Bush daughter: Our dog was a ‘jerk’

Jenna Bush Hager is daring to speak ill of the dearly departed, calling the former first family’s longtime canine companion, Barney, “a real jerk.”

“He was a little temperamental,” the “Today Show” contributor and daughter of former President George W. Bush said of the Scottish terrier Thursday on the NBC morning program.

{mosads}Talk of the ex-presidential pooch came up after President Obama’s dog, Sunny, playfully caused a 2-year-old girl visiting the White House Wednesday to fall to the floor. The girl, who was helped up by Michelle Obama, proceeded to pet the energetic Portuguese water dog.

But Sunny’s snafu appeared to pale in comparison to the shenanigans Barney was up to in the White House, according to Hager.

“There was a reporter, actually, that he bit,” Hager, 32, said. She also disclosed that Barney bit a friend of her father, not once, but twice.

Hager then seemed to walk back some of her criticism of the former first dog, which died in February.

“Rest in peace,” she said. “I feel bad saying that. But he was — he didn’t like strangers.”