ohmidog!

Baltimore police are searching for three boys — believed to be ages 10 to 12 — who were seen beating a young pit bull to death at Carroll Park golf course Saturday.

And if that’s not a disturbing enough new chapter in Baltimore’s continuing saga of animal abuse, consider this: According to a Baltimore Sun report, Animal Control officers didn’t arrive at the golf course until more than five hours after the incident was reported to police.

A golf course maintenance worker, Rob Whiderman, saw the youths beating the puppy with a tree branch at the municipal golf course in Southwest Baltimore.

Screaming at them to stop, he drove his golf court to where they were, chased them to the railroad tracks and lost them.

He said he called police, who notified animal control, but they didn’t arrive until about 5:30 p.m., five hours after he called.

“It looked like every bone was broken in its body,” Whiderman told WJZ. ”It looks like it broke its back, legs.  We tried to pick it up and nothing was attached.  It was like he didn’t have bones.  Like jelly.”

Whiderman said the youths were between 10 and 12 years old.  Police later found a red-and-white-striped polo shirt, a tree branch and a cell phone that might have been dropped by one of the youths.

But between the two agencies, the police department and animal control, there seemed to be little urgency in responding to the call of an animal being tortured, and even less once the dog had died.

Whiderman said he returned to the golf course Sunday morning and found the dead dog still lying in the woods. He called police again, who responded and wrote a report.

The police report confirms that animal control did not remove the dead puppy when they arrived Saturday afternoon, the Sun reported.

John Travolta’s two family dogs were killed after being struck by an airport service vehicle at Maine’s Bangor International Airport.

Both dogs were being walked on leashes while Travolta’s jet was parked on an airport tarmac for refueling.

In a statement released to the Bangor Daily News, city officials said, “An airport service pickup truck was approaching the airplane to service the airplane and did not see the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs were struck and killed. The airport is investigating the accident. Out of respect for the family’s privacy the city will make no further comment.”

The death of the two dogs comes a little more than a year after Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, lost their son, Jett, who died after suffering from a seizure while vacationing with them in the Bahamas.

Travolta is a licensed pilot and owns a home in Islesboro, a small coastal town in Maine. It was unclear who was on the plane or if Travolta was in the cockpit, CBS News reported.

Police in Alameda have put down Max, the pit bull mix who on the day of his scheduled euthanization was allegedly stolen from the city’s animal shelter by his owners and driven to Reno.

The 70-pound animal was put down Saturday, the San Jose Mercury-News reported.

The dog had been picked up earlier that day, after being tracked down in Reno and brought back to California.

The dog’s owner Richard Cochran, 57, is expected to appear in Alameda County Superior Court today, where he will face felony burglary and conspiracy charges.

His girlfriend, Melissa Perry, 38, was arrested Thursday at the same motel in Reno where police located Max.

Police say the couple broke into the Alameda shelter and stole the dog, who had been declared dangerous after biting two people.

You can’t put a pricetag on the family dog, but in the case of Bo Obama it’s $1,600.

The value of Bo — a gift to the president from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy — was listed on annual financial disclosure forms the White House released Monday, according to the Associated Press.

Dollar-wise, the Portuguese water dog, was a mere drip compared to the president’s other income, including royalties from his books, “Dreams From My Father” and “Audacity of Hope,” which brought in between $1 million and $5 million each.

In addition to his $400,000 annual salary, Obama  listed a number investments which, including those held jointly with his wife, were worth between $2.2 million and $7.5 million in 2009. His Nobel Peace Prize carried a $1.4 million award, but the president donated that to charity.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

DNA testing, which may have its place in crime solving — not to mention pinpointing your baby daddy — is increasingly being considered around the world as a way to nab dog owners who fail to pick up poop.

Now, in addition to government bodies from Germany to Israel, a ritzy Baltimore condominium is considering using the technology to help track down the owners of the dog or dogs who are not being picked up after.

Some residents of the Scarlett Place Condominiums are so steamed by dog poop — at least some of which is being deposited indoors – they’re willing to watch thousands of dollars be spent in an effort to figure out whodunit or, more appropriately, whodroppedit.

Under the condo board’s proposed plan, all dogs in the building would be swabbed for DNA testing to create a database. Dog owners would pay $50 each to cover the costs of tests, and an additional $10 per month for the cost of having building staff pick up wayward piles of poop.

The staff would then send the samples to BioPet Vet Lab, a Tennessee-based company, which would compare the mailed-in samples to those in the dog poop database.

When the company is able to identify the owner of the dog whose poop was not scooped, that owner would pay a $500 fine.

“We pay all this money, and we’re walking around stepping in dog poop,” resident Steven Frans, the board member who proposed the plan, told the Baltimore Sun. “We bring guests over and this is what they’re greeted by.”

The Scarlett Place condo board is expected to make a decision later this week.

I, for one, would not want to live in a complex whose management, or for that matter, a city whose government, is so anal that it  goes around collecting dog poop and sending it in for analysis.

Such a program is underway, on a trial basis, in the city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv in Israel, and other jurisdictions in Europe, as well as New York City, have considered it.

As for the Scarlett Place Condominiums, perhaps a cheaper route would be to hire a poop picker upper, adding that service to what its website describes as its ”a plethora of desirable amenities.”

“Entering the lobby, you will be greeted by one of the Front Desk attendants who will take care of your packages, guests, concerns, and deliveries. Attendants are on duty 24 hours a day … A full service, recently remodeled health club is available 24 hours a day and a spectacular indoor pool is at your disposal complete with magnificent walls of glass overlooking The Inner Harbor and Scarlett Place Condominiums courtyard.”  

Meanwhile, if they pursue testing dog poop for DNA, I’m wondering what the more-money-than-they-know-what-to-do-with condo board’s next initiative will be: Establishing a database of their human residents so they can ascertain who’s wiping boogers on the elevator walls?

Camp Bow Wow in Columbia — always happy to have your dog come in for a stay — is now accepting just your dog’s hair as well.

One of many groups and businesses across the country that have joined in the effort to collect dog and human hair to help combat the gulf oil spill, Camp Bow Wow is offering several options.

You can bring your pup in for a de-shedding treatment, or collect your dog’s shed hair and drop it by. Also, Camp Bow Wow will accept donations of human hair, if you know of any hair salons or barbers that want to pitch in.

The hair — as we explained last week, and as the video above shows — is being used in the making of oil booms that are being used to help absorb the oil.

Feathers, fur and other natural fibers, such as used nylon stockings are also used to make the booms, and Camp Bow Wow is accepting donations of those as well.

All the donated items collected — as well as cash contributions — are being passed on to Matter of Trust.