Ann Romney remembers Seamus

Anne Romney, wife of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, has posted an entry on the family blog, Five Brothers, about the family's dog, Seamus, in response to the media reaction to an article in the Boston Globe last Wednesday that caused an outcry in the blogosphere.

The Globe article reported that Romney attached a dog carrier to the luggage rack atop the family's station wagon, protected by a windshield, and drove with Seamus in the carrier on a 12-hour vacation trip to Ontario in 1983. Commentators and bloggers have been highly critical of Romney's treatment of the dog, with many saying it was cruel to expose the dog to the elements in a rooftop carrier.

Anne Romney writes: "Surprise, surprise, the media didn't get the dog story right. Our dog Seamus rode in an ENCLOSED kennel, not in the open air. And he loved it. Every time he saw it, he jumped up on the tailgate, walked in, and lay down. It was just like the kennel he curled up in at home."

She doesn't refer specifically to the Ontario trip or the arrangements the family made to Seamus on that occasion.

"Mitt and I love our dogs," Ann Romney adds, noting that Seamus, an Irish setter, was the first of several beloved family dogs. She says Mitt let him sleep on the bed when she wasn't home. "And usually when he was riding in the car, his head was out the window. Seamus lived to a ripe old age, basking in the affection of a large family."