ohmidog!

Claiming he was gypped out of a five-legged dog, freak show owner John Strong is taking his case to court — TV court.

Strong’s breach of contract case against Calvin Owensby, who reneged on his offer to sell Strong the dog for use in his Coney Island sideshow, will be heard next Wednesday in the studio courtroom of the show “Judge Jeanine Pirro.”

The hearing will air on Sept. 21, the Gaston Gazette reported. Representatives of the program approached Strong about airing the case on TV.

Owensby, of Gastonia, agreed to sell Strong his five-legged Chihuahua puppy for $3,000 in late June.  The next day day Allyson Siegel, of Charlotte, offered Owensby $4,000 for the dog, hoping to spare it from life as a sideshow exhibit. Owensby, who’d acecpted a deposit from Strong, canceled the earlier deal, returned the deposit and sold the puppy to Siegel.

Siegel, who renamed the dog — from Precious to Lilly — had  the dog’s fifth leg amputated two weeks ago, immediately after hearing Strong planned to take legal action to prevent the amputation.

“I’m a very good talker. I can make my points come across,” Strong told the Gazette. “I’m just not going to stay quiet on this because I don’t want the general public to perceive me as a bad person, and this woman is perceived as a hero.”

The television show will pay Strong the $4,000 if Owensby loses the case, according to a spokesperson from the show.

Strong said he resents accusations that he would humiliate the dog and treat it poorly at his sideshow.

“No animal has the intelligence to know if they’re humiliated or not,” he said.

I’m not a big fan of justice being dispensed on TV shows, but here’s hoping Strong gets totally and publicly humiliated by Judge Jeanine — not that, judging from the case he’s presented so far, he’d necessarily realize it if he was.

Gabrielle, the 8-month-old cat a witness says was set on fire twice by two boys in northwest Baltimore, was the sixth animal torture case to surface in Baltimore this summer, according to Caroline Griffin, chairwoman of a task force set up last month to fight animal abuse.

The abuse was reported by a witness last week, but the cat, who appears to be recovering despite serious burns, wasn’t located until this week, said Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter director Jennifer Mead-Brause.

Two boys were seeing throwing rocks and bricks at the cat, then pouring liquid on her and setting her on fire. When the cat managed to roll around and put the fire out, the youths set her on fire again, BARCS says.

In addition to Gabrielle, at least five other cases of animal torture have been reported in the city this summer, starting in May when a pit bull was set on fire. A police officer put the fire out, but the dog, dubbed Phoenix, had to be euthanized several days later when the burns — over 98 percent of the dog’s body — led to other complications.

After that a dead cat was found with a blue cord tied around its neck, and another was found secured to a fence. It had apparently been killed with fireworks. Last month, two cats were found in an outdoor cellar in Elkwood Park, where they had apparently been stoned to death.

Jack Domm, who owned one of the cats, named Squeaks, said the cat had been missing two weeks when it another were found dead in the hole.

“These cats were put in the hole and stoned to death,” Domm told WBAL-TV. He said he thinks neighborhood kids threw the cats in the hole and battered them with broken concrete.

Shanghai’s dog owners could find themselves facing stricter guidelines after the city’s lawmakers finish drafting new rules governing pet ownership.

Even small dogs may be forbidden on public transport and in shopping malls and supermarkets. Other provisions could restrict where dogs can be walked and make owners responsible for any messes they leave behind, according to Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.

Shanghai People’s Congress has started research on the issue and will work with the Public Security Bureau to develop comprehensive new dog ownership rules, local lawmakers said.

Shanghai’s current dog regulations were issued in 1993, and though amended in 1997 and 2002, they aren’t sufficiently detailed to cope with the city’s modern-day canine concerns, the security bureau said.

“If dog management is not strengthened, these pets may still bring pleasure to their owners but could pose trouble or even danger to the larger population,” said Deng Zixin, a member of Shanghai People’s Congress.

Economic prosperity has allowed more people to own pets in Shanghai, and the sight of dogs romping in parks and greenbelts has become increasingly common. Current regulations don’t specify what neighborhood committees can do to deal with those concerns, Deng said.

He said more than 10,000 Shanghai residents are bitten by dogs each year, and the new rules are expected to hold owners liable in such cases.

The new regulations might also order owners of “aggressive breeds” to keep their dogs out of the downtown area, reports said.

A woman in Poland is suspected of fattening up her dogs, then slaughtering them and selling their lard as a health supplement, according to an AFP report.

Polish police were questioning a woman at a farm near Czestochowa, in southern Poland, whose 28 dogs include St. Bernards and several puppies, found living in cages on the farm.

Police also founds bottle of lard, which they are testing to see if it came from dogs.

An animal welfare group tipped off the police after buying some lard at the farm.

Some of the dogs “were overfed to the point of no longer being able to walk,” according to a spokesperson for the organization For Animals.

The For Animals group’s undercover inspector, Renata Mizera, said the farmer had stressed the health benefits of the lard and told her that she herself added a spoonful to her daughter’s evening meal.

The police are checking whether the lard – which was found in bottles in a refrigerator at the woman’s farm – comes from dogs.

The 37-year-old farmer could face up to two years in jail for animal cruelty and distributing an unsafe substance, Poland’s TVN24 reported.

The dogs were seized and are being cared for by a vet while For Animals seeks to find new homes for them.

The North Carolina Senate narrowly passed a bill that will require licenses and set of basic standards for large dog breeding operations.

S.B. 460, intended to crack down on abusive puppy mills, passed the state senate by a vote of 23 to 22.

The bill calls upon the Department of Agriculture to establish basic humane care standards. It requires facilities with more than 10 female dogs and more than 30 puppies to register with the state, undergo yearly inspections and provide proper veterinary care.

The Humane Society of the United States applauded the bill’s passage.

“Citizens in North Carolina want to see the state crack down on puppy mills,” said Amanda Arrington, The HSUS’ North Carolina state director. “We urge the House to move quickly to enact this important legislation to prevent further animal suffering and protect consumers.”

In February, The HSUS and local authorities rescued more than 300 dogs from two abusive North Carolina puppy mills. The dogs were housed in filthy, cold, cramped cages without access to exercise, adequate veterinary care, or human contact. Many of the dogs were covered with feces and suffered from severe skin and eye infections. Some had chain collars embedded in their necks.

A similar bill was passed in Virginia in 2008 after a large puppy mill raid there.