The Secret Service had to adjust its tactics to avoid bites from Biden's dog

The 273 pages of emails and documents, with names redacted, sheds new light on a period that caused great stress in the White House before Commander, then 2 years old, was removed from the mansion. A previous presidential dog, Major, was moved from the White House two years earlier for similar reasons.

The cache of emails not only documented several episodes in sometimes graphic detail, but also captured the trauma and anxiety among Secret Service agents and officers, who shared techniques for the best ways to avoid getting hurt. Secret Service personnel were bitten on the wrist, forearm, elbow, waist, chest, thigh and shoulder. One was saved from injury by his ammunition pouch. Among the documents was a photo of a torn shirt.

“I was shocked that the incident occurred,” wrote a special agent, who was attacked while holding the door open for the president on Oct. 2, 2022, as Mr. Biden took the commander to the South Lawn. The dog grabbed the officer's left arm and stood on its hind legs. “He is literally my height,” the officer wrote. Fortunately, a doctor found no stab wound. “After this, I became concerned that he would leave the home or go out without a leash for the safety of others and mine.”

Another officer was not so lucky. On June 15, 2023, the commander ran up to the officer and lunged at him, causing a “deep bite” to the left arm that reportedly required stitches. “East Wing Tours was shut down for approximately 20 minutes due to blood from the incident on the floors near the Booksellers,” a document in a White House hallway said.

A month later, another officer who entered the backyard patio of the president's home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., did not realize the dog was there and not on a leash. The dog bit him, “causing a severe, deep open wound,” and the officer “began to lose a significant amount of blood,” according to a report. The officer “remained calm and walked away from the area in search of help.”