ohmidog!

The owner of a dog rescued from a Colorado mountain after he had to abandon her has consented to give the German shepherd-Rottweiler mix to one of her rescuers.

“I don’t want to give her up — I love her — but those people risked life and limb to get her out of there, and that has got to be worth something,” Anthony Ortolani told the Denver Post.

Ortolani, 31, was climbing with a friend when a combination of factors led him to decide to leave his dog, Missy, behind.

The dog’s feet were blistered and she was unable to walk. A storm was approaching. And his climbing companion was out of water. They tried carrying the five-year-old, 112-pound dog, but after two hours, he said, they ended up leaving her between Mount Bierstadt and Mount Evans.

Once down the mountain, Ortolani called a friend who contacted the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office but was told the region was too dangerous and that the department didn’t rescue animals.

Missy was stranded for eight days before a volunteer group of rescuers found her and carried her down the mountain.

After that, Ortolani was charged with animal cruelty for abandoning her, and one of the rescuers expressed interest in keeping the dog.

Ortolani has agreed to plead guilty to a less serious charge, according to his lawyer, Jennifer Edwards, founder and attorney with the Animal Law Center.

Discussions leading to the plea bargain included talk of his giving up the dog, said Edwards, but are not the reason for his surrendering the animal.

(Photo: 14ers.com)

The man who left his injured dog atop a Colorado mountain, now facing animal cruelty charges, wants his dog back.

But one of the dog’s rescuers want to keep it.

The dog is safe and recovering now, but another doggie custody battle looks to be in the offing, pitting a dog’s original owner against someone who helped save it.

Anthony Ortalani was charged with animal cruelty Friday following an investigation by the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office, KUSA reported.

“We base that on information we learned that the dog had been up there for eight days in this rugged terrain. The weather had been inclement on certain days with rain and snow and the fact that he made little attempt to go back up and get the dog or try to make any other arraignments to retrieve the dog and get it back,” Sgt. Rick Safe with the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Department said.

The dog, named Missy, has not been returned to Ortalani, who faces a court appearance Oct. 16.

“The dog is doing great now and is expected to make a full recovery,” Sgt. Safe said.

But apparently that’s no thanks to the sheriff’s department.

The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Department is the same agency that Ortalini contacted for help once getting down the mountain. He says they declined to attempt a rescue of his German shepherd

According to Ortalani he was climbing Mt. Bierstadt when his dog’s paws became blistered and too sore for her to continue walking. Ortalani says he tried to carry the 112-pound dog off the mountain but was unable to. He says that attempts by him and his friends to lower the dog with ropes ended up injuring the dog even more.

With a storm approaching, he says, he was forced to leave Missy behind.

Once down the mountain, Ortalani contacted a search-and-rescue group and the Clear Creek sheriff’s department but says he was told it was too risky to send a rescue crew up for the dog.

A group of volunteers managed to pull it off, though.

Scott Washburn was out hiking with his wife when he spotted the dog, 13,000 feet up Mount Bierstadt. He posted photos of the dog on a climbing website, 14ers.com. A group of volunteers was assembled, and they climbed back up and brought Missy down.  The hikers took turns carrying her in a backpack down the mountain. Missy, who spent eight days on the mountain without food or water, was taken to a veterinarian who treated her for injuries to her paws and dehydration.

While Ortalani wants her back. Washburn and his wife have asked to adopt the dog.

Ortalani posted his thanks for those who rescued his dog on 14ers.com: “I am at a complete loss of words. My gratitude for the people involved in this is without measure.”

He went on to say, “I humbly beg the forgiveness of the community and most of all my Missy Girl. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

(Photo: 14ers.com)

Rebecca Carey had been finding homes for animals in need, volunteering at animal shelters and taking in rescues from the time she was a young teen, and all the way up to the weekend before last.

That’s when one or more of the five dogs in her care attacked and killed the 23-year-old woman at her home in Decatur, police say.

Despite that, and the euthanization of all the dogs, her family has set up a fund in her name to support rescue efforts at Loving Hands Animal Hospital, where Carey worked.

