ohmidog!

Stump, the elderly Sussex spaniel who won best in show at Westminster, appeared on the Today Show this morning along with his equally laid back owner.

The oldest dog ever to win best in show — by a full two years — Stump seemed to be taking the victory in stride.

According to his owner, Scott Sommer, Stump, after his tour as the nation’s new top dog, will return to the retirement he went into five years ago when a bacterial infection almost killed him.

The Today Show interview shed little other light on his illness, which was treated at Texas A&M University.

As David Frei, who also appeared on the show and handled most of the questions, put it, some dogs are full of themselves, some a little more laid back. Stump, the new numero uno, definitely falls into the latter category.

Mayor Don Call received a standing ovation Monday at the McCune City Council meeting for shooting and killing two dogs who had been the subject of citizen complaints.

More than 70 people showed up for the meeting, many of them to show support for the Kansas mayor, KMBC-TV reported. Call admitted to shooting the dogs after a neighbor complained they were chasing children.

“We all should be proud we have a mayor like Don Call that will take care of us and protect our kids,” Shirley Showalter told the council.

Call has been charged with two felony counts of animal cruelty and one misdemeanor count of criminal discharge of a weapon.

Duane Wahl, who owned the two dogs, did not attend the meeting, but he told The Joplin Globe that residents were wrong to support the mayor: “The fact is, whether they like the idea that he shot my dogs or not, he still shot my dogs on my property. They were on chains in my yard when he shot them. It was still wrong. It don’t matter if my dogs got loose in the past.”

According to police and the mayor, Call shot the dogs with a 9 mm rifle as they lay on the sidewalk outside Wahl’s house.

Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton has said that since July 2008, his office has received four complaints about Wahl’s dogs running loose and acting aggressively but that none of the complaints came from a victim.

We doubt that Baltimore’s mayor — upon whose shoes my dog once sat — will be showing up but, if you want to drop by, here are the details for our “ohmidog! Identity Crisis and Breed Reveal Party.”

Where: Idle Hour Tavern, 201 E. Fort Ave., Baltimore

When: Today, 6 – 9 p.m.

Background: My dog Ace had his DNA tested a year and a half ago, as part of a series of stories and dogumentary I did for the Baltimore Sun. The test, based on a swab from his cheek, showed him to contain Rottweiler and chow. Since then, the tests have become more sophisticated, and capable of detecting more breeds. So we tested Ace again, this time, using the Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed test kit, which analyzes DNA through blood samples. It came out differently. We also tested Elliot, who won our “What’s In Your Mutt?” contest. Two breeds were found in him as well.

Tonight, you can meet the dogs and, in exchange for a donation to the Franky Fund for sick and injured animals at BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter), make a guess as to what breeds are in them. The two who guess correctly will receive (in the mail) ohmidog! hooded sweatshirts. (In the event of ties, the earlier guess wins.) We’ll start taking guesses at 6 p.m. The “reveal” takes place at 8 p.m.

Our little celebration of mutthood will also include a raffle for a treat basket from K-9 Kraving Dog Food, human snacks (including, of course “mixed” nuts), information on how to find out what’s in your mutt, and other prizes.

All proceeds will go to the Franky Fund.