Joe and Jill Biden’s German shepherd Major made his grand return to the White House. Major was even filmed happily ‘trotting’ on the South Lawn, about three weeks after causing someone a ‘minor injury.’
Major Biden is a happy resident at the White House again. His legion of Twitter fans were just as thrilled after seeing Joe and Jill Biden‘s rescued German shepherd take a stroll with a White House staff member on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave’s South Lawn on March 29. The sighting was captured nearly one month after Major relocated to the POTUS and FLOTUS’s home (along with his dog mate Champ) in Delaware following an incident in which the dog gave an “unfamiliar person” a “minor injury,” which he received remedial “training” for afterwards.
Major was also filmed “trotting with no care in the world” during this South Lawn outing on the White House estate on Monday, according to The Oval Pawffice fan account. Fans pointed out how happy Major looked in the sweet clip below, which was captured by Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason. “Your bouncy trot is so cute, Major!,” one fan noted, while another wrote, “ohmygoodness. that little hop when he walks.” Other fans gave Major a warm welcome back, leaving comments like, “It’s wonderful to see you back.”
While Champ wasn’t seen on this walk, Joe and Jill’s other German shepherd also returned to the White House last week. Their homecoming actually happened over the weekend of March 20-21, which White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki revealed during a press briefing on March 24.
“Champ and Major are here at the White House. They joined the First Family at Camp David last weekend and returned with them on Sunday,” the press secretary revealed, referring to the presidential country residence in Frederick County, Maryland. She added, “The dogs will come and go and it will not be uncommon for them to head back to Delaware on occasion as the president and first lady do as well.”
Major received “training” during his time away in Delaware, which President Biden revealed during an interview on Good Morning America that aired on March 17. However, the POTUS made sure to defend his beloved pooch against misconceptions over the incident; Biden clarified that Major “did not bite someone and penetrate the skin.”
Although the incident was originally reported to involve “biting,” the White House press secretary clarified to reporters that the dog was simply “surprised by an unfamiliar person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury to the individual, which was handled by the White House Medical Unit with no further treatment needed.” During his GMA interview, Biden added that he did not “banish” Major to the family home in Delaware.
“Jill was going to be away for four days. I was going to be away for two, so we took him home,” Biden explained during the televised interview. He also insisted that Major, whom the president and his wife adopted in 2018, is a “sweet” pooch.
“You turn a corner, and there’s two people you don’t know at all. And he moves to protect. But he’s a sweet dog,” Biden explained on GMA. “Eighty-five percent of the people there love him. He just — all he does is lick them and wag his tail.” Major and Champ have been a huge hit with fans, ever since the pooches moved into the White House at the end of Jan. 2021.