ohmidog!

Little Red, a former Michael Vick dog, has passed her Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test and found a home.

She is the seventh of the 22 Vick dogs received by Best Friends to be adopted.

A regular volunteer at Best Friends who lives in the midwest had expressed interested in adopting Little Red several months ago. Now that the dog has passed the test, and the paperwork is completed, Little Red has arrived at her new home, joining four other dogs who already live there.

On Little Red’s Facebook page her new owner reports:

Little continues to amaze me. She actually got up on one of the couches & slept the entire night on a couch!! All of my dogs are couch potatoes so I want her to feel comfortable too. She did!! Now mind you, she hops right down if she thinks I’m looking at her. But it’s a start. The other dogs are teaching her. I just sit back & watch. She’s starting to blossom.

Best Friends Animal Society continues to work with the rest of what it calls the “Vicktory Dogs” at it’s animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

Earlier this week, we gave the scantest of mentions to Abbie G., an Australian kelpie who rode a surfboard 65 yards, setting a certified Guinness World Record.

Turns out, surfing is just one of the sports in which the five-year-old dog excels.

Abbie G. (The “G” stands for Girl) is also accomplished at paragliding, snowboarding, tree and rock climbing, sheepherding, and mountain biking.

Her owner, Michael Uy, adopted Abbie from the Humane Society Silicon Valley.

“She was the only dog in the shelter that didn’t go crazy barking when I walked in. She just stood there, studying me, and picked me right away. She was very traumatized, and classified as a ‘special needs’ dog.”

Michael told ohmidog! that, as he was leaving the shelter with Abbie, a staff member yelled out some final advice to him:  “Get her out – take her with you to different places so she sees the world.”

“And that’s what I did,” Michael said.

They walked, they ran, they roller bladed, they mountain biked – and then they hit the ocean.

“One day she just got on a board. It went crazy from there.”

Michael is 41 and lives in San Diego, where he works in business planning and marketing. He describes himself as “a bit of an extreme sports guy.”

But he also has a refreshingly non-traditional philosophy about working with dogs, believing that the heights they can achieve have much more to do with trust than training.

“My work with Abbie has been all about teaching people to bond with their dog through sports … Dogs are naturally athletic animals. I teach that the secret to getting them to excel and enjoy spending time with their owner is to build trust, NOT training.”

“Unfortunately, most of dog ownership these days is all about training methods,” he said. “People ask me what kind of treats I use to get Abbie to surf, and I always respond, ‘Surfing IS the treat!’”

I like that so much I think I’ll repeat it: “Surfing IS the treat.”

You can find more information about Michael and Abbie at abbiesurfs.com, and at Abby’s Facebook page.

Abbie’s high-flying achievements are also featured in new tourism campaign for the city of San Diego:

A four-year-old Pomeranian named Mango slipped out of her collar and brought Interstate traffic to a standstill in Portland, Oregon, this week.

Police dispatchers began getting calls from drivers around 4 p.m. Monday reporting a dog on the loose along 1-405.

Video captured by Oregon Department of Transportation cameras show drivers blocking the road to protect the dog as cars came to a halt, and both the dog’s owner and others tried to catch Mango.

After 15 minutes, Mango exited the highway and entered a neighborhood.

Owner Dan Dowdy — who Mango didn’t appear eager to return to — said the dog is closer to his wife, whose companion she has been since suffering a stroke two years ago.

Dowdy had brought the dog with him that afternoon to pick up his wife from first day of school at Portland’s Mount Hood Community College.

Eventually, animal control officers realized Mango would only respond to Linda. When she showed up, Mango ran into her arms.

Police say an investigation into a Connecticut woman’s suspicion that her ex-boyfriend stabbed her dog has led to animal cruelty charges against the woman.

Michelle Masella had told police her boxer returned home from a neighhboring park with a knife — her boyfriend’s knife — sticking out of her chest.

But East Haven police say all evidence pointed not at the boyfriend, but Masella.

Masella, 42, denied hurting her dog, and maintains the incident is just the latest harassment from her ex-boyfriend.

Bailey, her 68-pound boxer, was treated for a small superficial wound to her right shoulder, and another wound to her chest. She’s recovering, but remains in the care of the local animal control department.

According to police, officers found blood on Masella’s front porch, on the stairs leading to her second floor apartment and on the kitchen and living room floor. No blood was found at the park, or the sidewalk leading to Masella’s house.

Masella was arrested yesterday on a warrant charging her with cruelty to animals, filing a false report, interfering with a police officer and failure to vaccinate her dog for rabies.

She was released on $5,000 bond with a court date in New Haven on Oct. 12.

Masella, police said, has also been charged with forging her ex-boyfriend’s signature on one of his unemployment check and cashing it.

A judge yesterday reduced the bail of an osteopathic medicine student charged with killing a dozen Italian greyhounds, from $1 million to $50,000.

