ohmidog!

Five dogs — four pups and their mother — were killed in a fire early today at a pet grooming store in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville.

Eight dogs and a few birds were rescued.

A passerby who was visiting a nearby 7-Eleven convenient store noticed smoke coming from the back of Suzette’s Dog Grooming and called 911 about midnight, according to the Associated Press.

Fire crews forced their way inside and began to search for the fire, which appeared to have started in a storage or bathroom in the one-story building, officials said. Four puppies and their mother in the room where the fire started perished, but firefighters rescued eight other dogs and some birds that were in a cage.

A task force has determined that mass dog-breeding facilities overseas are attempting to flood the U.S. market with pupppy mill dogs, the general manager of Los Angeles Animal Services says.

The task force was created this year, after three shipments of puppy mill dogs were flown into LAX from the Far East on Seoul, Korea-based Asiana Airlines. The dogs were intercepted and confiscated by LA Animal Services and LA County Public Health officials, and were found to have questionable health certificates and questionable health.

Of the ten dogs that survived – five underage Yorkies and five eight week-old Maltese puppies — all were seriously dehydrated after making the trip in the cargo hold of the airliner and with no food and water.

These puppies represent an “all too typical example of how the demand for purebred puppies has created a situation ripe for abuse,” said Ed Boks, head of animal services for Los Angeles.

The interception and rescue of the puppies prompted the formation of a multi-agency animal cargo task force that conducted a three-week survey of incoming animals at LAX from other countries.

In addition to undermining efforts to increase shelter adoptions, Boks said, the shipments raise concerns about disease (including rabies) and homeland security.

There are hundreds of thousands of puppy mills around the world – over 720,000 in South Korea alone, Boks wrote on his blog.

The ten puppies rescued in June will be available for adoption, starting Dec. 20.

(Photo from the blog of Ed Boks, general manager of LA Animal Services)

The Los Angeles Times reports that a “surprising number” of stores have quietly opened their doors to dogs — from Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue to Barneys New York.

The rules about shopping with dogs vary from store to door, mall to mall, and sometimes can even differ between a store and the mall that is in, the article points out. While Sears, Target and Staples all flatly deny entrance to dogs that aren’t providing service to the handicapped, others — rightly realizing they don’t have much room to be picky in today’s economy — are letting them in.

The Grove, a Mid-City outdoor mall in L.A., is open to all, the article said.

“Great Dane or poodle. Pure-bred or mutt. It doesn’t matter at the Grove, where any pup that is ‘Well-behaved,’ ‘on a leash’ and  ‘not wanting to bite people’ is invited, said spokeswoman Jennifer Gordon. And if that pup happens to drop a “present” under the mall’s Christmas tree … just clean it up, and all will be forgiven.”

A lot of other stores and shopping centers — in what we at ohmidog! consider blatant discrimination — allow small dogs only, some basing the cutoff point on whether the dog can fit, ala Paris Hilton’s Chihuahua, in a purse.

The news that more stores may be permitting dogs is heartening; reports that many still allow small dogs while banning big dogs are disturbing. Were I ever to encounter a store that allowed small dogs, but not mine, I’d be out the door, never to return, and making all my purchases at a place where dogs are always allowed — online.