President Joe Biden advised to train unruly dog Commander after 11th biting incident

The US President has been advised to take a little time to train his unruly dog after the 11th biting incident.

President Biden with Commander, who has been involved in 11 biting incidents. Picture: Alamy/The Times

US President Joe Biden has been advised to take a little time every day to train his unruly dog Commander and introduce him properly to White House staff and visitors after an 11th biting incident.

The German shepherd, which arrived at the White House as a puppy almost two years ago, bit a uniformed Secret Service officer this week. Previously one agent was so badly bitten he was sent to hospital for treatment.

Kent Boyles, one of America’s top German shepherd breeders and trainers, advised the Bidens to control the dog’s environment more closely and not allow him to run loose, where he could encounter strangers.

“They are probably the most trainable dog in the world,” Boyles, 58, said. Whatever was triggering Commander to bite, he added, a key obedience exercise was to train him to drop down on command and return to his handler.

Boyle said the ability to stop and recall a charging dog was an essential part of police dog training – and German shepherds made great service dogs because of their trainability.

Biden in 2018 with his other dog, Major, who has also bitten several White House staff. Picture: AP

“That’s your safety switch,” Boyles, from Wisconsin, said. “You have to be able to ‘down’ that dog and then call him back towards you; you have to have a recall so that the dog knows he’s got to stop and come back, no matter what’s going on, even if he’s running full speed. They will need help with a professional to get that accomplished.”

Boyles said that progress could be made with a couple of 15-minute training sessions every day that the dog would view as playtime. Another important exercise was to familiarise the dog with visitors so it did not feel that it had to guard its territory against them.

“If the same people are coming over all the time, you could set the dog up for some exercises and conditioning so that when the person comes over, instead of the dog feeling like he’s got to play watchdog and start reactive behaviour, if the stranger comes over to play and feed the dog then he starts to look forward to it.”

The Times