ohmidog!

Tony, the Siberian tiger who has spent the last 11 years as a tourist attraction at a truck stop outside Baton Rouge — either suffering or living the cushy life, depending on your point of view – will likely be leaving Louisiana.

Judge Michael Caldwell has ruled in favor of the Animal Legal Defense Fund in its lawsuit to free Tony from the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete.

Judge Caldwell agreed with ALDF’s argument that the permit that allows the truck stop to keep Tony was unlawfully issued by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. (Perhaps that fiasco in Ohio was in the back of his head, too.)

The judge ordered the department to revoke the current permit and prohibited it from issuing any new permits to the truck stop.

“We are thrilled that the court made the right decision,” said ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells. “We will continue to do everything we can to make sure Tony’s next home is a reputable, accredited sanctuary that can give Tony the life he deserves.”

Of course, not everybody sees it that way, including Michael Sandlin, owner of the Tiger Truck Stop, whose point of view is seen in the video above, and probably a lot more Louisianians, who take their tigers — the species being the LSU mascot — pretty seriously.

The ALDF — you can find its article on Tony here — says the tiger was subjected to highway noise and diesel fumes 24-hours a day, frequently harassed and taunted by visitors at the truck stop, and spends his days pacing, a sign of stress.

The court originally granted ALDF’s original request for a permanent injunction in May 2011, but in August, the Louisiana Court of Appeals ruled that Sandlin and the Tiger Truck Stop must be named as defendants in the lawsuit and ordered a new trial, vacating the trial court’s earlier decision.

Since ALDF filed its original lawsuit in April 2011, it has argued that the wildlife department violated state law in granting the permit to Michael Sandlin. In yesterday’s hearing, the ALDF argued that Sandlin’s permit to own and display Tony should be invalidated, and that Tony should be released into the custody of ALDF or an accredited animal sanctuary where he can receive care and treatment and live out his life in a more natural environment.

Tony has been on exhibit at the Tiger Truck Stop since 2000. Other tigers were there when he arrived, but since 2003, he has been the only one.

ALDF’s lawsuit to free Tony has drawn the support of celebrity advocates like Leonardo DiCaprio and True Blood’s Kristin Bauer, seen in the ALDF video below.

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously this week to start imposing fines on the owners of dogs that bark excessively.

What’s excessively?

A dog’s barking would be considered excessive if it continued non-stop for 10 minutes or more, or intermittently for 30 minutes or more, Assistant City Attorney Dov Lesel said.

Fines would start at $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second and $1,000 for a third if a hearing conducted by the Department of Animal Services determines that a dog barks too much, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The new ordinance also gives animal services officials the power to ticket the owners of unlicensed barking dogs. Previously, hearings did not proceed against residents who did not have licensed dogs.

Despite concerns among some that the fines are too high, Brenda Barnette, general manager of the Animal Services Department, called them reasonable, and added that dog owners would have time to remedy the problem before a fine would be imposed.

“If a dog hears somebody or something and barks, that’s a good thing. That’s a warning,” Barnette said. “If a dog just stays out and barks and barks, that’s really not reasonable.”

Barnette said her department has a six-month backlog of hearings, most of which involve excessive barking cases.

Once signed by the mayor, the amended ordinance is expected to take effect before the end of the year.

(Photo: Los Angeles Times)

Two men have been arrested in connection with the theft of Jaggar, an English bulldog reported missing from a Washington woman’s home and later found dead.

Cowlitz County deputies arrested Jesse James Clark, 38, of Kelso, and Johnny Lee Jordan, 39, of Longview, on Wednesday, according to a report in The Columbian.

Clark was charged with possession of stolen property and giving false and misleading statements to a law enforcement officer. Jordan was charged with possession of stolen property and extortion.

According to the sheriff’s office, additional arrests and  charges are still possible.

The sheriff’s office said Clark and Jordan aren’t facing animal cruelty charges because prosecutors would have to prove in court that they killed the dog. Investigators remain uncertain about who killed Jaggar and why.

Jennifer Thomas reported her dog missing on Oct. 4. A few days later, she said, she received threatening text messages demanding cash and prescription pain medication for the dog’s safe return.

On Oct. 24, the sheriff’s office received a report from a resident who saw the body of a dog lying along railroad tracks in Kelso. It turned out to be Jaggar, who officials say apparently was placed on the railroad tracks and hit by a passing train.

After news reports appeared about the dog being found dead, the sheriff’s office received a tip from a witness who reported seeing Jaggar at Clark’s home in Kelso.

Based on information provided by Clark after his arrest Tuesday, deputies searched Jordan’s home in Longview. There, officials said, they found a cell phone that was used to contact Thomas on Oct. 8.

“This is a felony theft and extortion case,” Cowlitz Sheriff Mark Nelson said in a press release. “It just happened to be that the thing stolen was a dog; someone’s pet and part of her family. And while we’re happy to clear the case with these arrests, we’re all sorry that Jagger was not recovered alive.”

Anyone with additional information about the case is asked to call 360-577-3092.

What happens when you cross a Labrador retriever and a poodle?

You get a Labradoodle.

