ohmidog!

Minnesota’s legislature was on the verge of passing a simple little law — requiring retailers to post signs warning consumers that cocoa mulch can be fatal to dogs — when the governor stepped in and vetoed it.

Why? Because, he said, it was an example of “legislative overreach.”

“I share the goal that we should take reasonable precautions to protect our pets,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty wrote. “However, it is unreasonable to ask all retailers to post signs at the point of purchase for such products.

“A better approach would be to require manufacturers to post warning labels on the products themselves, where necessary and appropriate. We should also supplement efforts to protect our pets by raising public awareness regarding products that are potentially harmful to them.”

The law, nicknamed ”Moose’s Law“ for a chocolate Lab who died after ingesting cocoa bean shell mulch, was authored by state Sen. Scott Dibble. It would have required businesses selling the mulch to post signs, warning that the product is potentially poisonous to pets, and advising them to contact a veterinarian or the Animal Poison Control Center if a pet eats it.

Moose belonged to Terry and Dawn Hall who moved to Minneapolis from Atlanta, and laid down the mulch while landscaping their yard in the summer of 2007.

“The package said it was organic,” Terry Hall says. “It was nice and dark, and we thought that would look really good.”

A couple of days later, on a boat on the St. Croix River, they threw a Frisbee into the water for Moose to retrieve. He dove in and never came up. They spotted his body floating beneath the surface of the water.

Learn more about cocoa bean shell mulch here.

Baltimore’s City Council tonight approved lowering the fine for leash law violations from $1,000 to $200 for a first offense.

Subsequent offenses would carry fines of $400 and $600.

A city council committee recommended the changes after a hearing held last week.

The council also voted to lower the fine for failing to clean up dog waste from $1,000 to $200.

Councilman James Kraft said he would try to get Mayor Sheila Dixon to sign the legislation tomorrow.

The higher penalties went into effect in February. Though they were approved by the city council, several members say they voted for them inadvertently while approving broad changes in the city’s dog law.

Complaints about the higher fines surfaced after animal control officers began handing out $1,000 citations in March. At least 35 were issued, but city officials say those citations will revert to the lower fine.

The council also approved giving the Recreation and Parks Department authority to designate leash-free areas and hours at city parks.

A man who shot and killed a police dog was sentenced to life in prison last week — not so much because he killed a police dog, but because it was his third strike, according to a report in the Seattle Times.

Ronald J. Chenette, convicted six months ago of killing Dakota, a 5-year-old German shepherd owned by the Vancouver Police Department, was sentenced Friday in Clark County Superior Court in Vancouver, Washington — a state where conviction of a third violent crime mandates a life sentence.

The day Dakota was shot, Chenette “got his hands on a couple of beers and a handgun,” court-appointed defense attorney Jeff Barrar said. A friend of Chenette’s called 911 and said Chenette was threatening to kill police. SWAT officers were called out to a wooded area with a steep gully, which would have been difficult for the two-legged officers to navigate. So Dakota went in.

Soon, officers heard a gunshot. Chenette said he fought with Dakota for more than a minute before he fired. He said he thought Dakota was going for his throat and was going to kill him. “All I have to say is, I’m sorry about the dog that got shot,” Chenette said.

Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson said the sentence wasn’t “freakish or unfair or unconstitutional” since Chenette’s first two violent crimes were against humans.

What do children, the elderly and postal workers have in common?

They are the most frequent victims of the estimated 4.7 million dog bites that occur a year — about  386,000 of which require a trip to the emergency room, and 16 of which prove fatal.

If you haven’t already figured it out, it’s National Dog Bite Prevention Week — time to roll out the sobering statistics, and make the point that, with nothing more than education and common sense, those numbers could be reduced dramatically.

Perhaps the most effective way to do so is by educating children — or educating parents to educate their children — on how to behave around dogs.

“Approximately half of the 800,000 Americans who receive medical attention for dog bites each year are children. And when a dog bites a child, the victim’s small size makes the bite more likely to result in a severe injury,” says Dr. James O. Cook, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Statistically, children ages 5 to 9 years old are at the highest risk of being bitten followed by adult males.

While many people are under the impression that certain breeds are more likely to bite, the American Veterinary Medical Association says there’s little scientific evidence to support that claim.

Here are some tips on preventing dog bites, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

After today, there are only two more Sundays left in May to take advantage of discounted $5 adoptions at Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter.

As part of a “Love in Bloom” special, BARCS — faced with its annual inundation of cats and a slowdown in adoptions – is offering the Sundays-only special until the end of the month. The special applies to dogs and cats, normally $65 to adopt.

