ohmidog!

A task force created to find a new contractor to handle animal control duties now performed by the Cecil County SPCA has found no takers, Commissioner Robert Hodge says.

The county received no applications from other agencies interested in taking over the contract, according to a report in last week’s Baltimore Sun.

The Cecil Couny SPCA is the subject of investigations by the Maryland State Police and the state veterinary medical examiner’s board, both of which, the Sun reports, are still underway. 

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Champ, the 4-year-old German shepherd mix who ran off from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs’ stadium during a fireworks display, is back with the home team.

Owned by IronPigs director of merchandising Janine Kurpiel, who regularly brings him with her to work at the clubhouse store, Champ went missing from Coca-Cola Park. He was discovered, five days later, not far from the park and in good condition.

Kurpiel said that the publicity about his disappearance prompted calls from as far away as North Carolina and Baltimore with people offering their prayers and tips for searching for lost dogs.

Since Champ’s return, Kurpiel has heard from a pet communicator in New York who told her that Champ had been out in the wild and met a girlfriend on his travels. She also recieved letters from group of first-graders, congratulating her on Champ’s return.

Councilman Edward L. Resigner’s office says a bill will be introduced at tonight’s Baltimore City Council meeting to reduce the recently increased penalty for leash law and other animal-related violations.

The new law, which went into effect last month, raised the penalty for unleashed dogs from $100 to $1,000.

After an outrcy by dog owners, Reisinger and other council members said they intended to try and get the new fine lowered to $250.

Other sponsors of the bill being anounced tonight are James B. Kraft, William H. Cole, IV, and Robert W. Curran.

To read our earlier coverage of the leash law issue, click here.

Should it be a crime to sell, own or distribute videos portraying dog fighting or other acts of animal cruelty?

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up that question, the Baltimore Sun reports.

While all 50 states have laws against animal cruelty — and while Congress 10 years ago made it illegal to sell or possess photos or videos of animals being maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded or killed — the question has arisen again because of an appeals court ruling last year.

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia declared then that the rarely used law was unconstitutional on the grounds it violated free speech. The judges said the First Amendment protects depictions of illegal activity with only few exceptions, child pornography being one.

The ruling overturned the conviction of Robert J. Stevens, a Virginia man who was serving three years in prison for selling videos of pit bulls fighting and viciously attacking other animals. Stevens advertised the videos in Sporting Dog Journal,  an underground journal that reports on illegal dog fights.

Stevens sold the videos to federal agents in Pittsburgh in 2003, and his prosecution was the first under the federal law that made it a crime to sell such videos.

Government lawyers appealed, urging the Supreme Court  to revive the law. “Graphic depictions of torture and maiming of animals … have little or no expressive content or redeeming societal value, and Congress has compelling reasons for prohibiting them,” they said in their appeal. Animal cruelty has “no place in a civilized society,” and the law should punish those who profit from it, they said.

The Ace of Cakes (Duff Goldman) may have been the biggest celebrity at yesterday’s March for the Animals, but Ace (my dog) probably got more action — as you can see in the slideshow above.

Between reprising our much loved “Kiss My Ace” Kissing Booth and Dog Breath Emporium, the ohmidog! Ball Toss and our sales of “ohmidog-O’s,” we raised a couple hundred dollars for the Maryland SPCA.

A Florida company has announced plans to start the nation’s first pets-only airline, allowing dogs and cats to travel in the cabin of its commuter planes.

Pet Airways, of Delray Beach, said Thursday it will begin operating weekly flights July 14 between New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.

The airline will use commuter planes operated by Suburban Airlines and the average fare will be about $250 each way, said Alysa Binder, founder and executive vice president.

There are tentative plans to expand to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and other major cities by the end of the year, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The start-up of Pet Airways comes as major commercial airlines have increased their pet travel fees and tightened restrictions to discourage pets flying in cabins. Pets flying Pet Airways will not travel in the cargo hold.

“For us, it’s all about the safety and the comfort of the pets,” Binder said.

