Biden gets a new puppy amid a ruff patch for his economic agenda and the COVID pandemic
Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP, Patrick Semansky/AP
- President Joe Biden has adopted a new puppy, a German Shepherd named Commander.
- The Bidens came to the White House with two German Shepherds: Major and Champ, who died at age 13.
- The Bidens have not followed through on their promise to get a cat, who is still in foster care.
President Joe Biden's administration is going through a rough patch with the president's economic agenda on the rocks and a new surge of COVID-19. But it's not all a sad tail in the White House — the Biden family has a new first puppy.
CNN's Kate Bennett first reported news of the pooch on Monday afternoon, with First Lady Jill Biden's spokesman Michael LaRosa confirming the pawsitive development for the Bidens.
The president himself then tweeted a photo and a video of the new pup, a German Shepherd puppy named Commander.
—President Biden (@POTUS) December 20, 2021
—President Biden (@POTUS) December 20, 2021
The Bidens came to the White House in January with their two German Shepherds, Champ and Major. Champ, however, died in June at the age of 13.
Major, the younger of the two dogs, struggled at first with adjusting to life in the White House and received specialized training after being involved in two minor biting incidents that seem to have resolved his initial anxieties.
Before Biden took office, the Bidens also promised that a cat would join the ranks of White House pets.
In a late April interview on NBC's "Today Show," the First Lady said they had selected a cat and she was "waiting in the wings." But the Bidens haven't introduced a feline family member now nearly a year into Biden's first year in office.
In the same interview, the First Lady said Major had already been acclimated to cats ahead of time.
"That was part of his training, they took him into a shelter with cats and he did fine," she said.
But the First Lady later said in September that the cat's arrival to the White House had been indefinitely delayed, partly due to Major's behavioral issues.
"The cat is still being fostered with somebody who loves the cat," Jill Biden told The New York Times. "I don't even know whether I can get the cat back at this point."
Former President Donald Trump was the first president since Andrew Johnson not to have any White House pets. The Obamas had two Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny, but no cats.
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