True, but very young children also bite, and no one blames them for it in the same way they blame dogs.
I recently looked it up. Champ, he got in 2008, Major, not until 2018.
@MalevolentPixy Yes, exactly. I have a dog my wife and I rescued 8 years ago, when he was 18 months old. He was very anxious, afraid of new people (but not dogs, he’d spent time around a lot of dogs in shelters, though he rarely plays for more than a few seconds and that makes him anxious too), He trusted us almost immediately, and is very smart and trainable, but we really don’t know what his life was like before we got him. (He’s made dramatic strides since then, but it took years of life in a safe and loving environment, lots of training, and prozac, and I still would never bring him to live in the white house and be handled by strangers who aren’t professionals).
When my kid got a rescue dog, he was a bit anxious at first too. So much so my kids mom was worried they couldn’t keep him. But now he’s fine. A very good boi.
Pretty sure Major’s problems can be solved with an actual trainer and some help acclimating to the new environment.
My understanding is that in neither case did Major actually bite someone. Rather, there were grabs that could, in a case of clumsiness, result in a bite, that is, breaking of skin but apparently did not in either case. Grabs, not bites. And grabs are defensive, protective, without the aggression of a bite.
The problem is exacerbated by the White House environment, of course, but also the problem with rescues: One generally knows little of the doggo’s background.
Me, based on my experience with a rescue, I’d be inclined to bringing the Biden puppers back and putting Major on something like Prozac. Seriously.
But more importantly, contra the mainstream coverage, there’s no good reason not to think he’s a good boy.
Even if he did, he would have lived at the VP’s residence which is a different atmosphere and environment. Much smaller, likely much quieter, and fewer people coming in and out.
The South Australian police have found the dachshund to be a groundbreaking companion to the shepherds which might curb your leprechaun issue, given their size:
Actually, that’s a good point I wasn’t even thinking about. For a third of his time with the Bidens, at least, Major probably had very few opportunities to interact and socialize with anyone else. I know that’s true for a lot of other recently adopted dogs, including one my sister got last year.
