Romney's Dog

There are some rumblings around the Internet concerning an article about Republican candidate Mitt Romney in the Boston Globe. In a 1983 trip to Lake Huron, because the car was crowded he decided to put the family dog in a crate on the roof rack. While underway, the kids announced when the dog had an attack of diarrhea. Romney just stopped at a gas station, hosed off the dog and car, brushed his hands together, and got back underway. Problem solved.

Various blogs and editorials have latched onto this as a hot button political issue and an indictment of Romney's management style and Mormon faith. I doubt I share many views with Romney, but come on.

It gives me the willies that he put the dog on the roof, and then put him right back after the assplosion. And, though the physical risks and exposure probably aren't that different from putting a dog in a pickup bed, it's particularly troubling because of all the thought he put into placing the crate on the roof and setting up a little windscreen-- he had plenty of opportunities to consider what ifs. I keep having flashbacks to when I was a puzzled kid looking out the rear window at our luggage scattered all over the highway after the roof rack had fallen off our car.

But in 1983 how many doggy safety belts were available? How many dogs ran loose around busy suburban neighborhoods? It was a different time and a more complacent attitude about pets. And even today, Romney's vision of the pet as a glorified piece of furniture is pretty pervasive-- most of us pet bloggers happen to be at the other end of that bell curve. Rather than beat up Romney as a candidate, I'd rather people consider this in the context of their own lesser lapses and move a little towards my end of the curve.