seemed very lively, high spirited and playful. He’s a good-looking dog.
‘I only realized he had actually bitten the groundskeeper who was out there with him later when I saw the picture with his teeth quite clearly round the man’s wrist and arm.’
Hane, who has worked at the White House for more than 50 years often walks presidential pets on the grounds, starting with Richard Nixon’s Irish Setter King Timahoe.
A photo agency issued a picture of him walking Commander in August last year.
The attack has come to light just days after reports surfaced that the presidential pet bit a Secret Service Agent last Monday in an incident that saw the agent seek medical attention.
At the time it was reported as the two-year-old German Shepherd’s 11th known biting incident.
Today, DailyMail.com can reveal it to be the 12th.
And while White House sources have placed blame on the president’s protectors and claimed that ‘everyone loves’ Commander who is ‘always so friendly’, the victim on this occasion was not a gun-carrying member of the president’s security detail but a groundskeeper.
The witness said: ‘Perhaps it was meant as a playful nip but that’s a big dog to be behaving like that. To me that’s a bite.’
The most serious of Commander’s attacks took place in November 2022 when an officer was hospitalized after the animal clamped down on their arms and thighs.
Emails obtained by conservative group Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that the incident was one of ten to take place in a four-month period.
It happened just one month after staff warned of the danger of attack after First Lady Jill Biden ‘couldn’t regain control’ of the animal as it charged a member of Secret Service staff.
‘I believe it’s only a matter of time before an agent/officer is attacked or bit,’ the staff member warned in an email sent in October 2022.
White House officials said in July that the Bidens were working through new training and leashing protocols for the family pet following the incidents.
Speaking last week Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for the first lady, said in a statement: ‘The First Family continues to work on ways to help Commander handle the often-unpredictable nature of the White House grounds.’
Rehome the dog and put down Joe.
Anybody else and that dog would have been put down, as a First Family & ” Commander” in Chief.” I know for sure I didn’t vote for you and God bless America.
Hes a biter, won’t be anything else.
I’m 63. I’ve trained mostly German Shepherds and Border Collies for over 30 years. Folks won’t like this, but that animal, less than 3 years old, that has 12 recorded aggression/bites without command, should gently be put down. Some dogs, for whatever reason, can’t distinguish between a child and a stuffed animal.
This is an owner problem not a dog problem! He’s biting from high anxiety, and lack of training, joe doesn’t deserve an animal if he can’t or won’t treat it properly!