ohmidog!

A five-month-old miniature Sheltie got a little too close to the action when his owners were playing Nintendo Wii bowling and was knocked out by a blow to the head from a handheld remote.

The owner of Ozzy, in Marquette, Michigan, initially thought she had killed the dog.

“We had just got the Wii for Christmas,” explained owner Kathy White, “so we were trying it out, and that’s when Alexis and I were bowling and Ozzy was standing by me and he jumped up and I hit him in the temple …”

White says Ozzy wasn’t moving or breathing, so she called a neighbor for help. The neighbor checked the dog’s pulse, sensed that it had stopped and blew into the dog’s nose. On the fourth or fifth breath Ozzy coughed and woke up.

The dog suffered brain swelling and was in cardiac arrest when he arrived at the vet, but is now almost back to normal, his family told WBBH-TV.

Ozzy is no longer allowed in the room when the family plays the game.

A brand of pet food from Australia is being pulled off store shelves in China after reports of dogs being sickened by it, CNN has reported.

Natural Pet Corporation, the distributor for Optima dog food from Australia, ordered a recall, according to the company’s general manager in Shanghai.

Reports of sick animals have been coming into Edis Pet Supply Company in Shanghai, a retailer selling Optima dog food. Veterinarians have told Edis of four dogs poisoned by aflatoxin after eating Optima products, but dozens of other dog poisoning have been reported in the Chinese media.

Aflatoxin attacks the liver in several animal species. Although rare in many parts of the world, the fungi that produce aflatoxins can contaminate cereal grains often used in pet foods.

Zhang said Natural Pet Corporation is aware of the reports of sick dogs and that the products are being tested.

In 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recalled more than 150 brands of cat and dog food after finding that some pets became ill or died after eating food tainted with melamine, a chemical commonly used in coatings and laminates, adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame retardants. Contaminated additives used in the pet food came from China.

Two Chinese businesses, a U.S. company and top executives of each were indicted by a federal grand jury in February in connection with tainted pet food, which resulted in deaths and serious illnesses in up to thousands of U.S. pets.

The president of the SPCA in Cecil County says she has called for an investigation into the treatment of animals at the facility near Chesapeake City in light of allegations raised by the public, former volunteers and state Delegate Michael Smigiel.

Nancy Schwerzler, president of the SPCA board, called Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler’s office requesting a formal investigation of the abuse claims, according to the Cecil Whig.

“We are requesting an outside, impartial investigation to get to the bottom of this,” Schwerzler said.

Delegate Smigiel posted the allegations on his blog, including the claims of two former employees who described in affidavits abuse of dogs and cats that included shooting them with a .22 caliber rifle.

A large crowd was expected at the county commissioners meeting last night, including some of those citizens who have been picketing the facility.

Smigiel says he has received one or two complaints a week about the facility in the six years he has served as delegate.

They include animals dying during spay/neuter surgery, a high rate of euthanasia, little or no screening of adopters, unclean conditions, inadequate medical care, and the shelter’s director using the facility to provide grooming, boarding and treatment of her own dogs.

It’s pretty common for actors — and even moreso athletes — to thank God for the win, but Mickey Rourke, in accepting a Golden Globe award last night, thanked his dogs.

In one of the bigger surprises of the evening, the perennial “bad boy” — once viewed as washed up, burnt out and over the hill — completed his comeback by capturing the best actor honor at the 66th Annual Golden Globes for his role in “The Wrestler.”

Rourke beat out Leonardo DiCaprio for “Revolutionary Road,” Frank Langella for “Frost/Nixon,” Sean Penn for “Milk” and Brad Pitt for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

In “The Wrestler,” Rourke portrays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a professional wrestler past his prime, holding on to the remains of a once-famous career — circumstances that run more than little parallel to the actor’s own.

But, as Rourke noted last night, even when alone and at the bottom, he had his dogs.

“I’d like to thank all my dogs,” he said, “the ones that are here, the ones that aren’t here anymore, because sometimes when a man’s alone that’s all you got is your dog, and they meant the world to me.”

What breeds are in Bernadette Peters’ dog, Kramer, may not be a question that’s keeping you awake nights, but you can learn the answer on the Rachel Ray Show today.

The segment, titled “Who’s Your Daddy,” features the story of two mixed-breed dogs — one from a local NY shelter and the second belonging to film and Broadway star Bernadette Peters. Both were tested prior to the taping using Wisdom Panel MX, the new breed identification test made by Mars Veterinary.

Peters and Kramer appear on the show for the “reveal.”