“Since the second grade when she read the book ‘Throw Away Pets,’ she vowed to be a voice for all animals,” her parents, Greg and Ellen Carey, said in a statement. “Upon placing her first abandoned animal in a permanent loving home in 2003, she volunteered countless hours with rescue networks and animal shelters. There she did what she loved the most: rescuing animals from untenable situations to find them safe, loving homes.”

LuAnn Farrell, the co-founder of the non-profit Angels Among Us Pet Rescue,” said Carey was known for taking in hard to place animals.

“She was one of the good ones because she did take in the ones nobody else would help,” Farrell told 11 Alive in Atlanta.

Farrell said the young woman’s death “kind of makes us all slip back just a little bit and say this is something that can actually happen,” but that she hopes it doesn’t dissuade people from helping animals in need.

“You know that’s the one thing she wouldn’t want people to do, shy away from rescue. It’s already hard enough. We’re already having thousands of them being put to sleep every day. There’s only so many of us that can do it,” said Farrell.

Carey had one of the rescue organization’s animals, a boxer mix, living with her at the time of her death, as well as two Presa Canarios and two pit bulls, one of which, Napolean, she had adopted six years ago when he was eight weeks old.

She was dogsitting one of Presa Canarios, and it was that dog’s owner, Jackie Cira, who discovered Rebecca’s body after she failed to show up for work at Alpharetta’s Loving Hands Animal Clinic.

Police originally investigated her death as a homicide, but last Thursday they announced she was killed by multiple dog bites.

The dogs were all euthanized Wednesday, with the consent of Carey’s parents, a police spokesperson said.

Cira, in remarks to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, questioned whether it was necessary to put all the dogs down, and why animal control officials made no apparent effort to determine which dog or dogs inflicted the bites leading to Carey’s death. Cira’s dog, Danai, was also euthanized.

Tim Medlin, interim director of DeKalb Animal Control, said public safety was the priority: “I won’t put another person at risk,” he said.

Donations in Carey’s name can be made to www.angelsrescue.org, by putting Carey’s name in the remarks section. They can also be mailed to Loving Hands Animal Hospital, 13374 Hwy 9, Alpharetta, GA, 30004.

A dog was found tied to the porch of an animal clinic in Rogue River, Oregon, with an apparent gunshot wound to his face.

The mixed-breed dog was discovered by employees at the Animal Clinic of Rogue River on Friday, alive and alert, but  laying in a pool of his own blood.

“It looks like the muzzle of the gun was stuck in the dog’s mouth and it was shot execution-style,” Rogue River police Chief Ken Lewis told the Medford Mail Tribune.

“He had a large hole in his face, just under the chin,” the police chief said.

The dog, believed to be about two years old, had no identification. He was rushed to Best Friends Animal Hospital in Talent for emergency surgery.

“He had two fractures in his jaw that had to be fixed with a wire,” Dr. Margarita Garcia said. “The wound is still leaking, but he can now eat watered-down food.”

Best Friends Animal Hospital workers say the dog has a friendly disposition. “We all have fallen in love with him,” said veterinary technician Erin McCreary.

 The animal hospital will continue to treat the dog until he is fit for adoption, Garcia said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call Rogue River police at 541-582-4931

(Photo: Bob Pennell / Medford Mail Tribune)

The “Suitcase 6″ are headed to new homes.

Found zipped up inside a canvas suitcase left behind a grocery store in Toledo last month, the six bulldog pups and their mom are being awarded to winners of a lottery held among the more than 100 people who wanted to adopt them.

One of the puppies was adopted Monday afternoon by the foster mom who had been caring for him. The other five, and the mother, are being given to those whose names were pulled in a drawing, according to John Dinon, executive director of the Toldeo Humane Society. He said 132 applications submitted by those interested in giving the dogs a new home,

The organization also received more than 1,000 phone inquiries from across the country, according to the Toledo Blade.

The former owner of the dogs, Howard Davis, was charged with abandonment. He was easily tracked down by authorities because he dropped the dogs off in a suitcase with an ID tag that had his name and address on it.

