During a 1983 family vacation, American businessman and future politician Mitt Romney drove 12 hours with his dog on top of the car in a windshield-equipped carrier. This incident became the subject of negative media attention and political attacks on Romney in both the 2008 and the 2012 presidential elections.
Road trip in 1983
In June 1983, the Romney family left their Belmont, Massachusetts home on their way to Romney's parents' cottage in Beach O' Pines, Ontario for an annual vacation along the shore of Lake Huron. Their dog, Seamus, rode in a carrier on the roof of the family's Chevrolet Caprice station wagon for the 12-hour trip. Romney had built a windshield for the carrier to make the ride more comfortable for the dog. During the trip, Seamus got diarrhea. The Romneys were first alerted to the Irish Setter’s bowel issues when Tagg noticed brown liquid pouring down the back window, followed immediately by him and his younger brothers yelling in disgust. Romney stopped at a gas station to wash the dog, the carrier, and the car. With Seamus back in the carrier, the family continued on their way.
Seamus the dog
Seamus ( ), an Irish Setter, was an active, outgoing dog, and was the Romney family's first pet dog. It is generally reported that, a few years after his ride to Canada, Seamus was given to Mitt Romney's sister, Jane Romney Robinson of California, who said, "He kept ending up at the pound. They were worried about him getting hit crossing the street. We had more space, so he could roam more freely." The dog's date of death is unknown, but Robinson stated that Seamus lived to a "ripe old age" on her farm in California.
Two of Romney's heirs, however, are reported to have casually contradicted this, off record, saying Seamus actually ran away once the family reached their destination.
Family response
When interviewed by Chris Wallace of Fox News, Romney stated that Seamus enjoyed being in the dog carrier, an "air-tight kennel", and that he was not aware of any violations of Massachusetts law; the state's animal cruelty laws prohibit anyone from carrying an animal "in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhumane manner." In earlier accounts, Romney described a makeshift "windshield".
Ann Romney, Mitt Romney's wife, has stated that the news media exaggerated the severity of the incident, and compared traveling in the roof-top dog carrier to riding a motorcycle or riding in the bed of a pickup truck.
During an April 2012 interview with ABC News, Diane Sawyer asked the Romneys about Seamus and the road trip, and if he would ever do it again. Romney offered, "He loves it, it's his favorite." During the same interview, Ann Romney attributed Seamus' troubles to eating turkey off the table. Romney stated that he loved his dog.
Other responses
In 2007, Ingrid Newkirk, president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), criticized Romney for the incident. Responding to PETA, Romney said, "my dog likes fresh air".
Newkirk has elaborated (speaking for herself rather than for PETA) that the Seamus incident irritates her because "there are far more serious issues to talk about" regarding the mistreatment of animals.
In 2012, post Dogs Against Romney protest outside the Westminster Dog show, MacArthur Animal Hospital's Dr. Rawstrom was contacted by Slate about the plausibility of the Romney's claim Seamus just had to poop in his crate. "They (dogs) prefer clean environments; that’s why one principle of crate training is to give them a space large enough to move around in but small enough that they don’t want to defecate inside.” She added Seamus' loose stool was likely indicative of "high levels of stress."
During the 2012 U.S. Republican presidential primaries, candidate Newt Gingrich aired an anti-Romney attack ad that featured the story. While appearing on the ABC show This Week, Republican candidate Rick Santorum stated, "As far as Seamus the dog ... the issues of character are important in this election. We need to look at all those issues and make a determination as to whether that's the kind of person [Romney] you want to be president of the United States." Santorum's view was at odds with that of Bill Wasik, senior editor of Wired Magazine: "Yet looking back on the Seamus Romney story today, what is most striking is its forgettability, how indistinguishable it seems in retrospect from the idiots' parade of meaningless stories that came to define the [2008] campaign."