ohmidog!

Baltimore’s animal lovers, angered over the death of a pit bull who was set on fire last week, are asking the city to start taking animal abuse more seriously — by creating a task force, making the animal control office part of the police department, and ensuring that animal cruelty cases are prosecuted to the fullest extent.

The group has started an online petition, and will present the signatures to the city.

The pit bull, given the name Phoenix when she was brought in to Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS), was found on fire in West Baltimore last Wednesday by a police officer who, as other witnesses looked on, put the fire out with her sweater.

The officer, Syreeta Teel, was honored in a City Hall ceremony today, receiving an award from BARCS, presented by Mayor Sheila Dixon.

A reward for information leading to the arrest of those who doused the dog with gasoline and set her on fire now stands at $24,500. The dog lived three days after she was found, but was euthanized after her kidneys shut down while trying to fight off infection caused by burns over 90 percent of her body.

The incident has prompted a petition drive sponsored by Recycled Love, a non–profit organization dedicated to rescuing animals from abuse, injury, neglect and abandonment. Click on “read more” to view the petition in its entirety.

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This is likely an advertisement in disguise (for the Sony Ericsson C510, with Smile Shutter), seems a trifle staged, and is far from scientific. But it passes the cute test.

In the video series, a camera is attached to the necks of different pups to document the reaction of the women the dog attracts. The purpose: to determine which breed is the best chick magnet.

In case you don’t have 10 minutes to spare, here are the results: The samoyed drew the most females, but the pug — at least in the view of the two dudes in the video — drew the hottest ones.

Snoopy beat out Lassie, but just barely, in a recent poll conducted on behalf of the new AOL pet website, PawNation.com.

Both Lassie and Snoopy captured 39 percent of the votes for “favorite celebrity animal,” but Snoopy edged the beloved, but fading from memory collie by 14 votes. Garfield and Scooby Doo trailed with 12 and 11 percent, respectively.

The survey covered other important issues as well.

Asked “which celebrity pet’s passing did you mourn the most?” Oprah’s deceased dog Sophie came in at the top, followed by Mickey Rourke’s chihuahua, Loki.

In other results from the poll, the honors for ”craziest pet owner” went to Leona Helmsley, with Paris Hilton a distant second. And the celebrity picked as the one people would most trust to watch their pet was Jennifer Aniston, who captured a whopping 70 percent of the vote, beating out Mickey Rourke, Pam Anderson and Nicole Richie.

Almost half of the respondents said their pets sleep in their beds every night, and more than fourth said they did some sometimes.

(Graphic: from redkid’s ”Snoopy Says Generator”)

A Tennessee lawyer who was suing a local groomer over the death of his dog is now working to raise money for the groomer’s parentless children.

Knoxville attorney Tom Ramsey set up the fund after learning that Erik Webb, the man he was suing, had fatally stabbed his wife, then shot and killed himself.

The Webbs had three children.

Erik Webb owned Happy Tails Pet Spa in West Knoxville. He and his wife, Sarah, were separated, according to a  WATE-TV report.

Police said Webb killed his wife with a kitchen knife at her home, then drove to his pet spa and shot himself.

Ramsey started the fund the day after the killing. Ramsey had taken his beagle, Moxie, to Happy Tails last year for a bath and the dog later died. A necropsy found Moxie suffered broken ribs and a lacerated liver, as well as bruising inside the beagle’s ear and mouth and signs of heat exhaustion.

The Ramsey family filed a $750,000 lawsuit in December claiming that their dog died as a result of “intentional or highly reckless conduct.” Webb was also charged with animal cruelty.

Ramsey says he doesn’t feel responsible for what happened, but started the fund to help the Webb’s children.

“I’ve got three kids and I spent a sleepless night last night, obviously. But our goal all along with this lawsuit was only to stop the practices that were going on. Our goal wasn’t …  to hurt anybody in the family or family members.” Ramsey says.

(Photo: Erik Webb in police file photo)