Davis, who was ordered by the judge to neuter and spay all the animals in his household, will be back in court June 22 for sentencing.

At the humane society on Tuesday, Mark Taylor of Toledo was the first of the lottery winners to arrive, showing up 30 minutes before the shelter opened.

Taylor chose the pup with a spot on his white head, and planned to name him Augustus. “I knew I wanted him as soon as I saw him,” Mr. Taylor said. “He’s laid back. He reminds me of me.”

Jennice and Eddie Collier of Shaker Heights, were also winners, and allowed their 16-year-old daughter, Shontese, to miss school to pick out one of the puppies. Shontese, whose parents said had been asking for a dog for five years, named the one she chose Princess.

Other adopters included an Oregon couple, who chose the solid white puppy and named him Brutus; and David Davison of Toledo, chose the female puppy with the spot on her eye, naming her Petey because she reminded him of the dog on the Our Gang and Little Rascals series.

David and Charlotte Swincicki, who live on 10 acres in Providence Township, adopted Maddie, the mother dog, who stood guard over the suitcase filled with her pups after they were abandoned.

(Photo: THE BLADE / DAVE ZAPOTOSKY)

Concerns over the Maryland Court of Appeals decision declaring that all pit bull-type dogs are  ”inherently dangerous” continue to ripple through the state and beyond.

And rightly so.

Humane Society Legislative Fund President Michael Markarian sums it all up nicely in his ”Animals & Politics” blog:

“The misguided and overreaching ruling treats all pit bulls and pit bull mixes as a category, rather than individual animals. It could make owners, landlords, veterinarians, kennels, animal shelters, rescue groups, and anyone in custody of a dog automatically liable, regardless of whether they know a dog actually poses a threat.

“This is a major step backwards for the state of Maryland, and puts both dogs and people at risk. This sweeping decision is a case of canine profiling. It may force law-abiding citizens to face a painful and life-changing decision — move out of Maryland or give up their beloved dogs. It could increase the number of stray pit bull-type dogs on the streets and euthanized in shelters, turning back progress made by animal shelters and rescue groups over the past few decades.

“… Rather than protect public safety, the court’s fiat has the opposite effect: It has the potential to create packs of free-roaming pit bulls roaming Maryland neighborhoods, rather than living safely as beloved family pets. Taxpayers and municipal agencies will bear the financial burden of addressing public health and safety problems caused by feral dog packs.”

Breed alone is not predictive of whether a dog may pose a danger, Markarian notes. Far larger factors are the dog’s living conditions, whether he was properly socialized, owner behavior, and whether he’s chained.

On top of being misguided, the ruling fails to recognize that pit bulls aren’t a breed, but a fuzzy catch-all term, and proving a dog is a pit bull will likely be problematic.

“And who’s to decide whether a dog is a pit bull and therefore unwelcome with a cursory visual exam? According to a recent study by the Maddie’s Fund Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida, which looked at a group of 120 dogs at four animal shelters, 55 of those dogs were identified as “pit bulls” by shelter staff, but only 25 were confirmed as pit bulls by DNA analysis. Additionally, the staff missed identifying 20 percent of the dogs who were pit bulls by DNA analysis, while only 8 percent of the “true” pit bulls were identified by all staff members … The National Canine Research Council has a clearinghouse of resources demonstrating that breed labels assigned to dogs of unknown origin are usually inaccurate.

Many dogs merely resembling the pit bull-type look will be swept up and punished by this ruling, and there may be expensive court battles over whether a dog is or isn’t a pit bull. With as many as 75 percent of shelter dogs being mixed breeds, this is not an anti-pit bull decision, but an anti-dog decision.

Markarian encourages readers to show how they feel about the ruling by  submitting their favorite pit bull pictures to the “We Love Maryland Pit Bulls” photo album on the HSUS Maryland Facebook page, or by posting them on Twitter with the hashtag #LoveMDpitbulls.

Miley Cyrus found a puppy in a box outside a Walmart and took it home.

She named the pup Happy, and Tweeted a photo of herself getting her hair washed while holding him.

