Pete Buttigieg joked that he still has all his fingers after meeting Joe Biden’s dog, Major. (Screen capture via TMZ/Getty Images)
For Pete Buttigieg, there’s only one man in the White House who he’d ever call a good boy, put a leash on and let him lick his face: Joe Biden’s dog, Major.
Buttigieg spoke to TMZ‘s Harvey Levin about Biden’s beloved German Shepard, the first shelter dog in history to live at the White House, after the pooch bit two people in a single month.
Asked whether Buttigieg has ever been bitten by Major, the transport secretary laughed as he waved his hands in the air – all his fingers are still there.
“I know there’ve been some stories about him,” he said. “But my interactions with him have been great.”
Indeed, while Major can be a little temperamental at times, he and Buttigieg get along just fine.
“First time I went in for an Oval Office meeting, Major was there and said a quick hello,” Buttigieg said. “We got along pretty well.
“I haven’t yet had a chance to introduce him to Buddy and Truman, our dogs.”
Since shifting to Washington DC for Buttigieg’s historic role as the first Senate-confirmed, openly gay cabinet official, the transportation secretary’s own dogs are making the most of the move.
Buddy and Truman are “enjoying the dog park scene” in the capital, with plenty of “smells and sounds they weren’t used to back in Indiana”.
You know, in case you were wondering how they’re doing.
Major, a German shepard, once roamed the executive residence after Biden and wife Jill fostered him from the Delaware Humane Association.
But the dog and older sibling Champ were both sent back to Delaware for training last month.
Major reportedly bit a National Park Service employee on the South Lawn on 29 March, the BBC reported. Just three weeks earlier, a secret service agent needed to be treated by White House medics after Major nipped him.