ohmidog!

No, that’s not the ice cream man rolling down the streets of Lisichansk, a city of 100,000 in Ukraine.

It’s a crematorium on wheels, purchased by the city to more handily dispose of stray dogs — sometimes while they are still alive — as part of the country’s efforts to clean up its streets before next year’s Euro 2012 soccer championship.

(About two and a half minutes into the video above you can see city officials showing off their mobile crematorium.)

The vehicle is staffed by three employees — a driver, an oven operator and another who shoots strays with a syringe gun, paralyzing them.

The crematorium is capable of burning 40 kilos worth of dogs and cats at a time.

Lisichansk is not alone in trying to clear the streets of strays before the soccer championship,  being co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland.

The cities of  Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk — all of which are hosting matches — have stray removal programs underway. In Kharkiv and Kiev, plans have been made to open shelters for strays found in the vicinity of Euro 2012 stadiums, but some other cities opt for extermination instead.

Sometimes, Lisichansk lends its mobile crematorium to neighboring  jurisdictions. How thoughtful.

Despite protests, from inside and outside the country, the stray removal program continues, and the mobile crematorium — which features temperatures of 900 degrees — keeps rolling.

A petition appealing to Ukrainian authorities to stop cremating live animals can be found on the website Care2.

According to the petition, Ukraine — rather than focusing on spaying and neutering and finding homes for strays — has long opted for less humane practices.

Stray dogs and cats were previously killed using an illegal poison called ditiline that paralyzed their respiratory muscles are paralyzed.

Officials consider the crematorium ” more modern” and “environmentally safe,” the petition says.

Disabled vets and homeless pets would be brought together for the mutual benefit of both under legislation recently passed by the House and now headed to the Senate.

The legislation would create a pilot program that trains shelter dogs to provide therapy to help treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other war-related mental health conditions.

The House unanimously passed a package of veterans’ health care legislation that included the Veterans Dog Training Therapy Act, introduced by Rep.  Michael Grimm, R-N.Y.

“As a veteran, and an American, I am thrilled that this legislation has passed the House, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass it without delay, so that it can be signed into law and allow us to begin providing assistance to our returning veterans,” said Grimm, a Marine combat veteran from Operation Desert Storm.

The many potential benefits of the program were outlined by Michael Markarian on his Humane Society Legislative Fund blog, Political Animal:

“For wounded warriors and disabled veterans, caring for a pet can help them re-enter society and minimize stress and depression. Service dogs can also reduce the suicide rate among veterans, and provide other critical help—such as letting them know when it’s time to take medication, waking them from terrifying nightmares, or detecting changes in their breathing, perspiration, or scent to ward off panic attacks. Such benefits can decrease the number of hospitalizations, and lower the cost of medications and human care…”

“Our veterans need and deserve every opportunity to heal. This innovative legislation gives the wonderful dogs in shelters a chance to live and to serve by helping to heal the stresses and wounds so many soldiers battle when they come home.”

The bill would establish a pilot program in VA medical centers for educating veterans with mental health conditions in the art and science of assistance dog training and handling. It directs the secretary of Veterans Affairs to “consider dogs residing in animal shelters or foster homes for participation in the program.”

The Veterans Dog Training Therapy Act  — one of six bills combined into a larger veteran’s health care bill — was the first Rep. Grimm introduced as a member of Congress, and his first bill to pass the House, according to a press release from his office.

(Photo: Courtesy of the office of U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm)

I have no idea what an ETF is, or of the wisdom of investing in one, but I love the dogs in this ad, and their facial expressions.

This commercial is for State Street Global Advisors, and given the dogs, its black and whiteness, and a lady singing in French, I found it quite enchanting.

I would freely give all my money to any lady who sang to me in French, or to any dog who can tilt its head as cutely as this one. (P.S. I have no money.)

The ad had me wrapped around its little finger until the end — when the small print appears and the narrator starts talking way too fast about things like “terms” and “conditions” and “risks.”

Dogs are a perfect symbol for banks, being loyal and trustful and steadfast — all the things financial institutions would like you to think they are.

But all the trust the ad was building up in me — through the dogs –  disappeared the second the fast-talking started.

Maybe, instead,  they should have a French lady singing all the disclaimers. Oui?

(To see all our “Woof in Advertising” selections click here.)

If we’ve learned anything from our series on dogs in advertising, it’s that dogs sell.

Almost as good as sex does.

Put them together and you’d have quite a winner, one would think.

Or, you could get something like this — what seems to be an ad for a product called “Poocharé… It’s dog food. It’s now.”

