“Splash” Kennedy named by breeder!

A while back I posted a piece suggesting that Ted Kennedy’s naming his water dog “Splash” showed a serious lack of self-awareness.

Today I received an email from Martha, the woman who sold “Splash” to Ted Kennedy when the dog was three years old. She writes:

…His official AKC name is Ch. Amigo’s Seventh Wave and Ted Kennedy purchased Splash from me when he was three years old. Splash is his call name and that was his call name when Senator Kennedy bought him from me.

Senator Kennedy came to my house when Splash was a very young dog and he fell in love with Splash. He is one of my best dog owners. He has loved Splash with a complete devotion and Splash accomanies Ted everywhere he goes. Ted also exercises Splash by hitting tennis balls to him daily. They are great companions.

I do not know how to stop the news organizations from making these claims about Senator Kennedy and the “naming of his dog”. Senator Kennedy never named this dog, sorry to say we never thought to discourage him from continuing to use his call name when he was purchased.

This lady kindly provided me with information I can use to verify her account once we get past the weekend. I appreciate her providing some context and clarity and am posting this on the assumption that all will check out. Ted Kennedy, as any other public figure, has plenty of criticism lobbed at him, both justified and un. Picking on him for his dog’s name – when he didn’t do the naming – strikes me as falling into the “unjustified” category.