“He was left in a box in front of Walmart. I don’t understand how people can be so cruel. That’s why we named him Happy,” she wrote.

Cyrus thinks the dog is a Rottweiler-beagle mix.

Happy joins Miley’s other pooches Ziggy, Lila and Floyd, reports People magazine.

But the story doesn’t answer the biggest question of all: What was Miley Cyrus doing at a Walmart?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(UPDATE: Ruth Torres, after reclaiming her dog, surrendered him to the shelter, saying he was too difficult to handle)

A Bronx woman who didn’t even know her dog was lost found him — on an NBC “Today” show segment featuring homeless pets that have been given makeovers and put up for adoption.

“It was a miracle,” said Ruth Torres, whose brother took her Irish Wolfhound — under circumstances not entirely clear — three weeks ago.

Torres, according to MSNBC, didn’t realize Dusty was actually lost until she saw the “Today” show Friday morning.

On the program Jill Rappaport and Center for Animal Care and Control official Richard Gentles were introducing an Irish Wolfhound in the recurring “Bow to Wow” segment.

“They said, ‘Here comes Mooki,’” said Torres.  “I said, ‘That’s not Mooki! It’s Dusty!’ I said, ‘Oh my God, Mommy, hurry, hurry! Dusty’s on TV.’”

Torres and her mother went to the Animal Care and Control Center in East Harlem to claim Dusty.

Shelter workers told Torres that Dusty had been found abandoned at a dog run in the Bronx.

According to MSNBC, Torres believes her brother, who she said has been through some tough times, left Dusty in the park and never called to tell her. When found, Dusty wasn’t wearing a name tag and didn’t have a microchip.

He returned to his old owner Saturday, after the shelter microchipped and licensed him. Torres had to pay for that, but not the makeover.

 Yes, those two creatures to the left are dogs.

This neglected and abandoned duo was found back in the fall in a park in Rocky Mount, N.C.

They were filthy, badly matted, stinky and barely able to get around.

“They could not walk, see or use the bathroom, yet someone dumped them in that park in that shape,” Sandy Wright Holt wrote in a Facebook post. “I’ve been in rescue over 10 years and have never come across any animal as neglected as these two were.”

After a trip to a vet, where they were shaved — a process that took hours — and given medical treatment, the two ended up in foster care, arranged by the SPCA Alliance of NC, and they’ve since been placed in an adoptive home.

These days, they go by the names Charley and Marley.

Whoever neglected and abandoned them hasn’t been found.

Just last week, looking like far different dogs, Charley and Marley took part in a fundraiser for a local rescue.

Here’s one more pair of before and after photos.

(Photos courtesy of SPCA Alliance of N.C.)

A Toledo man stuffed six English bulldog puppies and their mother into a piece of luggage and abandoned them next to a trash bin — apparently not realizing that the canvas suitcase had a tag on it bearing his contact information.

The bag of pups — three males, three females and their mother — was dropped off behind a city business. They were picked up April 4 by the Lucas County Dog Warden’s office, according to the Toledo Blade.

On Tuesday, two counts of abandonment Tuesday were filed against Howard Davis, who lives about a quarter mile from where the dogs were dropped.

Gene Boros, a Toledo Area Humane Society cruelty officer who questioned Davis, said the man told him he had not abandoned the dogs and had given them to someone in Michigan. Boros said Davis appeared to be in the process of moving out of his home.

Passers-by initially found the dogs and unzipped the bag to give them air, said Julie Lyle, Lucas County dog warden.

“There are witnesses who said that the female is indeed Mr. Davis’ dog and that he had been trying to sell puppies,” said John Dinon, executive director of the Toledo Area Humane Society.

Davis was to be charged with two counts  of either first-degree or second-degree misdemeanor abandonment. Davis will be issued a citation and given a court date, but he was not arrested, Dinon said.

The dogs were transferred to the Humane Society, where the pups and their mother, now named Maddie,  are reported to be doing well.

They will be going to a foster home by the end of the week and won’t be available for adoption for at least four weeks — possibly longer since they are part of a criminal case.

(Photo: THE BLADE / DAVE ZAPOTOSKY)