(NEXSTAR) – Champ and Major, President Joe Biden’s German shepherds, have returned to the White House following a brief sojourn in Delaware, Biden’s home state, after the younger dog, Major, was involved in a “biting incident” with a Secret Service agent.
Jill Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa, confirmed the news to multiple press outlets Wednesday.
Biden, in an interview that aired last week, said that his dog Major 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 moves to protect.”
Biden added that “85% 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 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 after the incident. He said the dogs went to Wilmington because the first couple was going to be out of town.
“He was going home,” Biden said. “I didn’t banish him to home. Jill 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 President Barack Obama departed in early 2017 with his pups Bo and Sunny. President Donald Trump did not have any pets.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.