Pet Airways “pawsengers” – as Binder calls them – will fly in a 19-seat turbo-prop passenger plane, the Beech 1900. The seats will be removed and planes will be fully-lit and climate-controlled. The airline will have pet check-in lounges and a Web site where customers can book reservations and track their pet’s travel progress.

It’s a car wash. No, It’s a dog wash.

Wait, it’s both — a self-service car wash in Voorhees, N.J.,  where you can also wash your dog.

The White Horse Road Car Wash and Dog Wash belongs to Al Nicolosi, who purchased a six-bay car wash last April and, looking for a way to increase his profits, turned one bay into a dog wash, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. He had heard about the idea at a trade show a couple of years ago.

“It was a perfect fit,” said Nicolosi, 37, of Lumberton, an entrepreneur who has been in the car-wash business for more than 15 years. It costs $8 for 10 minutes, and vending machines are available that supply shampoo, grooming aids and treats.

About 40 pooches per week are getting gussied up in the self-enclosed salon that accommodates two dogs, and Nicolosi expects the numbers to grow as warm weather approaches.

The combo is more popular than you might think There are more than 500 car/dog combo washes at about 100,000 total car-wash sites in the country, and a few of them even have a place to do your laundry as well.

Days like yesterday (and let’s hope that kind of weather holds out for today’s March for the Animals) are meant to be enjoyed, so we got up early and headed to Baltimore’s Riverside Park with Ace and Eli (a visiting dog) to soak up some sun, take care of business, and pitch in with a park clean-up that was getting underway.

We filled a couple of trash bags with the shrapnel of urban life — discarded socks, potato chip wrappers, tiny zip lock drug baggies, condom wrappers, cigarette butts, beer cans, diapers and more.

Among the handfuls of debris I was picking up — some mysterious, some identifiable — was this, a fortune cookie fortune, which said:

How cool would it be, I thought to myself, to get two more dogs, and name them “Excitement” and “Intrigue?” Then they could follow me wherever I went. (I didn’t play the lucky numbers, but feel free to try them if you like.)

Returning to the task at hand — bending over, picking up, bagging — I noticed I was having a hard time keeping my pants up (a common ailment among men as they get older and fatter). So I took Ace’s leash, put it through my pants loops and used it for the belt I forgot to put on that morning (forgetting being another common ailment among old fat men). Cinching it tight, I continued with trash patrol.  

Our bags nearly full, we stopped and visited with the bench-painting detail, where Ace supervised as a fresh coat of park green was applied. 

After that, we made a loop around the park, stopping to talk to Athena, a mastiff friend. As we chatted, Ace, tired from all the work, decided to lay down. He was about ten inches from feet — and still unleashed — when what to my wondering eyes should appear but:

The officer rolled to a stop. “Better get that dog on a leash,” he said. “There’s a $1,000 fine.”

I immediately complied, figuring the penalty for losing my pants wouldn’t be nearly that much. And while I’m thankful for not getting a citation, I couldn’t help but wonder a bit about our city’s priorities. It’s not so much that I was fingered while exhibiting — like many other dog owners involved in the cleanup — some civic responsibility. It’s just that, based on what was in my bag, the park, like the city, has bigger problems than an unleashed dog laying 10 inches from his guardian’s feet.

In a park where drug dealers regularly conduct their business, and hookers turn tricks in the porta-pots, having police crack down on unleashed dogs seems almost comedic.

As we completed our loop around the park, I noticed the officer had made a loop as well, and — unless I was being paranoid — seemed to be keeping an eye on me.

I was being followed, alright. But it was by neither excitement nor intrigue. It was the Baltimore Police Department.

Rain or shine, $1,000 fines or no $1,000 fines, The March for the Animals takes place tomorrow at Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park — and what better way to show this sometimes less than dog-friendly city how much you care about your dog and all dogs.

Not to tarnish the Maryland SPCA’s largest fundraiser of the year with politics, but it is an opportunity — in addition to having fun and raising money for homeless animals — to take stock of our numbers, and realize that for every four paws pounding the pavement tomorrow, there’s usually one or two registered voters behind them.