What  happens when you bring together a science writer and a cartoonist?

You get a highly informative and entertaining blog, like the Philadelphia Inquirer’s, Planet of the Apes, which looks at evolution. (And God bless evolution, for, without it, we’d all be reading this through slimy fish eyes.)

Earlier this week, the blog – written by Faye Flam and illustrated by Tony Auth – examined what makes dogs so diverse a species.

Is the diversity a result of evolution, or man’s infernal tinkering? 

The answer to why there’s such a range in head shapes, snouts, coats and size — why some dogs are up to 40 times the size of others — may be in DNA.

(DNA, of course, being the answer to just about everything nowadays, with the possible exception of where did I put my car keys.)

Flam turned to Elaine Ostrander, a geneticist who studies dogs at the National Institutes of Health, for some help solving the mystery.

“Ostrander said two possible genetic explanations exist for dog variability. One is that something latent in the DNA of wolves allowed them to be transformed into both Great Danes and dachshunds. Under that view, she said, pushed-in noses and floppy ears and spots were all embedded in the wolf genome.

“The evidence against this, she said, is that we never see wolves born with pug noses or polka dots.

“The other view is that the genes underlying these traits don’t exist in the wolf, but that wolf DNA is very good at spinning out new variants – that it’s particularly ‘plastic.’”

Flam goes on to explain that that “plasticity” may stem from the parts of the DNA that don’t make up the genes, but  control how those genes work. Seven percent of the dog’s DNA, for example, is made of strings of code called SINEs that appear to have copied themselves throughout the dog chromosomes.

Between dog generations, SINEs can copy themselves in new spots on the chromosomes. And sometimes, the location of these SINEs can influence traits. Australian shepherds, for example, have blue-gray coats due to the invasion of a SINE into the middle of a gene for coat color.

While SINEs crop up in other animals, including us humans, dogs may be particularly rich in these and related bits of variable and movable DNA, according to Ostander.

In other words, or so it seems to me, when it comes to diversity, it’s just another thing dogs are better at than us.

(Graphic: By Tony Auth / Philadelphia Inquirer)

In response to yesterday’s post — the one that questioned whether dogs really enjoy the way we outfit them for Halloween, and whether all the money we spend doing that might be put to better use — a reader sent along a couple of links to YouTube videos.

The video above features a Boston terrier who has been equipped with a pig nose.

Perhaps I would be anthropomorphizing to assume that he’s humiliated by it all — getting humiliated being a human condition. Boston terriers are, after all, masters of the what-the-hell-is-going-on-here look, even when nothing is going on.

But my best guess is neither the pig-nosed dog, nor the Chihuahua clad in an army tank (below) is thoroughly enjoying the experience.

If anthropomorphization is bad, what about porcinepomorphization? And weaponpomorphization?

One dog was killed, one survived and another is fighting for its life after a swarm of bees attacked them in their back yard in Chula Vista, California.

Carissa Musaraca says she went outside just before 2 p.m Tuesday to see her dogs covered in “thousands and thousands” of bees. ““It looked like a tornado of bees. I couldn’t even see the backyard at all. The dogs were covered in coats of bees,” she told NBC in San Diego

Firefighters said 4,000 to 6,000 bees emerged from a hive behind her home.

One of her dogs, Faith, had a seizure and died. Her other two dogs, Girl and Boomer, were taken in for veterinary treatment.

The photo above shows Scott Dunn of Marietta, Georgia, burying his dog Duncan, a boxer who died after waking his master and allowing him to escape from his burning house.

It was taken by John Spink, a photographer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, whose coverage of the story has prompted many offers of assistance for Dunn.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says offers have come from as far as Washington to help the man, who lost all his possessions, including the boxer that he called the “best dog in the world.”

Dunn’s dog woke him during the blaze, and they ran out of the house together. During the confusion, though, the dog ran back inside and when Dunn tried to rescue him he was beaten back by the smoke and flames.

The story seems to have touched the hearts of many.

“I breed boxer puppies, and I know that they are the perfect family dog, and more,” wrote a man from Iowa. “This story goes to show how much they care for the ones that take care of them. I would like to offer this fella a pup, free of charge, if and when he is ready for one.”

Two other readers wrote the AJC saying they would like to purchase a new dog for Dunn, and another offered his own 6-week-old puppy.

“I am not wealthy by any means, but it would be a good gesture to give to someone who needs a hand,” wrote a woman from Washington. “I have no family, just my four-legged family, and they are the very best and mean the whole world to me.”

The AJC says it will be putting all of the readers who have offered assistance in contact with Dunn.

(Photo: Scott Dunn, after burying his dog, Duncan, in his back yard; by John Spink, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

We did it. We managed to do what I suspect no other dog blog pulled off — we got through Halloween 2011 without running a single picture of dogs in costume.

I am not strictly opposed to dressing dogs up for Halloween.

But I wonder whether we’ve gone overboard. I question how much dogs enjoy it, and why and how, with the economy we have, Americans were willing and able to fork over an estimated $310 million to decorate their dogs for the holiday.

