ohmidog!

The Tucson Police Officers Association is seeking to honor a police dog killed in the line of duty by having a dog park named after him.

Ivan, a 3-year-old Belgian malinois, was shot and killed two weeks ago while trying to protect officers from an armed carjacking suspect.

The dog park at Purple Heart Park on East Rita Road, which officially opened over the summer, is where Ivan would go with his handler to unwind after his shift.

“(He) would allow him to run the energy off for the night before taking him home,”  TPOA secretary, Officer Paul Sheldon, told the Arizona Daily Star.

Sheldon, at the request of  Ivan’s handler, Officer Chris Fenoglio, is spearheading an effort to have the park named after Ivan. Last week, he took petitions to the park, seeking signatures in support of the idea.

The petition will be presented to Tucson’s Parks and Recreation department for approval at its next board meeting, after which it would head to the city council for a vote.

Sheldon said he hopes the approval process can be completed by February.

Ivan was shot on Dec. 13 by a carjacking suspect who pulled out a gun when officers encountered him. Released by Fenoglio the dog ran to the suspect and managed to bite his left arm before he was shot.

Sheldon said Fenoglio has received dozens of letters of support from the community.

If the dog park is named after the hero police dog, it won’t be the first time.

In 2006, a Tucson Police Department dog named Miko died after jumping off an overpass in pursuit of a carjacking suspect.

The dog park at Reid Park was named in his honor —  Miko’s Corner Playground.

(Photo of Ivan courtesy of Tucson Police Department)

Here’s Tucker, who, as the Ellen Degeneres show plays in the background, gets some rest on a leather couch that seems just his size.

He uses a sleep position similar to my dog’s, with his rear legs spread wipe open, as if to say, “this is my groin and I don’t care if the whole world sees it.”

As his front legs flop about and his face twitches, his owner videotapes him, then finally wakes him up and — as many of us do — assures his dog, “It was only a dream.”

Tucker seems unwilling to take his owner’s word for it. He looks around to get his bearings, then, with a stretch, seems to accept it.

To see more sleeping dogs, click here, then click on the headline for the video.

A family from Canada, visiting the U.S. for Christmas, is hoping their dog Ash turns up in Detroit, where she escaped from a U.S. Customs officer last Friday and ran away.

During an inspection of their car at the border, the Wilcken family, of Waterloo, Ontario, handed their dog over to customs officials, who placed Ash in a crate.

As she was being returned, she pulled her head out of her collar and ran from the inspector holding her leash.

Customs officials apologized for the incident, and have been searching for the dog, a Jack Russell-pug mix, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The family drove on to Atlanta, but plans to return to Detroit on their way back next week and check shelters.

“Everyday, our son says something about that dog. I remind him of the nice moments we had with her. … We have two presents on the tree for Ash,” said Ana Wilcken.

The family has received dozens of messages of support at the address they set up in hopes of finding their dog – helpfindash@hotmail.com – but none with information about the dog’s whereabouts.

Employees at the city animal-control shelter said they they had not seen the dog, adding that none of the dogs now in the shelter will be euthanized until Jan. 7, because the shelter is on a holiday schedule.

Singer/songwriter Jen Foster is donating 50 percent of proceeds from downloads of the song “Christmas Time is Here” to Hope for Paws, a Los-Angeles-based rescue organization.

Written with LA songwriter/producer Rich Jacques, the song represents a departure for her. Most of her songs, she says, are “thematically intense.”

“I wanted to create something light, fun, and feel-good for the holidays,” she said. 

For the video, Foster, who has a dog named Bug, invited submissions of photos of pets celebrating the holidays.

A Chicago-area man has left $1.5 million to local animal shelters, specifying that the money go only to those that have no-kill policies.

Sylvester Czopek died in October of last year at age 84 in a hospice in Joliet.

Before his death, he set up a trust directing that his estate’s assets be distributed among local animal shelters that — though the definition of “no-kill” can vary — strive to avoid euthanizing pets who don’t get adopted.

Czopek, according to WLS, was the last of five brothers from Lemont, all of whom never married.

WLS reported that the $1.5 million will be split between five no-kill shelters:

• Will County Humane Society in Shorewood
• West Suburban Humane Society in Downers Grove
• Naperville Area Humane Society
• Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge
• PAWS Chicago Adoption Center

Bring author Dennis Lehane’s dog back to him and he’ll name a character in one of his next novels after you.

That’s the promise that Lehane made on his Facebook page after his beloved beagle disappeared from his Boston home this week.

WCVB.com reported that Tessa, went missing  Monday, and was last seen around 4:30 p.m. that afternoon near a gas station in the neighborhood of Allston.

Lehane is the author of several best selling novels, including “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone.”

He posted on Facebook that Tessa was microchipped, but that she wasn’t wearing any tags when she was left out in the yard and apparently jumped a fence and ran away.

“It’s possible she’s staying in some good Samaritan’s home right now or has tucked herself away on a porch,” Lehane wrote. “But if anyone sees her or knows of her whereabouts, please reach out to this page.”

The reward:  “Naming of character in the next book for anyone who gets her back to us! (No, really!)”

“She’s smart, fast, and immeasurably sweet. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body,” he posted.

Lehane was getting numerous suggestions from his Facebook fans, from hiring a doggie detective to assembling a beagle posse to search for Tessa.

A heartless soul stole 7-year-old Mia Bendrat’s dog on Christmas Eve — scooping him off the sidewalk in front of a store in Manhattan where her owner’s left him tied.

Fortunately, a good-hearted one was out there, too.

Tina Cohen, a teacher, saw a man a couple of neighborhoods away trying to sell a dog on the street, circumstances that made her suspicious. She purchased the dog from him and, on Christmas day, returned the dog to the owners.

