ohmidog!

Eight dogs are now suspected of ingesting poison in a Mesa, Arizona park, according to a story in yesterday’s Arizona Republic.

One of the cases resulted in death — a German shepherd mix named CJ, who died March 1 after a walk in  Carriage Lane Park in southwest Mesa.

CJ’s owner, Christine Pomerenke, said she had let the dog off the leash and found him eating hamburger left on the ground. About 15 minutes after returning home, she found CJ dead.

Earlier that day, Reece Ponicki’s dog, Max, a black Labrador/greyhound mix, had also fallen ill after eating  hamburger laced with strychnine at the park.

“(Max) was panting pretty heavily,” Ponicki said. “All of a sudden he stood straight up on his hind legs, stared up at ceiling and fell over, and started having seizures.” The dog spent two days in the hospital, resulting in a $3,000 vet bill for his recently laid off owner.

A sample from Max’s stomach tested positive for strychnine, said Chad Willis, an officer with Mesa’s animal control office.

Willis said recent budget cuts may hinder their chances of finding the culprit. The city recently slashed its animal-control officers from seven to two.

Concerned residents have started a website about the poisonings: www.carriagelanecanines.com.

Two Crofton residents have been arrested and charged with shooting their friend’s pit bull, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Anne Arundel County police say 25-year-old Phillip Balboni and 21-year-old Sarah Tavanello called the owner Feb. 25 to say they couldn’t care for the dog. The dog’s owner, who was recovering from surgery, told them it would take three or four hours to pick up the dog. Police say Tavanello and Balboni told the owner that was too long.

Balboni took the pit bull down a trail in Patuxent Ponds Park in Odenton and shot the dog three times, police said. A witness found the dog dead about 6 p.m. after hearing the gunshots and a dog yelping.

Balboni was arrested Monday on animal cruelty and weapons charges. Tavanello is charged with animal cruelty.

Race officials yesterday vowed to continue the search for a dog missing in the Iditarod.

Nancy Yoshida, 58, of North Dakota, who was entered in her first Iditarod sled dog race, was forced to drop out of the 1,100-mile race around midday Tuesday after her sled lost its runners. In the process, one of her dogs got loose and is lost in the winter wilderness, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.

After becoming stalled amid sharp switchbacks and losing both runners on her sled, one of the dogs on Yoshida’s team became separated from the team of 16 and ran off, race spokesman Chas St. George said today.

Searchers in the area, which is within the first quarter of the course, had been looking for the dog since daybreak, St. George said. Yoshida, who “spent a long time looking for her dog” on Tuesday, remains at the nearby Rainy Pass checkpoint.

“We’ve had great success” finding lost dogs in the past, St. George said. While the searchers “would never put their lives in jeopardy … we’re going to continue to search until we find this dog.”

Meanwhile, a necropsy on a dog that died in the race found no obvious cause of death, according to Iditarod race marshall Mark Nordman. Further tests were planned, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

The 6-year-old male, named Victor, was in the team of Jeff Holt from North Pole. When the dog faltered, Holt tried to revive him, then carried him in the sled to the Rohn checkpoint, where veterinarians pronounced the dog dead.

Kenneth Munzert, a wealthy Baltimore man who died last year, left what could turn out to be more than a million dollars to animal welfare organizations — much of it in memory of his loyal German shepherd, Beauregard.

According to a will filed in Baltimore last month, Munzert left an estimated $990,228 – three-quarters of which is directed to animal protection groups. That amount doesn’t include his house in Federal Hill, overlooking the Inner Harbor.

The house, which appears in the Al Pacino movie, “And Justice for All,” will be auctioned March 31, with proceeds going to the SPCA of Richmond, Va., an organization that had agreed to care for Beauregard if Munzert preceded him in death.

Munzert — a private and eccentric man who sometimes slept with his dog on the floor — died last year at 88, with no close family. A story about Munzert and his bequest appears in today’s Baltimore Sun.

On the Richmond SPCA website, CEO Robin Starr Starr explains how she came to know Munzert.

“I came to know Ken a number of years ago when his attorney contacted me because Ken was deeply concerned that he might predecease his beloved dog, Beauregard, and he had no friends or family who could give Beau a good home for the remainder of his life.

“The attorney asked me if I would consider accepting responsibility for Beau, with a promise not to euthanize him unless medically necessary for the remainder of his life. I had not made a practice of accepting responsibility for people’s pets after their death but, after I spoke with Ken, I agreed to do so for Beau.

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A year ago, it was a struggle just to keep up on family walk. Now, with help from doctors at N.C. State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and some state of the art technology, Cassidy has the ability to run again.

Since getting an implanted prosthesis in his leg in July, 6-year-old Cassidy has been back to the vet school several times to make sure the implant was fusing with the bone, making it stable enough to support what would eventually become Cassidy’s right hind leg. On Tuesday, doctors fitted Cassidy with a titanium leg complete with a running foot that will replace a temporary peg leg Cassidy has been wearing.

