Biden defends Major as 'a sweet dog' just in need of some training

President Biden walks with his dogs Major and Champ in the Rose Garden of the White House.
President Joe Biden walks with his dogs Major and Champ in the Rose Garden of the White House.
White House/White House

President Joe Biden came to the defense of his German shepherd rescue dog Major after he caused what Biden described as "a minor incident" last week at the White House.

Biden said Major, one of his two German shepherds, was just startled in his new home when he caused what the White House called a "minor injury" to someone last week.

"You turn a corner, and there's two people you don't know at all," Biden said in an interview with ABC's “Good Morning America.” "And he moves to protect. But he's a sweet dog. Eighty-five percent of the people there love him. He just — all he does is lick them and wag his tail."

"Major did not bite someone and penetrate the skin," he said.

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The Bidens adopted Major from the Delaware Humane Association in 2018 after first fostering him as a puppy.

The president said “the dog’s being trained now” in Delaware but disputed the idea that the pup was sent away after the incident. He said the dogs went to Wilmington because the first couple was going to be out of town.

“He was going home,” Biden said. “I didn’t banish him to home. Jill was going to be away for four days. I was going to be away for two, so we took him home.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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