Ann Romney: Dog loved roof-top travel

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WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- Seamus, the dog whose car-top travel has become a thorn in U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's side, enjoyed the roof-top trips, Romney's wife Ann says.

Seamus' 1983 trip from Boston to Ontario in a dog carrier strapped on top of the family's Chevrolet has become fodder critics use to paint Romney as uncaring.

During an interview with ABC News that aired Monday, Mitt Romney said attacks based on his Irish setter stung the most "so far," while Ann Romney said the dog enjoyed his rooftop travel accommodations.

"The dog loved it," Ann Romney said. "He would see that crate and, you know, he would, like, go crazy because he was going with us on vacation. It was to me a kinder thing to bring him along than to leave him in the kennel for two weeks."

Ann Romney also confirmed a detail from the 1983 trip critics cite as evidence of her husband's lack of compassion. She said Seamus became sick, soiled himself and the windshield, prompting Mitt Romney to hose them down then resume traveling.

"[He] ate the turkey on the counter," Ann Romney said. "I mean, he had the runs."