Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren JOE BIDEN may be the leader of the free world, but inside his home, he isn’t the head of his own pack. That’s according to dog behaviorist CESAR MILLAN, widely known as the dog whisperer from his popular television series. Millan first offered his services to Biden two years ago after it was reported that the president’s older German shepherd, MAJOR, had bitten a number of people. But the Bidens ultimately sent the dog to live with family friends, and now his younger brother, COMMANDER, is following in his footsteps. So, naturally, West Wing Playbook phoned Millan to get his take on the latest string of biting incidents, and how he would fix the problem. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. OK, we saw this with Major, and now Commander. What’s going on here? Dogs don’t know that they’re living with the president or with you. That’s why dogs make humans really human, because it really has nothing to do with money, fame or power. One thing that I have seen over the years in the White House is they don’t have a protocol for dogs. It’s happened before with previous presidents. In any home, a dog needs to feel safe. He needs love, and he needs to trust, respect and love someone. In the dog world, that will be your authority leader. People call it the pack leader. You and a dog are a pack. You can call it family, but someone has to lead the family. They will tell you the rules, boundaries and limitations. And that’s why dogs get in trouble. So Commander is leading the pack? In America, they humanize the dog. They end up using human psychology on a dog, so they refer to the dog by their name. In the dog world, they don’t have a name. They have a position within the pack. Dogs who are allowed to play the leader position are going to believe that the mouth can be used. The dog they have is a middle-of-the-pack dog, so they have the right dog but if you let them take the lead, they’re going to do the wrong behavior. Has the White House reached out to you for help with the biting problem? No, they chose to send the dog to a dog trainer instead of sending the humans to a human trainer. I’m a human trainer that rehabilitates dogs. But what that says to me is you don’t understand the importance of a human trainer. Is it strange that Commander is mainly biting Secret Service Agents? Some dogs only bite gardeners. Some dogs only bite the mailman. The most important thing is how do we prevent this from happening to anyone? That way we have a dog who trusts everybody. Does the breed matter here? Three things that trigger aggression or a bite: If a dog is bored, if a dog is confused or if you give affection at the wrong time. Can the White House have a pit bull? Yes, just don’t let it go into pit bull mode. So if you don’t want the breed to come out, don’t let it come out. Keep them tired. So if Biden called you tomorrow, how would you fix this? It will only take us two hours to come up with the agreement. As many as the whole White House staff could learn and make sure we’re all in agreement, commit and follow through. It shouldn’t be difficult because this is about the most primal knowledge that we’re not practicing. Everybody is going to connect, communicate and have an amazing relationship with this amazing German shepherd, and we’re all going to forget about what he did, because it wasn’t his fault. He was a puppy when he came in. He didn’t come with any issues. He didn’t say, “when I get older, I’m going to bite all the Secret Service.” That was not his dream! This is the second dog. It’s like, “Hey guys, it’s obviously not the dog. Let the dog whisperer come into the White House and just do what I’ve done for 20 years.” MESSAGE US — Are you GIORGIA MELONI? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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