Dog Daily News

It’s with great sadness that I report the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Sure, he was a stellar statesman from a storied lineage. But what I found most endearing about him was his love for his Portuguese Water Dogs, Splash and Sunny.

Splash and Sunny tailed Kennedy around Capitol Hill. They frequently joined him in his offices and committee hearings, but were banned from the Senate floor. This made the senator unhappy. He once said that the dogs behaved “a lot better than most senators.”

He admits they weren’t always perfect when they attended caucuses. But in my canine mind, they still more genteel than many senators. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Kennedy recounted one committee hearing, in which “we had a roll call, and when we came back, Splash was sitting in the chairman’s chair.” That seems like a very straightforward way to take over a position of power. I hope other politicians took notice.

Another time, Kennedy recalled, “a caucus went on too long, and Joe Biden and Paul Wellstone were speaking louder and louder. Splash started to bark, so Paul Sarbanes made him an honorary member of our caucus.”

During the Boston Globe interview, a scampy Splash reminded me a little of myself. He wasn’t exactly push-button obedient, judging by Kennedy’s dialogue:

“Splash, Susan (the interviewer) would like to see the ball, if you would show it to her. Can you show me the ball? Will you show me the ball? Splash. Please. SPLASH. Will you show me the ball? Come on, come on, show me the ball. Thank you. You know I want that ball, and you know I want that ball now. SPLASH. Please. Now you know I want that ball, and you’re not going to give the ball to me? Come on, come on. Look. Show it to ME. Where are you going with that ball? Why are you teasing me? You know I want that ball more than anything in the world. Well, I guess you won’t let me see it.”

I assume he was far more effective on the Senate floor.

Kennedy also loved to sail with his dogs. I personally am no water dog. The word terrier has the root terra, which of course means earth. And I like my four paws firmly planted on it. But I think it’s magnificent that these dogs were among the senator’s sailing companions. “He could sail all day,” Kennedy said of Splash (before Sunny came into their lives).

The dogs met many famous people. Splash rubbed elbows with Elton John. He visited the Oval Office. Former President Bush gave him a rawhide dog treat on which he wrote, “From Barney, to Splash.”

In 2006, the senator and his wife, Vicki, penned a 56-page children’s book, My Senator and Me: A Dog’s-Eye View Of Washington, D.C. It’s from the point of view of Splash. I don’t know why Splash didn’t write it himself. Or maybe he did, and the senator just claimed authorship. These things happen.

If you want to hear Kennedy reading an excerpt from the book, sort of in the voice of Splash, check out the audio here. It’s somewhat magical hearing the powerful senator in dog mode. I can’t picture Dick Cheney doing this. (Although he did once allegedly dress his dog as Darth Vader, in a nod to comedian Jon Stewart’s frequent comparison of Cheney and Vader.)

I didn’t realize until today that Kennedy gave the Obama family their beloved Portuguese Water Dog, Bo. I was a little out of the loop back then, because my people rarely put on the TV, and I didn’t yet have internet access.

The Obamas love that dog so much. And it seems they’re going to continue in Kennedy’s grand tradition of taking their dog with them to as many places as befit a Capitol Hill dog. This week “Bobama” and family flew to Martha’s Vineyard on Air Force One for their first vacation since the president took office.

Kennedy would have been happy if he was aware of Bo’s travels. But he never knew. He died late last night at home in Hyannis Port, just a bone’s throw from where the Obama family was vacationing.

The dogs of America will greatly miss you, Sen. Ted Kennedy. I hope that as people remember how much you loved your dogs, they’ll give their own dogs an extra hug today. And maybe – just maybe – in homage to the way you took your dogs everywhere, dogs in this country will gradually become more welcome as traveling companions, office mates, and general sidekicks.

Perhaps it’s time to start a Ted Kennedy Dog Day…