ohmidog!

Berkeley Breathed says the inspiration for “Flawed Dogs,” his children’s book turned illustrated novel, came from a photo he saw of a Michael Vick dog taken in by Best Friends, the animal sanctuary in Utah.

“The book happened because I came across both a picture and a quote at about the same time — a picture of one of Michael Vick’s fight dogs. It was set to be put down, but a shelter in Utah decided to take the dog and a few others at the same time and try to rehabilitate them,” Breathed said in a CNN interview at his home in Santa Barbara.

“This was the first time the dog had ever received any affection in its life. … It’s the most moving picture of a dog I’ve ever seen, having gone through an impossible transition and fallen back to where dogs naturally go, which is just loving people.”

Breathed, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist behind “Bloom County” and “Opus,” has a pit bull of his own, Pickles, one of several dogs he and his wife Jody have rescued over the years.

In “Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster” (Philomel Books), the hero is a resilient dachshund with a soup ladle for a leg.

The dog, named Sam the Lion, goes through many travails in the book, the opening scene of which is a dog fight. From there, he gets shot at, ends up in a research labs, and occupies some pretty bad shelters — before meeting up with his nemesis, an evil poodle named Cassius, at the Westminster Dog Show.

The book is intended for children 8 to 12.

There’s a new national campaign underway aimed at increasing the rate of shelter pet adoption in the US.

Every year, of the 8 million dogs and cats that enter animal shelters, 3 million of them are euthanized.

The new campaign, called the Shelter Pet Project (SPP), is sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States, Maddie’s Fund, and the Ad Council. It’s aim is to reverse the trend through education and public service announcements, and find more homes for homeless pets.

Specifically, it plans to give shelter pets an image make over — and clear up any misconception that abandoned animals are more unpredictable, or prone to illness or bad behavior.

We know how wrong that conception is, but apparently not everybody does, so the Shelter Pet Project, with help from a talking dog, is out to set the record straight.

The project has created an interactive website that has some great pet adoption resources, Pet Personals and an Adopt-A-Grams. We’ve added them to our list of non-profit rescue and shelter organizations. (See our rightside rail).

Halloween may be more than a week away, but the time to start costuming your pooch for BARCStoberfest is now.

BARCStoberfest takes place this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Baltimore’s Patterson Park.

The costume contest, a perennial favorite, starts at 1:30 pm. Dogs can compete in any of several categories: Best Halloween Theme,  Best Hon/Best Boh, Matching Dog & Human and Most Original.

A Best in Show winner will be selected (by audience applause) from the four category winners. There’s a $15 entry fee for each category, and prizes in the contest are donated by Dogma.

Other contests at BARCStoberfest include most unique pet trick or talent, best tail wagger, best singer or howler, best kisser, fastest treat eater and smallest and largest dog. There’s a $5 entry fee for those competitions.

The 5th annual BARCStoberfest is a festival for animal lovers that helps raise funds for BARCS, which takes in 12.000 animals a year. If it’s rained out Saturday, it will be held Sunday.

Some of the country’s most athletic dogs competed at the National Finals of the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge at Purina Farms near St. Louis over the weekend.

More than 30 canine athletes jumped, vaulted and dove their way into the records books as they competed in Olympic style events, including agility, Jack Russell hurdle racing, 60 weave pole, freestyle flying disc and the crowd favorite, dog diving.

Among those taking part was Olympian Greg Louganis, who competed with his dog, Dobby, in the small dog agility event.

The Philadelphia Eagles — as if to make amends for hiring a convicted dogfighter — have announced a half million dollar effort to reduce the abuse of animals, promote responsible adoption, encourage spaying and neutering and put an end to dog fighting through increased public education and awareness.

Eagles owner Christina Lurie and Eagles president Joe Banner announced the initiative yesterday. It was described as a half million dollar commitment to support animal welfare organizations. An Eagles press release on the campaign made no mention of Michael Vick, who the Eagles signed as quarterback after completion of his federal prison sentence for dogfighting.

As part of the new effort, the Eagles will donate $50,000 each to the Humane Society of the United States’ anti-dogfighting  program, a low cost spay and neuter facility operated by the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, and the Berks County Humane Society in support of its new mobile veterinary clinic.

The Eagles also announced they will coordinate a TAWK (Treating Animals With Kindness) series that brings animal experts to local schools, a public service announcement campaign involving Eagles players and a website with information and updates about the TAWK program, and information about animal welfare issues.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has terminated that state’s attempt to to crack down on puppy mills, vetoing legislation that would have limited breeders and others to having no more than 50 adult dogs.

Six states have passed puppy mill legislation this year; California is the only one where the governor has vetoed it.

The Associated Press reported that Schwarzenegger said he feared the bill would criminalize the lawful activities of pet shops, kennels and groups that raise assistance dogs.

“This measure would make it a crime for any person or entity to own or control more than 50 unsterilized adult dogs or cats for breeding or raising for sale as pets,” Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message. “I support measures designed to prevent animal cruelty and that punish persons engaged in the abuse of animals.”