ohmidog!

A deer being chased by a dog crashed through the front window of a Greek restaurant Thursday afternoon in Silver Spring, Md. 

The Washington Post reports that the deer, a nine-month-old buck, upended tables, shattering glassware and terrifying customers who sought shelter in the kitchen and on top of tables as the deer ran through the restaurant.

Here’s a peek at Oprah’s new dog, which she has named Sadie.

The cocker spaniel pup was adopted from PAWS Chicago.

Petfinder.com, of which PAWS is a member, says they have are nearly 2,000 adoptable cocker spaniels and cocker mixes available for adoption.

Oprah planned to introduce her new dog to viewers on her show today.

Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada has taken issue with a  report in the Brownsville Herald, later picked up by the Associated Press (and referenced in ohmidog!), that states he entered an apartment without a tenant’s approval while trying to help a great dane he thought was stranded on a second floor apartment balcony.

“Your story titled ‘Mayor Responds to Dane in Distress’ was so inaccurate, no wonder people do not want to get involved with pets or humans that are in need of our assistance,” the Texas mayor said in a letter to the newspaper that he also placed on his website.

Ahumada said that, although he called the fire department, he didn’t scale a ladder to enter the apartment — as some subsequent reports stated — but instead entered at at the tenant’s invitation. He also says the dog clearly appeared to be in need of assistance.

“Your reporter should have taken the time to speak with witnesses and the Channel 5 crew (not Channel 23 as I mistakenly reported earlier), Rita Garcia and cameraman Ricky Rodriguez, who called me to help with what appeared to be an injured dog with the owner not available to help by all accounts at the scene of a very frantic situation. We all believed the dog had a broken leg because he was frantically trying to get up but could not and appeared to be in a lot of pain (see for yourself at www.krgv.com “Dog seen dangling helplessly from second story balcony).

“When I got there, I concurred with Channel 5 and the bystanders’ assessment of the need to contact public safety to help rescue the pet that by all accounts could not get up because his whole hind leg was hanging down from the balcony and jammed between the iron balcony railing and the walkway. The pet was frantic and it was distressful.

“Your Herald article states I climbed the balcony, which I did not, but was given access to the apartment by the owner who invited me in and explained the situation that, unbeknownst to anyone watching the dog in distress, the dog was 14 years old, arthritic and on pain medication. It also became obvious that the owner of the dog was home but was totally unaware of the situation that his dog was lying in his feces and was trapped between the iron balcony and the walkway or his dog’s frantic efforts to withdraw his entire leg that was trapped and hanging from the balcony for over an hour.

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Soldiers recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and homeless dogs at the Washington Humane Society are helping each other out.

The arrangement — the dogs and soldiers get together twice a week at the Washington Humane Society — is producing benefits for both, according to an Army press release.

The soldiers get some time out of the hospital, and something to get their minds off their injuries. They take classes in animal behavior, learn grooming and practice training dogs. The dogs, meanwhile, get some attention and, through the training, become more adoptable.

The program got its start last spring when volunteers walking dogs for the Washington Humane Society — located across the street from Walter Reed’s main gate — noticed how patients would brighten up when the dogs came buy.

“They’re right across the street and we have an entire campus of recovering soldiers who have a lot of time in their days for the most part, and we have a lot of dogs and animals who need that extra human interaction and training and companionship,” Kevin Simpson of the Humane Society said. ”So it was just seeing that need and figuring out a way to put the two together.”

“We’ve learned how to make dogs sit, recognize their names, how to heel, how to leave things alone without bothering it. Just a lot of training of dogs and their reactions and personalities,” said Staff Sgt. Ladeaner Williams after completing a lesson in dog agility and guiding dogs through a series of obstacles.

Williams is undergoing treatment at Walter Reed for post traumatic stress disorder. She thought that working with the dogs would be a good way to develop her interest in becoming a veterinarian. The dogs also have the added benefit of helping her relax.

“I look forward to this every Tuesday and Thursday,” she explained. “The dogs look forward to it. It’s kind of sad. You train the dogs and you come back the next week and they may be adopted, so you don’t get to work with them again. But it’s nice to know that they are being adopted and that the training is paying off.”

(Footnote: A staff member at the Washington Humane Society reports that a dog she impounded was adopted by a graduate of the “Dog Tags” program. “They’re making each other’s lives better than they ever could have been otherwise. The dog was sure to die (as five of her puppies had) where she had been left before I found her, and her dad has found a new reason to get up in the morning.”)

 (US Army photo by Elizabeth M. Collins)

The Los Angeles County supervisors have unanimously approved a motion to seek broader oversight over  “puppy mills,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

The motion calls on the county’s chief executive, county counsel and various county departments to report back in 45 days with proposals for legal changes that would improve the quality of care and ensure safe and responsible breeding at high volume kennels and breeding operations.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich said that during the last six months the county has had to seize or relocate hundreds of puppies and dogs from so-called puppy mills, increasing the burden on county animal shelters. “This is cruel for the animals and places a tremendous burden on county taxpayers,” Antonovich said.

To drugs, explosives, fleeing criminals, oncoming seizures and even cancer, add peanuts to the list of what dogs are saving lives by sniffing out.

About a dozen dogs in the country have been trained to detect the presence of peanuts, and protect their owners from serious allergic reactions.

One of them, Rock’O, a Portugese water dog, is safeguarding a Colorado girl named Riley Mers, 8, whose allergy to peanuts is so severe that contact with them could send her body into shock within minutes.

“It might look to you like it’s a kid playing with a dog,” Riley’s mother, Sherry, told ABC News. “To me, that’s a dog that’s saving my daughter’s life while they’re playing.”

“Training a peanut allergy dog to sniff out peanuts is much like training a dog to do narcotics or bomb sniffing,” said Tina Rivero, head trainer of Angel Service Dogs in Monument. “It’s just a different scent that they are hitting on. Instead of the marijuana or the cocaine or the bomb, they are actually finding the peanut.”

Having Rock’O along — even at school — means Riley no longer has to wear gloves, or ask classmates if they had peanut butter for lunch.

Upon detecting peanuts Rock’O sits in his “alert” position — a stance he’s been trained to make to let Riley know that he’s found something she should avoid.

“I can actually go to the mall. I can actually go to bowling alleys,” Riley said said. “I’m wanting to go to college, and I’m going to be able to.”