ohmidog!

After eight years of living on her own in a field in Kansas, Ditch Dog has come in out of the cold.

Nobody knew where D.D., as she’s called, came from. She didn’t let people near her — not even when one of her legs got looped through her collar, and she limped around on three legs until the collar rotted. Even, then, she kept walking on three legs for another year, apparently having grown used to it.

Ditch Dog did accept the donations of food and water that residents of Buhler, week after week, year after year, provided.

But not until last month did she allow a human to get close, make friends and take her home, according to Hutchinson News reporter Kathy Hanks:

After all these years, the elusive creature …has finally come indoors to the home of Rachelle Cavanaugh, just in time for the cold weather. Cavanaugh believes D.D. was ready … “She didn’t want to live like that anymore,” Cavanaugh said.

The wiry-haired dog, who’s also missing her tail, avoided being picked up for violating Buhler’s leash laws by staying outside town limits, on the county side of the road.

Cavanaugh began trying to get close to D.D. more than a year ago. She began leaving treats with medicine to help the dog with what Cavanaugh suspected was arthritis, and put flea medicine in her food. One night, when Cavanaugh sat by the food dish, D.D. approached and let Cavanaugh touch her.

“She was starving for attention,” Cavanaugh said.

Recently, Cavanaugh was able to get D.D. to jump in her car. She drover her around town, put a leash on her and introduced her to her other three dogs before returning her to her field.

She arranged for a vet to come to the field and give D.D. shots.

And about a month ago, D.D. moved in with Cavanaugh.

“She has some wicked scars,” Cavanaugh said, and she still seems to get anxious at night, at which time she seeks out her pillow.

Cavanaugh left a sign in the field where D.D. once lived, in case people in Buhler start wondering why she’s no longer there. It reads:

“Buhler: Thank you for all the years of care and concern. I have found a home and I am adjusting. God bless you, Ditch Dog.”

(Photo: Lindsey Bauman / Hutchinson News)

The death of his owner during Hurricane Sandy has sent Lucas, a collie-shepherd mix, back to the same shelter he was adopted from about five years ago.

He’s grayer around the muzzle now than he was then — when a couple dropped him at the Staten Island animal care and control facility, saying they’d just had a baby and no longer had room for him.

This time, his route there was even sadder.

According to Examiner.com, Lucas remained by his dead owner’s side until they were both discovered in the aftermath of the superstorm.

A Facebook page for Lucas says he seems stressed and confused, and doesn’t like being caged. “When Lucas is out of the cage and outside his personality shines through. We think that a home with older children is best because he appears to have been in a home as a single dog with no other animals and is used to quiet.”

A volunteer on her way to work at a Riverside, Calif., animal shelter noticed a dog sniffing a burlap bag on the side of the road and stopped to investigate.

As she approached, the bag — tied at the top — began moving.

And when she opened it she found a cream and white- colored Chihuahua mix inside, dirty but alive.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, the dog has been named Angel and is being cared for at the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center, formerly the Riverside Humane Society.

The volunteer, Debra Jordan, was on her way to work at the center when she spotted the sack, about 9 a.m. Monday, according to center spokeswoman Carrie Ridgeway.

Ridgeway said the dog is believed to be about three years old. Her ears were caked with mud and there were insect bites on her body.

“Who knows how long she’d been out there,” Ridgeway said.

After a bath and a meal, the dog seemed to be fine, she added.

Adoption Center officials reported the incident to the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

“It’s not only heartbreaking, it’s also a crime,” Denise Perry, executive director of the adoption center said. “Pets aren’t disposable. They are living, breathing beings.”