The White House praised some of the Secret Service's furrier agents after guard dogs "Hurricane" and "Jordan" downed a man who jumped the fence around the president's home.
The canine cops were credited for their "bravery" after they stopped the man, who scaled the north fence on Wednesday evening in yet another presidential security breach, before lashing out at the animals.
"The animals that performed so bravely last night are not something that we come into regular contact with here," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said yesterday.
"The individual last night probably saw pretty vividly why we all keep our distance," he joked of the dogs.
The Secret Service said Dominic Adesanya, 23, was quickly taken into custody after he was tackled by "Hurricane" and "Jordan," both of the Belgian Malinois breed.
Video shows Adesanya -- who was unarmed -- punching and kicking the protective pooches before he was arrested.
He was charged with two felony counts of assaulting a police officer, four misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and unlawful entry, and a felony count of making threats, the Secret Service said.
The dogs were taken to a vet for treatment of light injuries and were cleared for duty. Adesanya was also treated for injuries.
The incident came just weeks after another man jumped over the fence, sprinted across the North Lawn and entered the executive mansion with a knife in his pocket, triggering withering criticism of security lapses.
Omar Gonzalez has been indicted on two counts of "assaulting, resisting or impeding" Secret Service agents for the September 19 breach.
That time, dogs were not deployed, a decision that was widely criticised.
In jail since his arrest, Gonzalez is an Iraq veteran reportedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
This and other security failures led to the resignation of the head of the Secret Service.
