ohmidog!

A Maryland dog who was adopted by a member of the U.S. Senate — and who  went on to become a familiar and soothing presence in that chamber’s hallowed and often contentious halls — has died.

Dakota, a bichon frise, was adopted by former North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad and his wife, Lucy, in the spring of 2009 from a rescue shelter in Maryland

Conrad confirmed Sunday that Dakota died last week, due to complications from lymphoma, Inforum.com reported. 

During Conrad’s time on Capitol Hill, Dakota was popular among lawmakers, staffers and reporters, and he was once dubbed the “101st senator” by NBC’s Brian Williams.

“He went to work with me every day,” Conrad said. “People just took to him. To have an animal in that setting, it warmed people up. It made them feel more at home.”

Conrad said the dog’s calm disposition had the power to soothe seething lawmakers.

“In some of our (budget) negotiations, colleagues would call and ask if I could bring Dakota. He calmed everyone down.”

Dakota was diagnosed with the lymphoma in September 2011, and had fought the disease for a year and a half.

In the past eight months, Conrad and Dakota had flown four times to Houston, where the dog was participating in a T-cell cancer research project at the University of Texas’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

“He was part of experiments that are very important, that they think could help save many people’s lives,” Conrad said.

While his prognosis was promising, the cancer returned and last week Conrad was informed that Dakota probably only had a few days left.

“He was such a jaunty, confident and happy little dog,” Conrad said. “And he was cute – he just put a smile on people’s faces. And so that’s how I’ll remember him.

“He improved people’s days. He certainly improved mine.”

(Photo: Associated Press)

A poodle mix struck by a Toyota Camry became wedged in the car’s grill and survived an 11-mile ride in Rhode Island.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever seen anything like this,” East Providence Animal Control Officer Will Muggle told East Bay Newspapers.

 ”Considering the speed the driver said he was going and the distance he traveled, for her to survive is definitely a miracle.”

Authorities said the Toyota was traveling about 50 miles per hour when the small dog — a poodle-Bichon Frise mix — darted in front of it. The driver said he had little time to react. Unsure whether his car had struck the dog, he stopped, got out, checked the front of the car, saw nothing and assumed the dog had run off. He continued on his way from Taunton to East Providence.

But the dog was there, stuck in the recessed air intake section just below the car’s front grill and above the car’s license plate frame. Eleven miles later, when another motorist told him at a stop light that there was a dog in his grill, the driver headed straight to the East Providence police station.

Animal control officer Muggle was called to the scene.

“It was difficult to get her out of there, not only because of how she was stuck in there, but because she was grabbing on pretty tight,” Muggle said.

“The driver of the car was pretty shaken up about the whole thing,” he added. “He came back the next day to check on her to make sure she was alright.”

The dog — she’s being called Lucky — was taken to the East Bay Animal Hospital and later transferred to Bay State Animal Hospital for additional testing.

Muggle said the dog had a concussion, a small cut above her eye and a slight tear in her intestine. She has recovered and been returned to the custody of animal control. A search for the dog’s owner is underway.

An electronic tracking device implanted under her skin indicated she may have at one point lived in Kentucky, but no registered owners were listed.

If no owner is found likely by the end of the week, the dog will be put up for adoption.

Anyone with information about the dog’s owner, or interested in adopting her, can call East Providence Animal Control at 401-435-7675 or 401-435-7676.

Emma Watson was spotted in London over the weekend walking a pink dog.

But it turned out not be hers.

And it turned out to have been dyed pink for a good cause — dyeing for a cause being slightly more tolerable than dyeing for no reason at all.

So like a lot of celebrity stories, it wasn’t much of a story at all.

Initial reports said Watson owned the dog, which was described by the Daily Mail as “a shocking shade of bubblegum pink.”

That article and others quoted PETA officials and veterinarians who questioned the practice, as well as the groomer who pinkified the dog, who says the vegetable-based dyes he uses are harmless.

Some news reports called the dog, named Darcy, a Maltese, others referred to her as a bichon frise.

But the 23-year-old Harry Potter star got on Twitter to magically set the record straight: She doesn’t own a dog. She was just walking Darcy for a friend, who had the dog temporarily dyed pink in connection with a breast cancer research fundraiser.

(Photo: GoffPhotos.com / Daily Mail)

A day-long trial about dog poop ended with a Fairfax County jury finding a woman not guilty of failing to clean up after Baxter, a dog she regularly cares for.