The past couple of weeks in the city of Baltimore have served as an example of what can happen when a community of dog lovers is uninformed and unconnected. And what can happen when they unite.

It was revealed that the city had raised the fines for unleashed dogs ten-fold, to $1,000, with little effort made to inform us about it, either before or after the fact. And this in a city that has yet to open a single government-funded dog park. (Several council members say they plan to try and revise the law and lower the fine Monday.)

It’s time for dog lovers to unite, and for “dog park” groups to unite — again, we use the term loosely, since the city has yet to open an official dog park. (The only one that exists is in Canton, and it was built by private donations.) The March for the Animals is an excellent opportunity to let the networking begin, and, of course, the ohmidog! booth will welcome any rabble-rousing activists who care to gather there.

Again, the day isn’t about politics, but there’s no reason we can’t at least make initial contact, and exchange emails and phone numbers, amid all the fun, festivities and fund-raising.

At the ohmidog! booth, we’ll be holding contests (free Furminators will be among the prizes), bringing back our popular “Kiss My Ace” kissing booth, and offering our new hand-made, all-natural dog treats, “ohmidog-O’s” – all profits from the sale of which will be turned over to the Maryland SPCA.

The march runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; registration begins at 9:00 a.m. Sunshine is predicted in the morning, with rain expected to hold off until later in the day, so the event won’t likely be the soggy affair it was last year.

It’s still not too late to raise pledges for the March, the Maryland SPCA says, by asking your friends, family members and co-workers to sponsor you and your dog. Bring your pledges and donations to the event. With at least $30 in donations, you receive a doggie bandana and goody bag. With $40 and over, you also receive a March for the Animals T-shirt.

Additional information is available at the March for the Animals website, and if you need some help figuring out how to get there, here’s a map.

Among the day’s highlights:

Police found an 8-month-old puppy taped to the side of a refrigerator in a Boulder, Colorado home Tuesday morning, the apparent subect and victim of a domestic dispute between his owner and his girlfriend.

Abby Toll, 20, was arrested on suspicion of felony animal cruelty after telling police she taped the puppy, a shiba inu named Rex, to the fridge because she was angry at her boyfriend for not getting rid of his pet after it had bitten her, the Colorado Daily reported.

“There’s a dog taped to the fridge,” she reportedly told an officer who responded to a call about a domestic incident at the apartment in the 2900 block of East Aurora Avenue around 5 a.m. Tuesday. “I know this looks bad. We were going to get rid of him anyway. We usually don’t do this.”

The dog’s feet, snout and tail were bound in clear packing tape, a plastic bag and elastic hair ties, and he was taped to the side of the refrigerator with more packing tape. He was taken to  the Humane Society of Boulder Valley for safekeeping.

CEO Lisa Pedersen said Tuesday that Rex was doing fine and the Humane Society would take care of him until the legal case is resolved, at which time he may be put up for adoption.

Toll, a University of Colorado sophomore majoring in environmental design, faces felony charges of animal cruelty and domestic violence. She was being held at Boulder County Jail in lieu of a $12,500 bond.

Police said Toll slapped her boyfriend, 21-year-old Bryan Beck, in the face and threw several objects at him after taping the dog to the fridge.

Beck, who has been dating Toll for about a year, returned to his apartment Monday evening to find dog poop and urine throughout. Toll told Beck to get rid of Rex, saying he bit her a few days earlier. The couple argued, but made up. The next morning, Toll tried to apply cream to an old wound on Rex and he growled and bared his teeth at her. Upset, she decided to get back at her boyfriend and “teach the dog a lesson.”

When Beck saw the dog, he told Toll: “Take him down. You are so sick.” To which she replied: “No, you are sick for not caring enough about me to get rid of the dog.” A fight ensued, and the dog remained taped to the fridge for about 20 minutes, until police arrived in response to someone reporting the couple’s yells.

Toll’s Chihuahua, Peanut, was also taken to the Humane Society after the couple’s arrest.

(Photo: Police mug shot, via Colorado Daily)