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.

"[6] The dog's date of death is unknown, but Robinson stated that Seamus lived to a "ripe old age" on her farm in California.

[7] 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;[8] 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.

"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.

"[19] During the 2012 U.S. Republican presidential primaries, candidate Newt Gingrich aired an anti-Romney attack ad that featured the story.

[20][21][22] 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.

"[25] Journalist Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post defended Mitt Romney's treatment of Seamus, stating, "Doesn't the fact that Romney chose to bring the dog on the family vacation, rather than dump him in a kennel back home, suggest that he's a dog lover, not a hater?

"[27] A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey found that 74% of Democrats, 66% of independents, and 63% of Republicans consider it inhumane to put a family dog in a kennel on the roof of a car.

[29][30][31] Responding to Democrats who emphasized the Seamus story, conservative bloggers such as Jim Treacher drew a comparison between the Seamus incident when Romney was a 36-year-old man, and Barack Obama sampling dog meat as a child in Indonesia, where it is a local delicacy, as mentioned in Obama's autobiography.