New York City police arrested the alleged thief, who they say took the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, named Marley, from outside a shop in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, all under the eye of a surveillance camera.

“Thank you, the people of Washington Heights … Those great Samaritans… And now we got him on Christmas Day,” Mia’s mother Angie Estrada told WABC-TV.

Cohen, a high school Spanish teacher came across a man on Monday in another section of Manhattan standing on a street corner and yelling that he had a dog for sale.

“I said that’s not right. I said I’d like to buy the dog. I only have $100,” Cohen said.

When the man demanded more cash, Cohen went to a nearby Staples, bought some merchandise with her credit card, then returned it for cash.

She paid $200 for Marley and took him straight to a veterinarian, where he was identified through his microchip.

On Tuesday Cohen watched Marley jump into Mia’s arms.

“You guys belong together,” she said. “I’m so happy you are together.”

No word on whether Cohen got her $200 back, but — in the event Santa is listening, and maybe is willing to make a return trip — we’d say she deserves that and much more.

Sergeant Rex, a bomb-sniffing dog who finally returned from duty in Iraq earlier this year and was reunited with his former handler, died Saturday at the age of 11.

Rex was assigned to Cpl. Megan Leavey in 2006 when, on a patrol in Iraq, the dog alerted his handler of a nearby bomb. Both tried to run away, but it detonated, injuring them both.

Leavey left the Marine Corps in Dec. 2007, but Sergeant Rex continued to serve. She tried to adopt the dog, but was unable to for years because he remained on duty after recovering from his injuries.

This year, when Rex was retired due to facial paralysis, Leavey renewed her efforts, receiving support form U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and an online petition that received more than 20,000 signatures. In March, Leavey received permission to adopt him. They were reunited in April.

Leavey, who lives in New York, announced Rex’s death last week on her Facebook page:

“Unfortunately today at 10:56 a.m. Rex passed away. I was faced with the decision that no pet owner wants to hear, but I know I made the right choice. This is all very sudden and thankfully he did not suffer for long, this all came about late last night.

“I am so grateful for the last eight months I got to spend with my partner and my best friend. Rex got to swim in a pool and play with my other dogs. He got to roam the yard and bark at deer, play with as many toys as he wanted all day everyday, sleep in a cozy bed next to me every night, chase and eventually make friends with my two cats, enjoy and play in his first snowfall … and so much other great stuff that he would have never had the chance to do if he was never retired.

“He knew I was with him the whole time and I laid next to him and held him and spoke to him and he was at peace in the end. He is now my guardian angel … even though he already was. So thank you to everyone who supported me and made it possible for me to spend those precious 8 months with my best friend.

“He was one hell of a dog, one tough ass Marine, and one very special soul. He will no doubt be greatly missed and never forgotten.”

A book about Rex came out this year, entitled “Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog.” It was written by Mike Dowling, another one of Sergeant Rex’s handlers.

Rex searched more than 6,220 vehicles while stationed in Iraq, the Marine Corps says.

The publishers of the new book noted his passing in a Facebook post this week:

“Rest in peace Rex and thank you for your service and sacrifice. Once a Marine, Always a Marine … Semper Fi,” they wrote.

 (Photo of Rex and Leavey from tribute posted at Findagrave.com)

When Abby wandered off from her home in Fairbanks, Alaska, during a snowstorm, her family held out only a little hope.

Abby was 8-years-old. Temperatures were dipping to 40 degrees below zero. And Abby was blind.

But a little hope turned out to be enough.

Seven days later, after walking 10 miles to the edge of a local musher’s dog yard, Abby, a brown-and-white mixed breed rescued from a shelter as a pup, was found and returned to her owners, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

“It’s a miracle, there’s no other words to describe it,” said McKenzie Grapengeter, who has three sons under the age of 10.  “We never expected to have her to be returned safe and alive.”

Musher and veterinarian Mark May said he came across the dog while running his team on Dec. 19, but didn’t stop to pick her up. The next day, the dog showed up at May’s house.

May said the dog had no signs of frostbite. “No frozen ears, no frozen toes, she’ll probably go back home and it’ll (be) business as usual. She’s no worse for wear but quite an adventure,” he said.

“We’re so, so grateful…” Grapengeter said, calling Abby’s return “the most amazing Christmas gift we could ever ask for.”

We told you so, way back in November, when we carried a report about a dog crawling out alive from the ashes of a house fire in Tennessee.

‘Tis the season for doggie Christmas miracles.

You don’t have to look very far, this time of year, to find one.

The first of two we bring you today comes from North Carolina, where a Jack Russell terrier named Rowdy mysteriously disappeared while chasing squirrels on the Davidson College campus.

Mary Kay Taylor, his owner, often takes him there, and lets him frolic off leash for a few minutes.

“I walk him usually well into campus and let him off the leash for maybe a five-minute run around. Looking for squirrels is his favorite thing in the whole wide world to do,” she told WCNC in Charlotte.

On the Sunday before Christmas, he ran out of her sight. She heard a yelp.

For the next two hours she searched, calling the 8-year-old dog’s name. After that, she posted fliers on campus light posts.

The next two days were lonely ones, she said: “When you come home and he’s not there to greet you and all that kind of stuff, it’s sad.”

Early Christmas morning, her phone rang.

Rowdy had been found in a 12-foot pit in the well of a window outside the campus library.

A man walking his dog heard Rowdy crying and called the campus police. With help from the fire department, Rowdy was hoisted out and, within hours, was back home snuggling by the fireplace with his owner.

“It’s a miracle,” said Taylor. “It’s a Christmas miracle and I feel so grateful.”