Two neighbors had accused Kimberly Zakrzewski of violating the Virginia county’s “pooper scooper” law by allowing the Westie-bichon frise mix to relieve himself on the grounds of their condominium.

It took a jury less than 20 minutes Tuesday to reach the verdict, the
Washington Post reported.

Virginia and Christine Cornell had apparently gone to great lengths to document their claims, photographing piles of Baxter’s alleged waste and shadowing Zakrzewski and Baxter to take pictures.

Zakrzewski and the Cornell sisters have long been feuding, according to testimony from all three.

The Cornell sisters testified that Zakrzewski, who walks and babysits Baxter, failed to pick up after the dog on three days last March and April. They said they once heard her boasting to a neighbor that she left the poop unscooped to annoy them.

Zakrzewski testified that she carried plastic bags and always cleaned up after Baxter.

Also testifying was Baxter’s owner, Michelle Berman.

She was shown a photo of a pile of dog waste that had been introduced as evidence.

“Is that consistent with the stool Baxter creates?” Zakrzewski’s attorney asked. Berman answered, “I’ve never seen something that big come out of my little dog.”

Berman said she had gone so far to bring a bag of Baxter’s poop to the courthouse in case it was needed as evidence, but left it in the car.

(Photo: Sarah L. Voisin / Washington Post)

Stump, the Sussex spaniel who claimed top honors at Westminster this year, made an appearance at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center yesterday to the delight of a half dozen young cancer patients.

Stump — along with  J.R., a bichon frise from Houston who won Best in Show at Westminster eight years ago — were there to help celebrate the unveiling of the newest Children’s Art Project products, including a flag-inspired canine bandana.

Stump was chosen to model the new bandana, in part, because of his heart-lifting life story, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Stump, at 10,  was the oldest dog in the judging’s history to win Best in Show, and the first of his breed to take top honors. Even more inspiring to the children at M.D. Anderson, said hospital spokeswoman Sara Farris, was Stump’s ability to overcome a near-fatal bacterial infection five years ago.

Stump spent 19 days in a Texas A&M University veterinary clinic, art project director Shannon Murray told the kids. “But he never gave up the will to live,” she said.

Typically,  groups of seven to 25 children work on each art project, the sales of which raise about $1.5 million a year for programs directed at young patients.

“When the children create it gives them a sense of control when they may not have a feeling of a lot of control in their lives,”  said Murray. “Giving back to the other children at M.D. Anderson — it’s a great way to make a contribution and to feel better.”

Goldendoodle

Despite all the buzz about “hypoallergenic dogs” since the Obamas indicated they may get one, there are no breeds that are truly free of potential allergens, some medical experts say.

“I don’t think there is such a thing as a hypoallergenic dog,” allergy and asthma expert Corinna Bowser (really, BOWSER!) of Havertown, Pa. told WebMD.

While there are countless websites devoted to “hypoallergenic dogs,” the Obamas could find it difficult to find one to which their older daughter, Malia, won’t have an allergic reaction.

Bowser explains that the major allergen in dogs is a protein found in dog serum, and dogs excrete that allergen in sweat and shed it from their skin. “It also gets secreted into the saliva, and possibly a little bit in the urine,” Bowser says.

Since all dogs have that protein, no dog is completely allergy-free, according to Bowser.

She said a German study, published this year, tracked allergies among people exposed to various dog breeds and found that factors related to individual dogs seem to influence the “allergenicity” more than breed or gender.

Breeds commonly cited as hypoallergenic include the poodle, (and several poodle hybrids, like the goldendoodle), Bichon Frise, Maltese, Yorkshire Terrier, Portugese Water Dog, Schnauzer, West Highland Terrier, Basenji, Airedale Terrier, and our good friend, the Xoloitzcuintli.

Smaller dogs, and short-haired breeds might be less risky, Bowser said. “Hair length could have something to do with how it spreads in the house,” she said, explaining that shorter dog hairs may not stick as much as long hair to furniture, clothes, and other surfaces.

Bowser went on to say that if she was the Obama family doctor, “I would say it’s probably better not to get a dog.”

“Of course, now he made the promise and he kind of has to,” she said. Bowser recommends that before they get a dog of their own the Obama family dog-sit to see how Malia’s allergies fare, and set some rules about how they’ll handle any allergy issues.