Pet owners - is this a big deal? Strapping a dog to the roof of your car while you drive it for 12 hours?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

It's the true story of Mitt Romney's 1983 family vacation, according to an article in Wednesday's Boston Globe.

...

"Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. He'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog," read the article.

...

Physicist Dr. W.J. Llope, a senior faculty fellow at Rice University ... said putting a dog on top of a car is just like putting anything or anyone else on the roof.

"What happens to a dog in this situation is precisely what would happen to any of us in the same situation: Trapped in a box for 12 hours would be no one's idea of comfortable," said Llope.

Dr. Russell Cumming, a professor of aerospace engineering at California Polytechnic State University, got a little more technical.

"At that speed, assuming sea level conditions, the poor little dog would have about 10 pounds per square foot pressing against his head," said Cumming.

And in layman's terms?

"He would constantly feel a little less than 3 pounds pressing on his head for the entire trip," he added. "The windshield would help, but boy that would get tired."

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Douglas Osheroff of physics at Stanford University said the dog crate on top of the car would change the air flow around the vehicle.

"Beyond a certain velocity, the air flow becomes turbulent," said Osheroff. "The airflow isn't going to be laminar," which means it won't have a uniform distribution.

Cumming said that's bad news for Seamus.

"Chances are the windshield would only protect the front of the dog, but the air flowing around the windshield would buffet the side of the dog -- that would be tiring," said Cummings. "My wife's a vet, and she would be more worried by the dehydration of the dog's eyes under those conditions."

In addition to dehydration, fatigue and fright, Seamus was strapped on top of a car for 12 hours with limited or no bathroom breaks -- a condition that was highlighted in the Boston Globe article.

"A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours," the article said.

After his son noticed the liquid, Romney pulled the car over and hosed down Seamus at a gas station before putting him back into the crate on top of the car and continuing on with the drive.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3329017

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I have heard about that before - it is appalling! I think he should have been put on top of there himself and someone else drive to car, allowing Seamus to ride in the car. He should have been charged and convicted of animal cruelty.

Edited August 26, 2008 by Kathryn41

[DeadPoolX 9]

I wouldn't do that to my dog, but it doesn't sound like Romney was trying to be cruel. There's a difference between doing something inadvertently and on purpose. The former is, more or less, what Romney did while sticking pins a dog's eyes, stabbing it with scissors and then setting it on fire is the latter.

Just for reference, I did not make up that last part. I remember it from some animal cruelty case quite a few years back. Regardless, I don't see Romney and that sort of person as the same.

[Steph0814 1]

OMG! That is TERRIBLE.

He deserves the same treatment. I don't tolerate those kinds of things, it makes me MAD!

That is animal cruelty

[MrsCat 6]

dirtbag.

[LuciansGirl 0]

That's horrible and cruel!!! So maybe this person didn't do it deliberately to be cruel to his dog....but he should have used common sense!!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

dirtbag.

Really??

Maybe I don't get it cuz I'm not a pet owner and frankly dislike animals...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

This was 25 years ago. I'd say it probably isn't a big deal.

[Dan J 277]

This was 25 years ago. I'd say it probably isn't a big deal.

Assuming he becomes the VP nominee, it could be. You can't scrutinize your opponents past without opening up yours to scrutiny as well.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

This was 25 years ago. I'd say it probably isn't a big deal.

Assuming he becomes the VP nominee, it could be. You can't scrutinize your opponents past without opening up yours to scrutiny as well.

Which is why I'm curious, what do the actual pet owners who read this think?

[Scott & Lai 12]

I see dogs in the back of pickups all the time. Is this really so different?

[Jenn! 918]

I see dogs in the back of pickups all the time. Is this really so different?

Yeah, I would think a dog would love that...don't they love sticking their head out the window?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

This was 25 years ago. I'd say it probably isn't a big deal.

Assuming he becomes the VP nominee, it could be. You can't scrutinize your opponents past without opening up yours to scrutiny as well.

Perhaps - but if this is supposedly a reason not to support the guy I think people are going a little overboard.

I have pets (and have been through various cats and dogs since 1983) - it really doesn't bother me.

I see dogs in the back of pickups all the time. Is this really so different?

Yeah, I would think a dog would love that...don't they love sticking their head out the window?

We saw one at the weekend where the dog was sitting on the driver's lap and had his head out the drivers door window.

[Tunisia216 2]

Wow.... Sounds pretty mean- Was it that hard to let the dog ride in the car or just leave it somewhere while they went on vacation... .Yet at the same time as others have said, I don't think it has a lot to do with his possible VP nomination..... Bigger fish to fry...

[DeadPoolX 9]

I see dogs in the back of pickups all the time. Is this really so different?

Yeah, I would think a dog would love that...don't they love sticking their head out the window?

Sure, they'd love it... until the pickup hits a bump in the road and poochie goes flying off the freeway.