ohmidog!

More than 20,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let Ratchet — an Iraqi dog adopted by a U.S. soldier — come to America.

And the soldier’s congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison, has written to the Army, asking it to review the case, the Associated Press reports.

As we reported earlier, Sergeant Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis took in a puppy in May that she and another soldier rescued from a burning pile of trash.

She went through the channels to allow it to be shipped home, only to find those channels have grown narrower than they once were. Defense Department rules — though they’ve been relaxed from time to time — prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets.

Beberg has since been separated from the dog, which was confiscated by the Army on its way to the airport, and she fears it will be killed.

“I just want my puppy home,” Beberg wrote to her mother in an e-mail Sunday from Iraq. “I miss my dog horribly.” Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the U.S. next month.

Operation Baghdad Pups Program, which is run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, International, is hoping to rescue the puppy. Its program coordinator is flying to Iraq this week to try to get Ratchet out.

Here’s some art one can sink their teeth into, especially if they happen to be a dog.

Beijing artist Liu Wei has constructed a massive city entirely out of dog chews.

More photos of his work can be seen on the website of the Saatchi Gallery in London, where Liu is part of an exhibit opening this week.

The gallery website describes this work, “Love it! Bite It!” as a “parody of grotesque consumption,” a “utopian vision” (especially if you’re a dog) that “re-engineers the breadth of Western history — from the Coliseum to the Guggenheim — as carnivorous spectacle.”

Liu’s other sculptures include “Indigestion II,” a monumental poop that spans two meters. The website describes it as “a man-sized statement of rejection … both repulsive and compelling … leaving no detail to the imagination.” (On close inspection, half digested kernels can be spotted.)

The exhibit of works by Liu and other proteges of Charles Saatchi, known as the Young Chinese Artists, opens Thursday at Saatchi’s four-story gallery in London.

(Photo: A gallery assistant views Love It! Bite It!  Photo by Clara Molden, via Dog Art Today )

Suzie, a 16-year-old border collie, fell off a cliff in Northern Ireland, plunged 200 feet to the ground and survived.

The dog fell Saturday night while on a walk in County Feremangh with her owners, Mike and Cathy Tenan, of London, BBC News reported.

Fire crews could not get to her as darkness fell, but a volunteer rescue unit started a new search on Sunday. Tracks and fur led the team to Suzie, who was distressed and dehydrated, but not seriously injured.

Rescue workers gave her water and carried her to a reunion with her owners.

One of two Oklahoma residents charged with “crimes against nature,” will be sentenced this Friday after pleading no contest to charges stemming from allegedly having sex with dogs.

Diane Sue Whalen, 55, waived her rights to a jury trial and entered a no contest plea earlier.

Donald Roy Seigfried, 55, also decided to waive a jury trial, but has not entered a formal plea, the Oklahoman reports.

Two of Whalen’s dogs — a Labrador and a Weimaraner — were ordered forfeited to the sheriff in civil court proceedings, and subsequently sent to Best Friends Animal Society, an animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

Videos confiscated by police show dogs are seen engaging in sex acts with humans, according to an affidavit filed by Tulsa County Sheriff’s investigators. 

 Seigfried and Whalen are free on bond. They face up to 10 years imprisonment.