The Bidens should not be allowed to have dogs

The title of this article was particularly difficult for me to write because of the amount of time my family has dedicated to animal rescue groups and the large number of dogs we have shared our home with over the decades. So many dogs need and deserve homes, and the chance to live in the lap of luxury that is the President’s palatial estate should be a dream come true for any canine. But the latest news coming out of the White House regarding Joe Biden’s dog Commander has confirmed a very unpleasant reality. The Bidens’ first White House dog, Major, was sent to “live on a farm” after biting multiple people, including Secret Service agents assigned to protect the Commander in Chief. Major was then replaced with another German Shepard named Commander. That dog has now bitten roughly a dozen people that we know of. This led our Townhall colleague Katie Pavilich to pen an opinion piece declaring that “it’s time to put down” Commander.

Earlier this year, government watchdog Judicial Watch revealed Commander, now a fully grown two-year-old German Shepherd, attacked White House personnel at least ten times.

“Judicial Watch announced today that it received 194 pages of records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealing 10 attacks by President Joe Biden’s German Shepherd, Commander, on officers of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) between October 2022 and January 2023,” Judicial Watch released in July. “In several cases, the agents required medical care, including at a hospital.”

This week, it happened again.

The latest bite of a Secret Service agent was severe enough that the officer required medical treatment at the White House medical complex. Karine Jean-Pierre laughed off the incident as simply being a dog “reacting to a stressful environment.” But the problem is obviously much more than that. Eleven or twelve bites in a relatively short period of time is a sign that something is significantly wrong in the animal’s environment. And this is far from normal. Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama all had dogs and we never saw a single report of any of them biting anyone.

I’m going to disagree with Katie Pavlich here, though I always respect her informed opinions on many subjects. It’s true that dangerous dogs are frequently euthanized, but I’ve long argued that society rushes toward euthanization far too quickly in many cases. I will also repeat the commonly held belief in animal care circles that, ‘There are no bad dogs. Only bad owners.’

If we must find someone to blame for Commander’s behavior, the list of suspects is short. This is the fault of Joe and Jill Biden for not properly raising and caring for their dog. If their schedule at the White House is so busy that they can’t spend time with their pet and acclimatize him to life in the Capitol, then they should not have dogs. (For the record, Barack Obama’s dog Bo was frequently seen in the Oval Office while dad was working.)

Sadly, animal care laws in this country are largely toothless (please pardon the word choice) and the needs and rights of dogs are frequently ignored. There is probably no legal mechanism available that could force the Bidens to surrender Commander to a foster home or a shelter. Congress would never consider attempting to make that happen through any sort of legislative measure. And far too much of the media either ignores these stories or laughs them off. They should be able to shame the Bidens into doing the right thing for the sake of their pet, but that’s not going to happen either.

But euthanizing Commander would solve nothing and deliver a literal death penalty to an animal for things that are completely beyond his control. It’s not difficult to raise a dog that won’t randomly bite people. My wife and I have raised ten dogs over the years we’ve been together. There’s never been a period of more than a few months when there wasn’t at least one dog living in our home. (There is a dog sleeping on the couch next to me as I write this.) And in all that time, we have never had a single instance of any of those dogs biting anyone, or really anything other than treats, toys, and the occasional squirrel or (unfortunately) skunk.

Animals who live in loving relationships with their humans and develop a trust of people because they are treated well almost never become aggressive. They are partners in a lifelong relationship, not combatants. (Exceptions may be found in military or police K-9s, but that’s a different situation.) If the Bidens are unable or unwilling to invest their time in that relationship, they should be publicly shamed into surrendering their dog to someone capable of caring for him. Of course, it’s rather amazing to think that they don’t have the time to care for Commander properly when you consider that Biden spends half of his time on vacation.