If you think the jumpsuit-clad, Borzoi-owning shopper with the cool shades looks a little like a young Eugene Levy, that’s because it is, and this is a spoof from SCTV.

(To see all our “Woof in Advertising” selections click here.)

Animal rights activists in Moscow are pleading with Russia’s president to reject a plan to banish 26,000 stray dogs from the city.

The dogs would be sent to a facility far outside the city that critics say will be cramped, unhealthy and largely unmonitored.

About 50 activists lined up outside the presidential administration building Wednesday to submit signed petitions to President Dmitry Medvedev asking that the plan — while temporarily on hold — be permanently abandoned, the Associated Press reports.

“We’ve come here today to ask him to protect Moscow’s dogs,” said Yelena Nadyozhkina, an activist with Russian group Save the Animals.

Under the plan — and heavy-handed as it is, it’s still a tad more enlightened than that underway in Fayetteville, N.C. — strays would be rounded up and sent to a camp in the Yaroslavl region, about 150 miles northeast of the city.

“It’s far enough from Moscow that we won’t be able to go there, observe them or control how the animals are fed and taken care of,” said Lyudmila Fokina, a volunteer at one of Moscow’s animal shelters. “The animals will just die there. We won’t know about it, and the money will continue to finance the facility.”

Stray dogs roam the Russian capital mostly at will, including the city’s subway stations where they can sometimes be seen riding the trains.

Dog lovers, including some Russian celebrities, have been petitioning City Hall to abandon the plan since February. But activists say city officials have been slow to respond to their concerns. “After half a year, they still haven’t given us any response,” Fokina said. “We want a written answer confirming that the dogs will not be sent anywhere.”

The petition also urges the city to allocate funds for more dog shelters in Moscow.

(Photo: Masha Guskova, an animal rights activist, sits with her dog, holding a sign saying “What are we killed for?” at a protest in Moscow, Wednesday. By Sofia Javed / Associated Press)

As a child, I had a recurring dream about getting sucked into an escalator: If that grate at the bottom (or top, if you’re going up) managed to gobble up all those stairs, I reasoned, it could surely flatten me out as well.

That — though he didn’t disappear like a pancake — is sort of what happened to Kei, a shiba inu from Illinois, while on vacation with his owner in Toronto.

Scott Thisdale of Wadsworth, Ill.,  and his two 7-year-old shiba inus were on their way to a local park, via subway, when Kei’s paw got caught in the grate of a  escalator.

His injuries — all fixed up now — earned him the title of “Most Unusual September Claim” by Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI). The company picks the most unusual claim every month, then selects one of those to receive its annual  VPI Hambone Award.

Kei and Midori, were riding up a subway escalator when Kei’s paw got caught in the grate at the top.

“He didn’t yelp or cry, even though it must’ve been painful. I didn’t realize anything had happened until he started licking his nails,” said Thisdale. “That’s when I noticed he was bleeding.”

A veterinarian sedated Kei and treated his wounds, described by VPI as “nail bed avulsions and lacerations on the pad of his left, hind paw.” Kei got some stitches and had his nail bed vessels cauterized during a six-hour visit at the animal hospital.

Kei’s escalator incident was one of more than 80,000 claims received in the month of September by VPI, the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance. It was selected by VPI employees as the most unusual of the bunch.  

Honorable mentions in September included a Newfoundland that tangled with a moose; a Labrador retriever that suffered deep lacerations from a run-in with a water spigot; and a Papillon that had its tail caught in a groomer’s Dremel, a rotary tool used for trimming nails.

All pets considered for the award made full recoveries and received insurance reimbursements.

VPI, which insures more than 485,000 pets nationwide, established the VPI Hambone Award in 2009. It’s named in honor of a VPI-insured dog that got stuck in a refrigerator and ate an entire Thanksgiving ham while waiting for someone to rescue him.

It was first awarded to Lulu, an English bulldog who swallowed 15 baby pacifiers, a bottle cap and a piece of a basketball.

VPI says publicizing unusual pet insurance claims helps educate the public about the unexpected mishaps that can affect household pets — and what happened to Kei is a good example of that.

Rare as it may sound, it isn’t all that unusual. Escalators grates and claws are a dangerous combination. Some escalators warn people to carry their dogs. Some don’t permit dogs.  Guide dogs have to be trained to use them.

Even if you’re not phobic, when you’re with your dog, it’s best to take the stairs.

