ohmidog!

Another celebrity is missing her Malti-poo.

Former “Baywatch” star Brooke Burns has posted signs around the Los Angeles area offering a reward for her dog Max, missing since Saturday, TMZ reported.

Posters describe the dog as “very friendly” and offer a $250 reward.

Jessica Simpson, meanwhile, has given up on the search for her Malti-Poo, Daisy, who she says was snatched by a coyote.

Should the sale of videos depicting dogfighting and other animal cruelty be protected by the First Amendment?

That’s the question the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on today in the case of Robert J. Stevens, author and producer of several films about pit bulls and dogfighting.

Stevens, 69, says he had nothing to do with the dogfights themselves. He only made and sold tapes showing them — tapes he says had educational and historical value. He was convicted and sentenced to 37 months under a 1999 federal law that bans selling “depictions of animal cruelty.”

The law was struck down last year when a federal appeals court overturned Stevens conviction on First Amendment grounds.

The  case has divided animal rights groups and free-speech advocates, according to the New York Times.

At issue is whether the court should designate a category of expression as so vile that it deserves no protection under the First Amendment. The last time the court did that was in 1982, with child pornography.

The law was enacted in 1999 in response to the sale of  “crush videos,”  which showed small animals being stomped on by women.

The law applies to recordings of “conduct in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded or killed.” It exempts materials with “serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical or artistic value.”

News organizations, including The New York Times, filed a brief supporting Stevens, arguing that the 1999 law “imperils the media’s ability to report on issues related to animals.”

In a brief supporting the government, the Humane Society of the United States said that “gruesome depictions of animal mutilation targeted” by the law “simply do not merit the dignity of full First Amendment protection.”

The American Humane Association also supports the federal government’s position. “This is a case about animal cruelty, plain and simple,” said American Humane President and CEO Marie Belew Wheatley. “… While many parties may argue the technicalities and interpretations of the law, the real focus should be that it is immoral, it is inhumane and it should be illegal to exploit, torture and kill animals for someone’s twisted sense of ‘entertainment’ and someone else’s profit.”

“While acts of animal cruelty have long been outlawed,” the brief for Stevens said, “there have never been any laws against speech depicting the killing or wounding of animals from the time of the First Amendment’s adoption through the intervening two centuries.” The brief also notes that Stevens’ sentence was 14 months longer than that of Michael Vick.

The police chief of the small California town of Maricopa has apparently been ordered to turn in his gun after shooting and killing a family’s dog in September.

A temporary restraining order delivered to him Friday by  the Kern County Superior Court commissioner also requires Chief Gene Fretheim to stay away from the four people whose dog he shot.

The chief told the Bakersfield Californian he had no intention of giving up his gun. Later Monday, however, he did turn in his weapon, according to Bakersfield Now, the website of Channel 56.

Lutie Thompson, a Bakersfield attorney who requested the restraining order, described the a 63-year-old officer with more than 27 years experience at the Los Angeles Police Department as “a loose cannon,” according to the newspaper report.

Th0mpson requested the order on behalf of  Lisa Chavez, who claimed that her 8-year-old pit bull mix, Matty, had been snared by a dog catcher and then shot by Fretheim. She said the chief wants to get rid of all pit bulls in town, and told her he shot her dog because it was a pit bull.

The chief said the dog had bitten a city employee, and that as he and  ”a volunteer dog catcher” tried to capture it, the dog lunged at him. He shot the dog, and then it was snared, he said.

The court order says Fretheim has to stay100 yards away from Chavez, 38, Milne, 35, and their two children aged, 7 and 13. A hearing is scheduled Oct. 15 on whether the order will be extended.

City officials say the restrianing order may have been delivered prematurely – and that  the court merely approved scheduling a hearing on the request for a restraining order, as opposed to the order itself.

Until it’s all figured out, the chief will perform only administrative duties.

Petside.com, which may love lists even more than dogs, has come out with the Top 10 Dog Parks in the U.S.

Topping the list is Point Isabel Dog Park in Richmond, California, recognized for its scenery, wide range of free activities, swimming holes and on-site cafe — all set on 23 leash-free acres.

Here’s the rest of the top five.

2. Dog Wood Dog Park in Jacksonville, Florida offers 25 acres of fenced play area, swimming, Frisbee fields, a sand pile for digging, and park-provided toys. There are designated areas for small dogs. Dues runs $289 annually, though day passes are available.

3. Jackson’s Howabaloo Dog Park in Edinboro, Pennsylvania features swimming and hiking, a play area just for special needs dogs. Dues runs $269 annually, but monthly and daily passes are available.

4. Fort Woof in Fort Worth, Texas has free admission, special events and the added benefit of being open after the sun goes down. The park is well-lit and stays open until 11:30 p.m.

5. Shaggy Pines Dog Park  in Ada, Michigan has  jogging and hiking trails, a swimming pond and play areas for different sized dogs. There’s also a coffee bar and lounge. Membership starts at $256 per year.

Rounding out the list are Bea Arthur Dog Park in Norfolk, Va.; Tompkins Square Dog Run in New York City; Ossining Dog Park in Westchester, N.Y.; Rocky Top Dog Park in Kingston, N.J.; and Happy Tails Dog Park in Plantation, Fla.