As you regular readers know, we’re doing our own DNA test on two dogs, including mine. Ace was originally tested a year ago — and determined to be chow and Rottweiler — using the Canine Heritage test. Last month, we tested him with the upgraded Canine Heritage XL test, as well as the new Mars Wisdom Panel MX, which detects more than 150 breeds, and we’re awaiting verdicts on both. Also tested was Elliott, the winner of our What’s In Your Mutt contest.

We’ll be having our own “reveal” at a time to be announced.

On today’s Rachel Ray Show, you’ll also get the chance to see the shelter dog’s trip to the vet, and the results announced on air by Dr. Ernie Ward, the show’s resident veterinarian.

Bernadette Peters is a long-time advocate for dogs. With Mary Tyler Moore, she hosts Broadway Barks, a dog and cat adopt-a-thon benefiting New York City animal shelters and adoption agencies. Peters also put out a children’s book and CD of the same name.

(Update: Bernadette’s one-eyed dog — Kramer had a tumor in his eye when she adopted him — dog turned out to be predominantly Chow and Golden Retriever.)

An up-for-adoption puppy who appeared at a special screening of the movie “Hotel for Dogs“ this weekend to benefit the Maryland SPCA, has found a home — with the movie’s publicist.

Kevin Perkins, senior publicist with Allied Advertising, which is handling publicity for the movie in the Baltimore area, helped organize the advanced screening — then went home with one of the adoptable dogs the SPCA brought to the event.

The dog, who now goes by the name of Elvis, went to work with Kevin yesterday.

“He’s here at work with me right now!” Kevin said in an email. “The first few weeks I want him to have constant supervision, to both work on potty training and to bond with him, and not have him alone at home in a new place.  So far he’s fantastic … He just likes to nap on my jacket here at work.”

Elvis brings to three the number of dogs at the home Perkins shares with his fiancee. He joins Tesla, a miniature pinscher-dachsund mix, and Buzz, a Keeshond mix adopted through Pet Finder.com. 

Asked what prompted him to adopt Elvis, Kevin wrote, “A combination of winning personality, overall adorable-ness and the fact that my family loves dogs more than anything.  My parents have had up to 10 at the same time.”

All of which makes Perkins a fitting publicist for the movie, in which two orphans and their cohorts turn an abandoned hotel into a haven for homeless dogs.

The Maryland SPCA reports that the other two dogs brought to the screening were adopted as well.

A Shanghai distributor of a popular brand of dog food said Monday it had suspended sales of the product following reports that dogs who ate it died from poisoning.

While China’s recent food safety scandals have centered on locally made products, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the suspicious dog food was local or imported, the Associated Press reported.

A customer service manager at Shanghai Yidi Pet Co. said the company stopped selling Optima brand dog food last week after reports that more than a dozen dogs who ate it had died from aflatoxin poisoning.

A report Monday in the Shanghai Daily newspaper said at least 20 dogs in four Chinese cities, including Beijing, had died since the end of November from liver complications from aflatoxin.

It wasn’t clear who makes the Optima brand involved in the complaints.

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On Saturday, I got a chance to see “Hotel for Dogs” at a special screening to benefit the Maryland SPCA, and  I highly recommend it, whether you’re 8 or 80.

The SPCA, which runs its own sort of hotel for dogs on Falls Road, brought three up-for-adoption dogs to the fundraiser at the Regal Cinema in Hunt Valley, including the pup above (whose attempt to relieve me of my camera was unsuccessful).

The movie was cute, and funny, and elicited at least a dozen prolonged “awwwwwws” from the capacity crowd as the story unfolded — two orphans take in a New York neighborhood’s strays dogs, using an abandoned hotel to provide a contraption-filled haven for them.

It’s a movie that brings out the child in you, makes you wonder where you’ve been hiding it, and ponder whether you might ought to let it — and the idealism that went along with it – out once in a while.

“Hotel for Dogs” takes grown-up cynicism and gives it a big sloppy lick in the face.

Hotel for Dogs opens Jan. 16.

Across the country, animal shelters are filling up, looking for ways to find homes for more dogs and, in some cases, closing their doors amid an influx of abandoned pets caused primarily by the flagging economy.

Both public and private shelters are feeling the strain of too many dogs and cats and not enough homes that want them.

The Madison ARK animal shelter is just one of many that is telling people they just can’t take anymore.

Mandy Nabors, executive director of Madison ARK said that it’s currently housing about 70 animals and there is no more room, according to one MSNBC report.

People are still dropping them off, though.

“They began dropping them at our doorstep,” Nabors said. “We found a cat in the back in a carrier, a dog someone left for us in our outdoor fences, several litters of puppies left just in the yard — and we’re not going to turn them away. We took them in and we just have no more space. All of the rooms of the building are taken up and all the rooms have animals. Our supplies are running out very, very quickly.” Read more »