“Adoptions are going very slow for all shelters and rescue groups at this time. This is causing tremendous heartbreak, especially for BARCS since we are required to accept all animals brought to us even when are shelter is full,” said BARCS Executive Director Jennifer Mead.

BARCS is also looking for volunteers to foster kittens that aren’t old enough to be adopted, and in some cases need to be bottle fed.

“Fostering animals helps by making room in our shelter for other animals coming in,” Mead said. “On Thursday May 14th alone, we took in 62 cats and kittens and 17 dogs. This is just one example of the high volumes of animals we receive every day.”

For more information, visit BARCS website, or call 410-396-4695.

Joy. Sadness. Hope. Fear. Fairness. Compassion. Curiosity. Resentment. Jealousy. Anxiety. Embarassment. Remorse.

Despite those who will tell you dogs feel none of those — that they are solely motivated by hunger — evidence is mounting that dogs’ emotions run a gamut a lot like the gamut our’s run. (Damn gamut.)

Ten years ago, anyone arguing that dogs felt guilt or compassion would have been laughed out of the room — and accused of anthropomorphism once he was gone.

Today, as an article in the Denver Post points out, scientists are finally acknowledging what pet owners have suspected all along – that dogs have feelings too, a lot like our’s, probably as a result of all these years evolving under the same roof together.

“We’re not trying to elevate animals. We’re not trying to reduce humans. We’re not saying we’re better or worse or the same,” said animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of the University of Colorado. “We’re saying we’re not alone in having a nuanced moral system.”

Bekoff, co-author of the newly released “Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals,” is convinced dogs animals possess empathy and compassion, the emotions upon which moral sense is built. “Dogs know they are dependent. They learn to read us,” Bekoff said. “Dogs develop this great sense of trust. We’re tightly linked, and there is something spiritual about that unity.”

These days, more scientists are following in Bekoff’s footsteps – Harvard University, for instance, recently opened a Canine Cognition Lab, where researchers seek insight into the psychology of both humans and dogs.

“The amount of skepticism has dramatically dropped,” Bekoff said.

You can find the full Denver Post article here.

Husky, the shepherd mix who was all over the news this week for standing by his mother’s side after she was struck by a car, diverting traffic and, for a while, police officers who were trying to lend a hand, paid a visit to his recovering mother yesterday.

Chile, his mother, suffered a broken leg. Surgery was performed yesterday and her outlook is good. Husky is back home with his owner Andrew Harris, of the Bronx.

Husky stood by his mother’s side on the Major Deegan Expressway until help arrived. Rescue workers took Chile to the veterinary hospital. Husky apparently found his own way home.

A humane officer for the Humane Society of Parkersburg in West Virginia made up the story that someone threw seven puppies and an adult dog out of a moving truck on I-77, investigators said Friday.

Steven Whitehair made up the story to get publicity for the humane society, said Sgt. Shawn Graham of the Wood County Sheriff’s Department.

Whitehair reported to authorities that the agency received an emergency call from a witness who said a man was throwing dogs out of a truck going north on Interstate 77 between Rockport and Mineral Wells the morning of May 8, according to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel.

Whitehair also told authorities he was cleaning the mess when the alleged perpetrator returned to the scene and confessed, however, investigators could not locate the man.

“A lot of Whitehair’s statement just didn’t make any sense,” Graham said.

Whitehair, in his original report, said the unidentified suspect got into a dispute with his girlfriend about the dogs, and then threw the dogs out of the car.

Whitehair will be charged with obstruction and possibly false reporting, Graham said.

An orangutan named Suryia and a dog named Roscoe — both now residents of a South Carolina animal sanctuary — will be showing up today on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

And the unusual friendship — reminiscent of the one we showed you between Tarra and Bella, the elephant and dog who are buddies at a Tennessee animal sanctuary — will be part of an upcoming National Geographic Channel program as well.

Suryia and Roscoe, a blue tick coonhound, live at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in Myrtle Beach.

The pair encountered each other two years ago when Roscoe followed institute staff home. He was spotted by Suryia, who came over to introduce himself. They’ve been fast friends ever since.

“As soon as he saw Roscoe, Suryia ran over to him and they started playing,” Bhagavan Antle, founder of TIGERS told UK’s Daily Mail. “‘It was unusual because dogs are usually scared of primates but they took to each other straight away.”

“‘Roscoe looked really thin and a little lost so we fed him and took care of him … We made a few calls to see if he belonged to anyone and when no-one came forward, Roscoe ended up staying.”

Suryia, while helping to raise baby primates at the sanctuary, always takes some time to spend with Roscoe, swimming, rolling around in the grass, or going for walks.

“Suryia will take Roscoe for walks around the enclosure and even feeds him some of his monkey biscuits,” Antle said.