At a hearing in Ingham County Circuit Court, Judge Paula Manderfield granted a motion by Michigan State University student Andrew David Thompson’s attorney.

That means Thompson, 24, who has been suspended from Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, can get of jail by posting $5,000 bond.

Thompson has arranged to live with a friend at an Okemos apartment, his attorney Stacia Buchanan said.

Manderfield ordered Thompson to wear a monitor that can track his exact location, not own pets and remain in his residence from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Thompson is charged in two separate cases in two jurisdictions with killing the dogs between September 2010 and June 2011. All the dogs were purchased from breeder websites. He told investigators he killed them out of anger by throwing them to the ground or against a wall, grabbing them by the neck or beating them.

The felony charges of animal killing and torture are punishable by up to four years in prison each, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Thompson, who is from Arizona, has no adult or juvenile criminal record, Buchanan said. He was seeing a psychiatrist when he was arrested and suffers from bipolar disorder, authorities have said.

For our archived coverage of this case, click here.

Tom Ryan was an out of shape newspaper man — something I can relate to.

He took his dog on an ambitious adventure — something, having recently completed a 25,000-mile journey with mine, I can relate to as well.

But climbing all 48 peaks of the White Mountains … with his dog … in the winter … twice? That’s something I’m more likely to plop down on the couch and read about than actually do.

And I’m glad I did.

“Following Atticus” is the inspirational story of a tiny dog — a miniature schnauzer — on an epic adventure, one undertaken to pay tribute to a friend who died of cancer.

Ryan was your basic cynical newsman, the editor of The Undertoad, a muckraking alternative newpaper in Newburyport, a small city on the north shore of Massachusetts.

(If you’re wondering about the name of the paper, it comes from John Irving’s The World According to Garp. If you’re wondering about the name of his dog, Atticus M. Finch, it’s from To Kill a Mockingbird, but with the middle initial changed.)

Atticus came from a breeder Ryan found over the Internet after the death of his first miniature schnauzer, Max, who had become a fixture around town. Ryan, in addition to refilling the void left after Max’s death, saw the new dog as a chance to make some improvements in his life, so he and Atticus started taking long walks, including — after he’d shed 75 pounds — one up the highest mountain in Vermont, Mount Mansfield.

The White Mountains took hold on him all over again. They’d been part of Ryan’s childhood, and returning to them brought back some of his few memories of happy times with his father, who would take the family there on vacation.

Climbing the mountains seemed to enrich Ryan’s soul — and maybe that of his dog, as well. “It was as if he were made for the mountains,” Ryan noted:

“Unlike other dogs, who run back and forth and do three times the mileage of their human companions or go crashing into the woods on either side of the trail in search of wildlife, Atticus walked purposefully, staying on the trail, and kept a slow but steady pace. He seemed part mountain goat as he hopped from rock to rock with ease.”

When a dear friend died of cancer, Ryan decided that he and Atticus, to raise funds for a cancer charity, would attempt to climb every mountain over 4,000-feet, and that they would do it all in the course of one winter, and that they would climb each of the snowy peaks, as only one person had before, twice.

The book chronicles their quest, its literal and figurative ups and downs, the three-way bonding of man, dog and nature, and how, with help from a tiny dog, a crusty newspaperman comes to see the world with fresh eyes.

We’d call it an inspirational dog story, but that — in addition to being redundant, in our view — would only be the half of it.

Ryan sold his newspaper in 2007, moved to the White Mountains, and over the last five years, they’ve climbed more than 450 four-thousand-foot peaks, in the process raising money for cancer, as well as the Angell Animal Medical Center. You can learn more about them on Ryan’s blog, The Adventures of Tom and Atticus.

(To see all our news and reviews of books about dogs, visit our Good Dog Reads section.)

It still only exists in artist renderings, but another step toward building a dog park in North Carolina’s Tanglewood Park will come this weekend, with a Saturday “Bark in the Park” festival aimed at raising money for the project.

The Humane Societies of Forsyth and Davie Counties are sponsoring the event — Saturday (Oct. 1) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Activities will include a Doggie Jog, a Blessing of the Animals, expert advice from local vets and professional trainers, a mobile doggie spa, agility demonstrations and contests.

Local adoption and rescue agencies will also be on hand with adoptable animals.

The proposed dog park will be located on 2.3 acres in the park’s northern end, near the intersection of Clemmons and Harper Roads.

The Forsyth CountyCommissioners voted to approve the park in July, but with the caveat that it be completed by 2012.

Plans for the park include separate large and small dog lots, an area for obedience classes, watering stations & pet waste valets, an area to hose off dogs, and some type of water feature so the dogs can cool off during the warmer weather, according to the Dog Park at Tanglewood website.

The group has raised about $20,000 of its $150,000 goal, and it continues to seek funds, services and materials from individuals and businesses.

One huge donation came from Vulcan Materials Company, which contributed $11,000 worth of construction materials.

