PolitickerNY has a report out Tuesday that Seamus, the dog Romney famously put on the roof of the car when the family drove to Canada in 1983,  may have actually run away once the Romneys reached the Great White North. 

As any Gail Collins readers will know by now, a 2004 Boston Globe story revealed that Mitt Romney strapped his dog's crate to the roof of the family car, terrifying the pooch in the process. Though it was intended as an illustration of Romney's quirky crisis-management, pet lovers everywhere have let it live on as evidence of candidate's cruelty. PolitckerNY's Hunter Walker cites two anonymous sources who say the Romney sons told reporters off-the-record that Seamus actually ran away once they reached Canada. Mitt Romney has said Seamus lived long past that trip, and that he enjoyed riding on top of the car, by way of deflecting attacks from PETA and other animal advocates. But expect this new development to fuel the arguments of those who think the act was abusive.

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