Steve Posovsky, Cassidy’s owner, said the dog’s artificial leg has gotten a lot of attention. “You can’t even walk down the street,” he said. “People take pictures of him, you get stopped constantly … ‘What is this, how did it happen? I’ve never seen it before. Can I take a picture with him?’ It’s non-stop.”

The new titanium prosthesis and its padded “foot” are designed to be more lifelike than typical artificial limbs, allowing Cassidy’s leg to bend naturally. A carbon fuse inside the prosthesis allows for rotation of the leg and guards against undue stress on the implant.

Doctors say the technology is moving in the right direction for eventual use in humans.

A California lawmaker has proposed making it illegal to flee the scene of an accident in which a dog, cat or farm animal has been injured.

The measure, sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Eng, would require that drivers attempt to provide aid to an injured farm animal or pet, and notify the owner or animal-control authorities. Violators would face fines and possible jail time.

Eng said he wrote the bill after hearing from a constituent who lost a family dog.

While it is a misdemeanor to flee an accident involving property loss — after crushing a mailbox, for example – there is no law against a hit-and-run involving a pet, Eng said.

“You can wantonly hit an animal and leave and face no consequences,” Eng said. “An inanimate object has more rights.”

“In theory, it makes a lot of sense to let people know they have an obligation when they hit an animal,” Jon Cicirelli of the California Animal Control Directors Association, told the Los Angeles Times. “But in practice it can be pretty problematic.” Injured animals might turn on people trying to help, he pointed out.

New York, Germany and Singapore have similar laws, according to the Times article.

Some of the ugliest dogs in San Diego gathered in Del Mar over the weekend in hopes of being proclaimed worst in show.

The honor went to Chomper, a pound pooch with a long speckled tongue that protrudes from his mouth — even when it’s closed.

“Chomper came in as a puppy about four years ago,” said Nola Chastang with San Diego Animal Rescue. “The whole litter had distemper. He’s the only survivor. He’s totally healthy, he’s been to the vet, checked out, he’s healthy.”

Chomper is a boxer mix, about four years old.

Proceeds from the event — this year’s was the 14th — go to the Helen Woodward Animal Shelter and other animal rescue projects across the county.

Over the past few months in Tomball, Texas — a small town about 30 miles north of downtown Houston –several dogs have been found abandoned and bound with duct tape.

Workers at area animal shelters suspect the dogs may have been victims of sexual abuse.

Shelter volunteers, upon receiving Vegas — the dog in the video above — considered it a sick, but isolated case of cruelty. Then they heard other duct-taped dogs have showed up near a Tomball area body shop, KTRK-TV reported.

“The first dog showed up, her legs were duct taped together and she was inside the fence,” said Greg Eckelkamp with Tomball Collision Center. “She ran off and we’ve had three others I guess since then.”

Shelter workers treated Vegas for a serious infection caused by the abuse. She has since been spayed and scheduled for adoption.

No law enforcement agencies have gotten involved, the TV station reported.

This year’s Itarod has claimed its first victim – a six-year-old dog in the team of North Pole musher Jeff Holt.

The dog, named Victor, died somewhere between the Rainy Pass and Rohn checkpoints, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Several teams ran into trouble on a steep section of trail in that stretch, the newspaper said, one of whom, Nancy Yoshida, 58, required being rescued after her sled lost both runners.

Other mushers said Yoshida’s sled and team blocked the narrow trail, causing wrecks behind her, but it’s not clear whether Holt’s dog died near that spot.

A necropsy will be conducted by a board-certified pathologist to try to determine why Holt’s dog perished, the Iditarod Trail Committee said in a press release.

Holt, a refinery operator who lives at the North Pole has a best finish of 59th in two previous Iditarods. He runs the Dogs & Dreams kennel.

Two dogs died in last year’s race, and at least three died in 2007 in a race that also saw a musher disqualified from the race for reportedly kicking and beating his dogs. Four dogs died in 2006, and at least three in 2005.

Two cats are dead and one dog remains missing after an explosion and fire at a Massachusetts animal hospital.

Head vet Scott Munson of the Cape Cod Animal Hospital in Barnstable said a dozen dogs were rescued after he and other rescuers broke the kennel door with a cinder block, allowing the animals to run out.

The recovered animals were taken to another animal hospital, according to an Associated Press report.

Fire officials say the Monday night fire started in the main veterinary offices. The state Fire Marshal is investigating, and trying to determine the fire’s origin. The blaze came 20 minutes after area residents reported their lights had dimmed.

Meanwhile, a 17th dog died Sunday from injuries it received in a Friday explosion and kennel fire in Carbon County, Pa.

That fire, at Pazzazz Pet Boarding kennel, near Beltzville State Park in Franklin Township, killed Martha Stewart’s chow chow, Genghis Khan. It started when a propane tank ignited as it was being filled by a delivery man, according to the Allentown Morning Call. The delivery man, who reportedly saved at least one dog, remains in critical condition at Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest, a hospital spokesman said.

Here’s a video report on that fire.