The project also received proceeds from a recent ”Pups in the Park” night  at Winston-Salem’s minor league baseball park, home of the Dash.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake tomorrow will kick off a campaign urging young people to “Show Your Soft Side” when it comes to cats and dogs.

The campaign was developed to combat the alarming incidence of animal cruelty in Baltimore, with most of the abuse being perpetrated by teens.

“Only a punk would hurt a cat or dog,” is one of its messages.

The campaign is one offshoot of the Mayor’s Anti-Animal Abuse Advisory Commission, which examined ways to change the mindset of young people who often view the maiming and torturing of defenseless dogs and cats as a sign of “toughness” or “manhood.”

The campaign attempts to put forth the message that “being a man,” has  many facets to it, including a “soft side” when it comes to animals.

Because research shows that kids who abuse animals often graduate to even more violent crimes, the campaigns goal is to reach children early.

The campaign will showcase several Baltimore men as role models, when it comes to animals, including Baltimore Oriole Adam Jones, MMA fighter John Rallo, and Baltimore Raven Jarret Johnson (pictured above with his dog, Tucker, in one of the campaign posters).

They will be appearing with their pets on billboards and print ads that make the point that ”only a punk” would hurt a cat or dog.

Pets are invited to the campaign’s launch, at 9:30 a.m. Thursday (Sept. 29) in the plaza outside City Hall, 100 N. Holliday Street.

The campaign is made possible by funding from Eddie’s of Roland Park, Fullmoon Marketing & Events, Kirk Designs, Inc. and Media Works, Ltd.

For more information, visit the campaign’s Facebook page.

As busy and strapped for cash as most animal shelters are, it’s no wonder that the photographs many of them post of their adoptable dogs aren’t of professional quality, or even decent amateur quality.

We’ve all seen them — on shelter websites, on Petfinder, in emails — grim and grainy, poorly posed, out of focus photos, generally with stark backgrounds in which the animal you’re being encouraged to take home appears to be little more than a fuzzy blob.

Or, as Steve Hartman called them in this recent piece for CBS Sunday Morning, “Nick Nolte mug shots.”

Given the internet is the route most potential adopters take when looking for a dog, many shelters are missing out on a great opportunity — namely, luring adopters in with appealing, high quality photos of their wards.

Theresa Berg, a professional pet photographer in Dallas, is working on changing that.

As Hartman reports, she first teamed up with a dachshund rescue in Florida and took new, studio-quality photographs of all the dogs they had up for adoption.

The result: A 100 percent increase in adoptions.

Now she’s training volunteers from other rescues and shelters to take appealing photographs, and trying to persuade other professional photographers to team up with a shelter or rescue to upgrade their portfolios of adoptable pets.

Given all the turnover, it’s an unending task — but a worthwhile one.

“Thousands of dogs are euthanized every year for no other reason than bad marketing,” Hartman reported.

A good picture — and, we’d add, a compelling account of a dog’s history, to the extent it’s known — can go along way in leading to an animal’s adoption. I don’t think they all need to be glamour shots, with the dogs clad in pearls or boas — just photos, in focus, that capture the dog’s spirit.

Nor do I think the photographers need to be certified professionals. Decent amateur ones, students in college photography classes, retirees who know how take a good picture can all help a shelter or rescue put its best face — or that of its pets — forward.

So heed the call photographers: Adopt a shelter.

A Great Dane named Cooper — stepped on by his mother as a puppy — has gotten rid of his limp, thanks to a procedure that, in effect, stretched his bones.

Cooper was only 11 weeks old, and unwanted by the breeders who produced him, when Sally Stoffel adopted him through a rescue organization in Boulder.

She took him to Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where small animal orthopedic surgeon Ross Palmer came up with a plan to repair the dog’s badly damaged right rear leg.

Palmer straightened and lengthened Cooper’s tibia using an orthopedic device not available in the U.S., and generally only used on humans.

The device, loaned to Palmer by an Italian colleague, permitted him to correct the deformity, then gradually stretch the bone as it healed, allowing it to catch up with the growing dog’s other limbs.

The device had to be adjusted daily, and Cooper spent months recovering.

The results were unveiled Monday, when the 130-pound dog bounded into an exam room at the university.

“For this to be successful, you certainly have to have the right technique,” Palmer told the Denver Post. “But you also have to have the right owner and the right dog. And in this case, we did.”

Stoffel said Cooper spent a month laying on his blanket, but when the treatment was finished, his tibia had grown about three inches as a result of corrective surgery and use of the device.

Cooper, now nearly 11 months old, appears to be healing well, and is walking  normally on all four feet. Because he’s still growing, he might eventually require a prosthetic device or a second bone-lengthening procedure, Palmer said.

The treatment required 11 visits to the CSU vet hospital, and Stoffel estimated that she has spent about $7,000.

(Photo by V. Richard Haro / Fort Collins Coloradoan)