You don’t see dogs summoned for jury duty or enlisted in Army PSYOPS or working in other areas where extensive knowledge of human nature is called for. Not every dog can live up to the standard of Rin Tin Tin.

This brings me to the question, why have a dog in the White House, a place where diplomacy and complicated government work are all-important?

Perhaps the White House, with all of its stress and commotion, is not the place for a dog.

I’m talking here about Major, President Joe Biden’s German shepherd, who, I am sorry to report, has bitten (or nipped, nudged, brushed up against or bruised, according to his owner) at least eight people since moving to the White House in 2020.

“Major was surprised by an unfamiliar person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury,” explained Jen Psaki, who was White House press secretary at the time of one of Major’s unfortunate misunderstandings.

In an email, Secret Service agents were warned that panicking or running only emboldens animals. “Stand your ground and protect your hands/fingers by placing them in your pockets or behind your back,” the email read.

I have noticed that dog owners are always making excuses for their pets’ aggressive actions.

“You have to know how to move around a dog,” they will say after a vicious attack, or “A dog can smell fear,” as if it is the bitee and not the biter who is somehow to blame for the incident.

Like Rin Tin Tin, Major is a German shepherd. According to Professional dog trainer Larry Krohn: “German shepherds are always at the top of the breed list for who bites people — always at the top of the list. It’s a herding dog. They’re meant to bite.”

Krohn went on to state that German shepherds are more apt to bite when they are under stress. Major had just moved to the White House when he attacked someone every day for eight days in a row, and moving is considered one of the five most stressful life events, according to the late Louis Ferman, of the University of Michigan’s Labor and Industrial Relations Institute.

The German shepherd’s bite is estimated to have a force of 238 pounds per square inch (psi), putting it in fifth place on the list for the dog with the strongest jaws, and it ranks third for the world’s most aggressive dog breed.

On the plus side, compared to hyenas (1,110 psi), polar bears (1,200 psi), grizzly bears (1,160 psi), bull sharks (1,350 psi), hippopotamuses (1,800 psi) and Nile crocodiles (5,000 psi), the bite of a German shepherd might not seem so bad. You certainly would not want to be nudged or brushed up against by a hippopotamus or a bull shark.

There is a rumor that a chihuahua’s bite has a psi of 3,900, which is ridiculous. Scientists who bothered to even comment on the claim have stated that a psi of more than 100 is impossible. Still, they are snappy little things.

Getting back to Major, most of the people he bit or otherwise inconvenienced were members of the Secret Service. Maybe Major is a good judge of character after all.

I don’t know the identities of the agents in question, but possibly Major didn’t trust them, feeling that they were a threat to his owner, President Biden. Along with its other qualities and proclivities, the German shepherd is known to be a very loyal dog. Major may have heard disparaging remarks about the Secret Service, or even picked up on some bad vibes from certain individuals.

Investigative journalist and author Carol Leonnig reported that some agents in Trump’s security detail appeared to support the Capitol rioters and that Tony Ornato and Robert Engel were considered to be aligned with Trump.

“There was a very large contingent of Donald Trump’s detail who were personally cheering for Biden to fail,” Leonnig said.

More recently, four agents have been suspended from the Secret Service, after an alleged bribery plot started in February 2020 and discovered in an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in March of this year.

Major is reportedly receiving further training.

Have a good week.

(Martha Allen lives in Keene Valley. She has been writing for the News for more than 20 years.)