The group Dogs Against Romney rallied out outside the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday to bring public attention to the fact that the candidate once forced his dog to ride on the roof of his car.

"We want the world to know that if Romney can't be trusted with a dog, who can he be trusted with?" one protester told the Huffington Post's Jordan Zakarin.

The protesters and their loyal companions carried signs such as "Mitt is mean", "Dogs aren't luggage", and "I ride inside!"

Romney once strapped a dog carrier, with an Irish Setter inside, to the roof of his vehicle during a 12-hour road trip in 1983. After the dog soiled itself, Romney pulled into a service station and used a hose to spray down the dog and his car. He then continued the trip with the dog still on the roof.

In a stroke of ironic luck, a protester with the group “Dogs Against Romney” was recently pulled over by police in Littleton, Colorado for suspected animal abuse after officers spotted a dog kennel with what appeared to be an animal inside, strapped to the top of a vehicle.

It turned out the man just had a stuffed animal inside and he was not cited.

Watch video, courtesy of the Huffington Post, below:

With prior reporting by Stephen C. Webster

Activism