One of Gov. Martin O?Malley?s top dogs has been sent packing because of engaging in overly aggressive behavior and turf battles at Government House, where the governor and his family live.
No, not Steve Kearney, the governor?s former communications director known to occasionally snap at pesky reporters, but Scout, a mixed breed Airedale terrier, well-known to the press corps for his loud barking at passers-by, especially fellow canines and horses drawing tourist-toting carriages.
“He?s actually with a good friend of mine,” first lady Katie O?Malley told The Examiner.
The dog, which was adopted from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was given to the friend in February, but has returned for visits with the family.
“Poor William was just devastated” when Scout was sent away, O?Malley said, referring to the couple?s 11-year-old son.
He was replaced in the first family?s three-dog menagerie by an English cocker spaniel named Rex.
The family also has a teacup poodle named Winston, Lady, a golden retriever, and a couple of seldom-seen cats.
All are rescue animals.
But to the world beyond the wrought-iron fence that surrounds Government House in Annapolis, Scout was the most visible and loudest, seen even more often than the two O?Malley boys playing in the yard by themselves or with friends.
“He?s a great dog,” but terriers are “very much protective,” said O?Malley, a Baltimore City District Court judge.
“He would chase the horses around State Circle” and “he would snap at people,” such as drivers making produce deliveries at the mansion.
With so many strangers coming and going, he was “a big liability,” she said.
“We had him in the kitchen on a long chain, but he would still try to attack people,” O?Malley said.
“It was not good.”
