A good boy again: Biden’s dog will return to the White House

Major bit a person on White House grounds before being sent to the family home in Delaware

US President Joe Biden walks with first lady Jill Biden, their grandchildren Natalie and Hunter, and a family friend near the White House in Washington. Reuters

There is Major breaking news: President Joe Biden’s wayward pup is no longer in the doghouse.

Mr Biden, in an interview that aired Wednesday, said that his dog Major, who had been involved in a biting incident at the White House, was "a sweet dog".

He explained the biting by saying that the dog had “turned a corner, there’s two people he doesn’t know at all, you know, and they move and he moves to protect".

Mr Biden added that “85 per cent of the people there love him".

Major, a 3-year-old rescue dog, and Champ, who is 12, were moved to the Bidens’ Delaware home after the incident, but the president had said they would return to the White House.

The president said “the dog’s being trained now” in Delaware but disputed the idea that the pup was sent away due to the incident. He said the dogs went to Wilmington because the first couple was going to be out of town.

“He was going home,” Mr Biden said. “I didn’t banish him to home. [first lady Jill Biden] was going to be away for four days. I was going to be away for two, so we took him home.”

The dogs are the first pets to call the White House home since former president Barack Obama departed in early 2017 with his pups Bo and Sunny. Former president Donald Trump did not have any pets.