ohmidog!

About

     Ohmidog.com is the web domain of John Woestendiek, a former newspaper reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner who, after blogging about dogs and animals for the Baltimore Sun, decided to unleash himself from the newspaper and go out on his own.

    As a stray, he plans to continue blogging and working as a writer on other projects, including a dog-related book.

    He is assisted in this endeavor by the ohmidog! staff (listed below) and his dog Ace, who, whether he’s dragging his owner to the dog park or curled up and snoring on the futon, provides constant inspiration.

    Woestendiek told the story of Ace — a shelter dog of undetermined origins — in the Baltimore Sun in 2007 in a seven-part series and video that can be found here.

   That series, which explored Ace’s heritage, kicked off his Baltimore Sun blog, “Mutts,” which has since been renamed “Unleashed” and is now under new management.

    Woestendiek, 56, spent 35 years in the newspaper business — in Tucson, Arizona; Lexington, Kentucky; Charlotte, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Baltimore. He left the Baltimore Sun during its latest series of buyouts.

     While this website will cover dog-related happenings in Baltimore, Maryland and the mid-Atlantic states, its scope will be national, even global. Ideally, whether you live in downtown Baltimore, New York, California or New Zealand, you should be able to find something to amuse, inform, delight or infuriate you.

     In the narrowest sense, this web site is about the mutt — the kind of dog, like mine and maybe yours, that has no pedigree and will win no beauty contest; the kind of dog that, more often than its purebred counterparts, ends up abandoned, neglected or in shelters; the dog that, while it doesn’t fit under neat “breed” labels, is clearly one of a kind.

     In the broadest sense, we’re about animals, humans included, and the precept that they, as living things, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity — from the homeless man on the street corner to the purebred poodle getting a pedicure, from the goldfish in the aquarium to the horseshoe crab on the shore. We are here not just for the underdog, but the undercat, underferret, and undergerbil as well.

    We’re not real big on dog beauty contests and kennel club etiquette. We believe all dogs are equal, and no breed, or mix thereof, should be singled out for special laws and rules. Our following, assuming it followed us (which is what a following is supposed to do) leans toward supporters of and activists involved in animal rights and animal welfare. Our intent is to provide interesting and important information to dog owners and dog lovers.

      We do accept advertising, but readers can rest assured that anyone advertising on these pages will be a person or company we’ve scrutinized, know and trust.

      The same holds true for the non-profits we link to. They are all organizations with which we have worked in the past two years. Karma Dogs, for instance, of which Ace is a member, is an organization that trains shelter and rescue dogs for therapy work. BARCS, or the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, is where Ace was lodged after he was found wandering the streets a few years ago, and the organization I adopted him from.

     ohmidog! is updated two to five times a day in an effort to bring you the latest news about dogs in Maryland, nationally and worldwide. Your news tips and suggestions are welcome. 

    You can email us at muttsblog@verizon.net.

   ohmidog! staff:

Editor: John Woestendiek

Correspondents/Contributors - Anne Madison, Carey Hughes, Mary Schmidt, J.C. “Bluhawkk” Darwymple, Andrew Gould and Kelly Gould

Training/behavior columnist – Lauren Bond

Marketing manager – Tamara S. Granger

Web designer – Gil Jawetz

Promotional designer – Carrie Ziek

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