As noted in The Village Voice:

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $6.68 billion on Halloween this year. Included in that sum is an astounding $310 million spent on costumes for people’s pets. Give Americans credit: We can suffer through a recession, gross economic turmoil, a foreclosure epidemic, and a tepid stock market, but we sure as shit aren’t skimping on the dog costumes.

What if, even just for one year, we declared a moratorium on doggie costumes and instead used that $310 million to make America, or the world, a better place for dogs — used it on dog parks, or spaying and neutering, or  emergency veterinary treatment, or furthering adoptions, or more humane alternatives to the gas chambers many animal control departments are still using for euthanasia?

Too scary?

“Halloween is my favorite holiday because it makes me infinitely happy to see dogs in costumes,” Nikki Moustaki writes on her blog, MUTTerings. “It’s the time of year when passionate dog owners let their dogs’ inner ballerina, bumblebee, or princess shine.”

Nikki’s infinite happiness aside — and on top of the hazards some costumes can pose – there’s something to be said for letting a dog be a dog, even on Halloween, as opposed to ballerina or bumblebee.

Much as it makes us smile, chuckle and go awwwwww, Humans should not get their kicks at the expense of a dog’s suffering, or even discomfort.

I’m sure most responsible pet owners are careful, ensuring that what they’re dressing their dog in/as is a safe costume that won’t constrict their pet’s breathing, or contain little pieces that can be chewed off or choked on.

But the increasing trendiness of dog costuming ensures that there will be an increasing number of pet owners who aren’t thinking things through.

And physical hazards aside, there’s also the stress factor. Some dogs may relish the attention, and happily tolerate a costume, but many only get stressed out when festooned with an elaborate get-up.

Ironically, one of the biggest promoters of costuming dogs — after the companies that sell costumes, and the websites that thrive on presenting pictures of dogs as something other than dogs — are local shelters and humane societies.

Rare is the fundraising event that doesn’t feature a doggie costume contest, which is understandable, given they are such crowd pleasers.

I’m not a total party pooper. Putting a dog who doesn’t stress out about it in a simple and safe costume, for a short while — long enough to get your laughs, snap your pictures and post them on Facebook — is fine.

But leaving them in it for hours, leaving them in it unattended, leaving them in it when they are clearly upset about it? That’s where it all enters the arena of, maybe not animal cruelty, but animal disrespect.

The hazards of Halloween, for dogs, go beyond the costuming. It, like the 4th of July, is a prime times for dogs to get loose and run away. In Rochester, N.Y., police fatally shot a Rottweiler who was scaring trick-or-treaters.

And then there are the treats. Chocolate, as we all should know by now, can be toxic to dogs, and xylitol — an ingredient found in gum and other treats — can sicken and kill them as well.

Other than all that, Happy Halloween!

Last week, Midnight, a 1-year-old Yorkie-bichon mix, ran off while being groomed at a Pets Plus store in Delran, N.J.

A story about the dog’s disappearance appeared in Friday’s Burlington County Times, and another story in the paper on Sunday reported that Midnight had been found alive.

Actually, Midnight had been found dead on Thursday evening — before the first story even appeared –  apparently struck by a car, according to Delran police. The dog’s body was returned to the pet store Thursday night.

On Thursday afternoon, store manager Josh Salyer said the dog was being walked outside when it slipped out of its collar and crossed a busy six-lane highway. The store offered a $500 reward for Midnight’s return.

On Friday, the Burlington County Times says that when it called to get an update on the dog, it was told by Salyer that Midnight had been safely located and returned.

A story to that effect appeared in the paper Sunday — and, though they knew by then their dog was dead, owner Monifa Wilson and her daughter received text messages all day long congratulating them on the dog being found.

Wilson, of Delanco, called the newspaper Monday to inform it that Midnight was dead, and that the corpse had been in the pet store’s freezer since Thursday.

The Burlington County Times ran an article yesterday about the mix-up.

The Times says when it contacted the store Friday the manager said: “I was just notified that he was found a few blocks away. He’s OK … We’re ecstatic, and thanks to all the people who helped search.”

Barbara Johnson, general manager with the Pets Plus chain, based in Fairless Hills, Pa., denied that Salyer said the dog was alive, and said he was merely thanking the community for helping in the search.

“That’s all it was,” she said. “The only thing Josh was happy about was that the search was over, and he wanted to thank all those who helped. We weren’t trying to spread any mistruths.”

Thomas Cook Airlines has apologized to the owner of Buster, an English bulldog who died in the cargo hold on a flight to London’s Gatwick Airport.

The dog was owned by a member of the armed forces returning from duty in Cyprus.

The airline was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay £12,000 costs, the BBC reported.

At a three-day trial in Haywards Heath, magistrates were told that snub-nosed breeds such as English bulldogs were more susceptible to breathing problems in times of stress.

The airline was found guilty day of causing unnecessary suffering, using a transport container that was not of the correct size and two counts of incorrect labeling of the transport container.

A spokesman for the airline said it had carried more than 3,000 animals on its flights in the last three years without incident.

“We’d like to reiterate our sincere apologies to Buster’s owner for the distress caused,” the spokesman said.