In recent months, Petside.com has also put out lists of the dog-friendliest college campuses, top dog beaches and dog-friendliest hotel chains.

For the dog park list, Petside.com says it took into consideration amenities, activities, hours of operation, and cost of entry.

(Photo of Jimmy at Point Isabel Dog Park, by Michael V., via Yelp.com)

At Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, faculty and staff bring their dogs to school every Tuesday during September, gather on a grassy field and allow students to have their homesickness washed away by spending an hour with the hounds.

The events are aimed at helping students overcome their homesickness, which often includes a longing for the family dog, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The “Dog Days” have been held on campus for five years.

They were started by former counseling director Kathy Bradley, now executive director of health and counseling at Gettysburg College. Bradley has started a similar program there. A few times a semester, Bucknell University in Lewisburg, which heard about Susquehanna’s program, brings trained therapy dogs – some owned by staff members – to campus to visit with students.

“The fact is that students miss their pets, sometimes more than they miss their families,” said Anna Beth Payne, associate dean of student life and director of Susquehanna’s counseling center.

Professors especially like the opportunity for the informal gatherings, saying they break the ice and can help make the campus, and the professors, seem less intimidating to students.

Nine dogs showed up on a recent Tuesday, a typical turnout, and dozens of students stopped to play with them, one of whom said she missed her dog, Babe, back home in Maine — at leas as much as she missed her mother.

“It’s a close tie between the dog and my mom,” she said.

(Philadelphia Inquirer photo by Robert Landry)

The company that brought you the Emmy Award winning A&E show “Intervention” is starting production of a new “documentary-reality” show to be called “Animal Hoarders.”

GRB Entertainment says the new series will be “an unflinchingly honest look at animal hoarders, the people and pets affected by them, and the challenges of confronting their unusual condition.”

Each episode, we will “delve into the hearts and minds” of two animal hoarders, according to the show’s website.

“We will witness the torment friends and family experience as they see their loved ones spinning out of control. We will take a gritty and often heartbreaking look at the pets trying to survive in an unsuitable environment. And in the end, we will be there as friends and family confront the hoarders, forcing them to get help, and let go of their animal hoard in the interest of a healthier life for the animals and themselves.”

The show is now seeking subjects, and has issued the following “casting call:” Read more »

A new wave of dogfighting is sweeping England, resulting in a 12-fold increase in dogfights since 2004.

And most practitioners — about two of every three — are youths, the Royal SPCA says.

A BBC report quotes RSPCA officials as saying a ban on four breeds, including pit bulls, has done little to slow the spread of dogfighting, or dogs biting people, and that a change in the law is needed.

The new wave of dog fighting, known as “chain fighting” or “rolling,” involves fights held in inner city public parks, on private estates and even in apartment elevators where  ”young people, often gangs of young people … put two dogs in a lift at the top of the block of flats and will press the button and let the dogs fight until they get to the bottom,” the RPSCA’s Claire Robinson told BBC News. Read more »

 
It may look like the kind of big, fluffy white towel you get in a five-star hotel, but, on closer inspection, you’ll see it’s a sharpei.

An ohmidog! reader passed this one along. So I don’t know to whom a photo credit is due. But I had to share it, anyway.

 
Although it’s difficult to find any studies that back it up, dogs seem to be living longer — a result of improved veterinary technology, healthier diets and, we’d like to think, pet owners taking their reponsibility more seriously.

Veterinarians say it’s no longer unusual for some dogs and cats to reach 15 years or more, according to a recent MSNBC report, and there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence supporting that.

The MSNBC report, for instance, mentions Chanel, the wire-haired dachshund who when she died last month at the age of 21, was heralded as the world’s oldest dog, according to Guinness World Records. It also mentions Max, a terrier mix whose owner thinks he deserves some heralding as well. He is 26 and going strong.

While there don’t seem to be statistics to support it, it seems dogs, like people, are seeing their life expectancy stretch to new lengths.

“Just as the average life expectancy for people keeps reaching closer to the century mark, we’ll continue to see the same parallels in our pet population,” says Martha Smith, director of veterinary services at Boston’s Animal Rescue League.

Melanie Otte, a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine at Florida Veterinary Specialists in Tampa, believes someday it will not be uncommon to see dogs routinely reaching 19 years of age, according to an article in South Florida’s News-Press.

That strong bond between an owner and their pet is one reason why dogs are living longer, some experts say.

My guess is, in some cases, it’s one reason people are living longer, too.

(Photo by John Woestendiek)

Former French President Jacques Chirac has found a new home for his Maltese terrier, Sumo, after the tiny dog attacked him for a third time.

In the most recent incident, Sumo is reported to have bitten Chirac in the stomach in their Paris apartment, the BBC reported.

Used to roaming the large gardens of the Elysee Palace, the tiny dog was treated for depression after Chirac retired and the family downsized to an apartment on the Quai Voltaire, according to Chirac’s wife, Bernadette.

In January, Chirac had to be hospitalized after the dog sank his teeth into an unnamed body part. In the latest attack, Sumo had been lying quietly at Mrs. Chirac’s feet but flew into a violent rage on the approach of her husband, leaping into the air and biting his stomach.

“I was very scared because there was blood. It’s terrible, the small teeth like that. He was going wild. He wanted to jump up and bite again,” said Mrs. Chirac, who made the final decision to send Sumo to a farm in the French countryside.