ohmidog!

Decked out in a red, white and blue bandanna, a once homeless Iraqi mutt named Ratchet jumped out of his crate and wagged his tail at the airport Monday, three flights and two days after his much-postponed departure from Iraq.

Discovered by Army Spc. Gwen Beberg and fellow soldiers in a burning trash pile on the streets of Baghdad, Ratchet was taken in by Beberg, whose efforts to have him shipped home led to the dog being confiscated by U.S. military officials.

Later, the Army relented — its rules forbid soldiers bringing dogs home from foreign lands — and Ratchet was placed aboard a flight to Kuwait, another to Amsterdam, then another to Washington.

He will spend two nights in a kennel before flying to Minneapolis, where Beberg’s parents will pick him up. Beberg is scheduled to return home next month, the Associated Press reported. Northwest Airlines is donating the flight to Minnesota.

“I’m very excited that Ratchet will be waiting for me when I get home from Iraq! Words can’t describe it,” Beberg said in an e-mail to friends and family. “I hope that Ratchet’s story will inspire people to continue the efforts to bring more service members’ animals home from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The dog was rescued by Operation Baghdad Pups, run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International. The group, which has now brought 63 animals to the U.S., says the effort both saves dogs and cats and helps soldiers who benefit from the bond with the animals.

Ratchet frolicked on a grassy patch outside the airport before heading off to Clocktower Animal Hospital in Herndon, Va., for a checkup and some shots, where he was pronounced “extremely healthy.

In what the Washington Post hailed as a victory for dog walkers, charges were dismissed against a woman who was arrested for letting her leashed miniature poodles walk on a neighbor’s lawn in Calvert County.

The case pitted dog owner Linda May Johnson against her former neighbors, Maryland State Police sergeant James Barth and his wife. Johnson has since moved to New Hamsphire.

The state police filed trespassing charges against Johnson, claiming she and her dogs walked on the Barth’s lawn. The Barths also claimed that the dogs, Ollie and Hershey, relieved themselves on their lawn, but that was not part of the criminal case.

Johnson, 47, was cuffed and hauled to jail after her arrest.

On Monday, the case was placed on the court’s inactive docket.

“Let’s face it. This is two poodles being walked through the neighborhood,” said John Erly, Johnson’s attorney. “They realized it wasn’t a case that was worth their time.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Andrew Rappaport, who the Post said declined to comment on the case, announced in court that the state would officially dismiss the charges against Johnson in six months, provided she did not get arrested or attempt to contact the Barths.

In a temporary restraining owner filed against Johnson in May, Jennifer Barth wrote that Johnson would yell obscenities when she walked the dogs in the yard. That temporary order, obtained after Johnson’s arrest, was dismissed when Barth, 35, did not attend a court hearing to finalize it.

“Ultimately, the end result is a dismissal, which is what I wanted,” Johnson told the Post. As for the dogs, “They’re fine. They’re enjoying living in a very dog-friendly neighborhood.”

(WARNING: This video is extremely graphic, and the ending in particular will highly disturb some people )

About 1,500 raccoon dogs — bred for their fur in China –  have died after eating feed tainted with melamine.

The sad irony is, those might be the lucky ones.

Raccoon dogs, a wild canine species unrelated to the wild raccoon found in North America, are raised in confinement and are commonly skinned alive after being stunned with blows to the head from wooden clubs — as the video above shows.

The breed is native to east Asia, where they are raised in captivity until their fur is harvested to make trim on coats and other clothing. Both their treatment — and the marketing of their fur as faux fur — has been criticized by animal welfare groups

The recent raccoon dog deaths were a result of the animals inadvertently being fed a product that contained the chemical melamine. They subsequently developed kidney stones, said Zhang Wenkui, a veterinary professor at Shenyang Agriculture University. All of the dogs died on farms in just one village.

Zhang determined that the animals died of kidney failure after performing a necropsy — an animal autopsy — on about a dozen dogs, the Associated Press reported.

The Southern Metropolis Daily reported that the deaths took place over the past two months.

It was not immediately clear how the chemical got into the raccoon dog feed, but the animal deaths raise questions about the extent of the chemical’s presence in the country’s food chain.

In the ongoing milk scandal, melamine was said to be added to watered-down milk to artificially boost nitrogen levels, making products seem higher in protein when tested. Four Chinese babies’ deaths have been blamed on infant formula that was laced with melamine. Some 54,000 other children were sickened. Melamine has been found in a wide range of Chinese-made dairy products and foods with milk ingredients over the past few months.

Last year, melamine-tainted wheat gluten, a pet food ingredient made in China, was blamed for the deaths of dozens of dogs and cats in North America.

The Humane Society of the United States has campaigned against the Chinese fur farm industry, and two years ago asked retailers, including several high end U.S. department stores, to stop importing items with fur from animals raised and killed in China. In many cases, the furs are marketed as fake or faux.

In 2004, undercover investigators from Swiss Animal Protection, Switzerland’s largest animal protection organization, obtained the video above — showing the animals slammed to the pavement, then skinned alive — at fur farms throughout the Hebei province of Eastern China.

Swiss Animal Protection estimated that 1.5 million raccoon dogs alone are killed each year on Chinese fur farms.

Stray dogs are playing star roles in a groundbreaking Croatian show that has won rave reviews for raising awareness about abandoned canines and homeless people.

The play is based on Paul Auster’s 1999 novel “Timbuktu,” a dog-narrated tale of a hobo poet and his canine companion, Mr. Bones, whose wanderings come to an end in Baltimore. (Auster was profiled in Salon about seven years ago.)

The Croation production, directed by Borut Separovic, premiered in Zagreb earlier this month.

The director cast a dozen strays from a Zagreb animal shelter, with the main role of “Kosta” (Mr. Bones) played by Cap, an eight-year-old champion border collie.

The play consists mainly of a 45-minute monologue by Mr. Bones, with narration provided by an actor from his chair in the audience. Mr. Bones, according to an AFP article, receives quiet orders from instructor Alen Marekovic in the front row as he recounts the story of his life with his deceased master Willy.

“It’s a story that emphasises the incredible love between a dog and his master, a homeless person,” Separovic told AFP.

“Timbuktu offers a therapeutic insight into how not to interpret democracy solely through rights, but also through responsibly and solidarity towards others.”

At one point, the 12 stray dogs come on stage, a net falls between them and the audience and the play switches to the style of a documentary. The narrator tells the audience: “These dogs have a story which resembles that of Kosta’s. We call on you to provide them a home. You can contact me after the show.”

“For me it was extremely important that real, abandoned dogs appear in the play and be given a chance to be adopted,” said Separovic.

Separovic stressed the play also aimed at focussing attention on the fate of homeless people, 12 of whom play a role from the audience.

The team hopes that all the stray dogs involved will be adopted during the 11 performances in October.

Separovic said he set out to enlighten audiences through the project, which he says he created for his 10-year-old daughter Katarina and dedicated to his 13-year-old black labrador Max.

“I would like young people to understand that it’s important to take care of others, those who are in a worse situation then we are,” he said.