(Photo of Kei, courtesy of his owner and VPI)

If you’re looking to do some good for dogs and other animals — as, of course, the typical ohmidog! reader always is — here’s an opportunity.

Maryland Votes for Animals (MVFA) is looking for people who want to get involved in the political process in hopes of making 2012 an even more successful year for animal protection legislation in the state.

MVFA is an all volunteer organization working to improve the lives of animals by winning passage of animal protection laws in the Maryland General Assembly.

In 2011, MVFA played a leading role in the passage of five major animal protection bills making it the most successful year ever for animal protection legislation in Maryland.

Volunteers are needed in every legislative district in Maryland to call, write or visit legislators; staff membership recruitment tables at events; and assist with fundraising.

The organization is also looking for volunteers who are willing to play leadership roles in building a humane voting block by becoming district captains. Read more »

The quietude of our sleepy little neighborhood has been shattered.

We are under attack.

By acorns.

I mean hundreds every hour, and that’s just counting the ones that pelt my roof. It started about a week ago, and has been gaining intensity ever since, as if working up to some nutty grand finale.

Ace, who doesn’t like loud noises — and believe me, it’s very loud — is starting to get used it. Only during the worst, like when 50 or so bombard us over the course of, say, 10 seconds, does he look up, wondering what’s going on.

I’m not certain if the squirrels are up in the trees encouraging the acorns to fall, or if the downpour is just happening on its own.

But it’s a daily and day-long event — thousands of acorns, both green and brown, falling from the sky, pelting the top of my car, rattling the roof of my house, pinging off my grill and air conditioner and slamming onto the sidewalk.

In almost every case, they lose their cute little hats in the process.

I’ve lived among oak trees before, but I don’t remember ever seeing an acorn fall, and definitely not anything like the barrage underway on my street.

Huge oak trees line the whole block, and their limbs hang over the housing units. But none of them seem to be raining acorns like the ones hanging over my place.

When I was planting my pansies Saturday, at least five acorns –and usually you can hear them coming, ripping through the leaves on the way down — smashed to the ground at my feet.

I’m hoping it won’t still be raining acorns on Halloween — because given the distance they are falling from, and their hardness, they could do some damage to young heads. Or old heads for that matter.

I haven’t been hit by one directly yet. I’ve had a few bounce off my grill and hit me, and many land at my feet. Ace has also escaped thus far, even though he spends a lot of time laying under the trees in the front yard.

The acorns pose a double threat. In addition to the possibility of getting beaned by one on the way down, there’s the hazard of sliding on those that have already fallen, especially when they’re hidden under leaves.

Most often they just crunch underfoot, but every once in a while there’s a group that are particularly hard and stubborn, and it’s like trying to walk on  marbles.

There are those who believe that an abundance of acorns is a sign that the coming winter will be severe — that somehow nature is able to figure out how many acorns squirrels will need to get through the season and, accordingly, instructs the trees on how many they should grow and drop, so that there’s always enough for everyone.

That’s a little too neat and tidy, trickle-down and happily ever after for me to believe.

My theory? I think it’s all just part of nature’s dance — sometimes predictable, sometimes not; sometimes explainable, sometimes not; sometimes light and cheery, sometimes stormy and violent.

We can’t and shouldn’t try to dictate and control it. We shouldn’t ask it to change the song. And when we do cut in, we should do it gently and with respect. After all, we we’re lucky just to be invited.

It’s time for DogFest, the Baltimore Humane Society’s annual day-long celebration of dogs.

It’s this Saturday, Oct. 15 (with a rain date of Oct. 22) at the Baltimore Humane Society, 1601 Nicodemus Road in Reisterstown.

Need directions?

Gates open at 9 a.m., and activities continue until 6 p.m., with a full schedule of  games, contests and events, and plenty of vendors, prizes, experts, food and adoptable pets

The entrance fee is $10, and parking is free.

As usual, the Humane Society requests no retractable leashes.

Keep reading for the full schedule. Read more »

The Maryland SPCA has launched a new television and radio campaign to promote pet adoptions and encourage support of its work on behalf of animals.

The campaign will run for a month on local television stations, and a radio version will be broadcast on WLIF-FM.

Everyone who signs up to make a monthly gift during the campaign will receive a ”Feel the warmth of a cold nose” bumper sticker and will be enrolled in the SPCA’s Faithful Friends group.

As a monthly donor, you choose the amount to have automatically withdrawn from your account or charged to your credit card. There is no transaction charge, and you can cancel at any time. To learn more about being a monthly donor, visit this page.

Supporters can also enroll by email, or make a one-time donation.