Dogs wreak havoc on interview with Rep. Grimm

If you’re attempting to have a deep conversation with Rep. Michael Grimm, don’t carry along your canine to the New York Republican’s office for a doggie play date.

 Author and journalist Robert Draper learned that the hard way while working on his insider’s take on the 112th Congress, Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives.

{mosads}At a book party held for him at the Georgetown home of conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, Draper told ITK, “[Grimm’s] dog, Sebastian, is always in the office and I brought my far larger dog, Bill. And we tried to have a serious interview, but these two pooches were scrambling around constantly.”

 The pair of pups makes up one tail-wagging odd couple. Grimm’s minute dog, Sebastian, is a Teacup Yorkie the congressman adopted after he was rescued from a Missouri puppy mill. Draper says his mighty hound, Bill, is of undetermined pedigree, but thinks he’s a mix between an Australian Shepherd and a Blue Heeler. 

 Yet the unlikely canine companions sound like they had a field day together at the Capitol. Says Draper, “I still have the interview, and you can barely hear some of it because it’s mainly just dogs barking at each other as they run behind couches. It was a fun experience if not a totally productive one.” 

Perhaps the congressman’s feisty, 8-pound pooch shouldn’t have surprised Draper. At a February rally Grimm told supporters that Sebastian “sneaks around the couch in my office, and he goes behind the desk where the staff can’t see him, and he leaps with his fangs out and tries to bite the mailman right on the butt.”

 While no injuries were reported during Draper’s visit, he says Sebastian and Bill might be waiting awhile for any future man’s-best-friend meet-ups: “I think it’s a one-time thing. I think Grimm and I both agreed that this was an experience that need not be repeated.”