Former President Joe Biden and Jill Biden have adopted two black Labrador mix puppies from a Tennessee pet sanctuary, the rescue organization announced this week, a move that raises obvious questions given the Bidens' well-documented history of owning dogs that attacked Secret Service agents and White House staff.
Rescue DOG, based in Mountain City, Tennessee, broke the news in a Facebook post on Wednesday, sharing an image of the former president and first lady posing with their new pups and their cat, Willow.
The adoption is a feel-good story on its face. But the Bidens' prior record with dogs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is anything but. Two German shepherds, Commander and Major, were each removed from the White House after biting incidents that left federal employees injured, and in at least two cases, hospitalized. The question nobody in Biden's orbit seems eager to answer: what changed?
The rescue group's Facebook post put it simply, as the New York Post reported:
"These two Johnson County pups were adopted together yesterday by the Biden family."
Rescue DOG added that it was "thrilled for these two pups who were once abandoned on the mountain." The organization said Jill Biden and "her son", whom the Post identified as presumably stepson Hunter Biden, first met the puppies after visiting one of the group's rescue partners in Delaware.
Melissa Gentry, who runs Rescue DOG, told the local Mountain City newspaper The Tomahawk that she could hardly believe the news when she first heard it. The call from a transport partner caught her off guard.
"The group that we transport with called us and said, 'Are you sitting down,' and I said, 'No, but what have I done.' They said, 'You won't believe who just adopted two of your puppies.'"
Gentry said her first reaction was laughter, she thought it was a joke.
"And my first thing I did was started laughing because I thought she was joking... it just blew my mind."
The puppies' names were not disclosed. Biden's office did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment.
For anyone who followed the Biden White House, the adoption carries an unavoidable backdrop. The Bidens cycled through two German shepherds during the administration, and both were removed after attacking the people charged with protecting the president and keeping the executive mansion running.
Major, the first to go, was rehomed in 2021 after biting personnel. Commander followed, and his record was far worse. The younger German shepherd was given away in February 2023 after what the Post described as dozens of attacks on Secret Service agents and other White House staff. At least two of those incidents were severe enough that the victims required hospital treatment.
Incidents involving Commander occurred both at the White House and at Biden's beach home in Delaware. The pattern was not a single bad day. It was sustained, repeated, and documented over an extended period before the Bidens finally acted.
The Secret Service, the agency whose personnel bore the brunt of the attacks, was placed in the uncomfortable position of having its agents bitten by the boss's dog while still being expected to protect the boss. That is a dynamic that invites exactly zero accountability for the pet owner and maximum risk for the employees.
Two dogs. Dozens of biting incidents. At least two hospitalizations. Both animals ultimately removed. And now, two new puppies.
None of this means the Bidens cannot or should not own dogs. But the track record demands scrutiny that the former president's allies seem uninterested in providing. Biden's office offered no comment. The rescue organization celebrated the adoption. The local paper ran a charming anecdote about Gentry's surprise phone call.
What nobody addressed: what the Bidens have done differently to ensure that the next round of dogs does not repeat the pattern. The prior incidents were not minor. Federal employees were hurt on the job because the president's pets were not controlled. That is a management failure, not a dog problem.
The broader arc of Biden's post-presidency has been marked by a series of unanswered questions. Jill Biden's forthcoming memoir promises to "set the record straight" on the circumstances of his 2024 exit from the presidential race, a story that remains contested. Meanwhile, a DOJ investigation into Biden's autopen use remains active, though officials have acknowledged that proving a crime will be difficult. And Biden's limited public visibility during his final stretch in office drew sharp contrast with the current administration's approach to press interactions.
The puppy adoption, in isolation, is a small, personal story. But it lands against a record that the Bidens have never fully accounted for. When Commander was finally removed in February 2023 after dozens of attacks, there was no public reckoning, no explanation of why the dog was kept so long, no acknowledgment of the toll on the staff who were bitten.
The Bidens are private citizens now. They can adopt as many dogs as they like. But when your last two pets hospitalized federal employees, "we got new puppies" is not the whole story.
Rescue DOG deserves credit for the work it does in Johnson County, pulling abandoned animals off the mountain and finding them homes. Melissa Gentry's genuine surprise at the high-profile adoption is the most human moment in the entire episode.
The less human part is the silence from Biden's side. No statement. No reassurance. No acknowledgment that the last chapter ended badly for the people who got bitten. Just a photo op with two new Labrador mixes and a cat named Willow.
It fits a pattern. Biden's legacy continues to accumulate new complications, from policy controversies to personal ones. The puppy story is lighter fare, but the underlying habit is the same: act first, explain never, and let the staff absorb the consequences.
The Secret Service agents who ended up in hospitals because of Commander did not get a Facebook post celebrating their sacrifice. They got stitches.
Two new puppies and zero lessons learned. That is the Biden way, delegate the risk, skip the accountability, and move on to the next photo.
