ohmidog!

Tim Tebow has slightly altered the name of his dog, as a result of being traded from Denver to the New York Jets.

His Rhodesian ridgeback, formerly known as Bronco, is now named Bronx, which he hopes the dog won’t find too confusing.

The quarterback adopted the dog in 2010, the year he signed with the Broncos.

Tebow was traded to New York two months ago after the Broncos signed Peyton Manning.

All of which makes us wonder if there are other canine name changes underway among those fans who name dogs after their hometown quarterbacks.

What’s happening with all the dogs named Peyton in Indianapolis, all the dogs dubbed Tebow in Denver? If you live in Baltimore, should you name your dog Flacco? Or should you opt for something more stable and long term, based on institutional memory as opposed to the flavor of the day?

Here, Unitas.

(Photo: Twitter)

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(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.

A New York family has filed a lawsuit saying a police officer searching their home slapped their 7-pound dog with enough force to send him flying out a third story window.

Chuwie, described as a mix of miniature pinscher and Pomeranian, survived the fall, but the family says he hasn’t been the same since police burst into their Bronx apartment a year ago, guns drawn, for what turned out to be a failed drug raid.

“How could a police officer do that to a tiny dog?”’ the New York Post quoted Iris Ramos as saying. Her son-in-law, Ronald Estevez, 27, owns Chuwie.

The family says Chuwie, though he barked at police, never tried to attack an officer.

“Children were crying. Guns were being pointed in their faces,’’ said family lawyer Jeffrey Emdin, who filed the suit in Bronx Civil Court. It names the city and NYPD as defendants and seeks $300 for vet bills and unspecified other damages.

Emdin said Iris Ramos’ brother, daughter, son-in-law and niece were arrested for drug possession, but that their cases were later dismissed.

The lawsuit says Chuwie jumped on a bed and began barking when the police came in. When one officer slapped him with the back of his hand, the dog flew four feet, through the bars in the open window and plummeted three stories, landing on a patch of grass.

(Photo: Matthew McDermott / New York Post)

A Labrador retriever died after being left in a car parked outside a Costco in Frederick, Maryland.

A Maltese died after being left in a parked van while his owner went for a swim in a New York park.

A rash of similar cases have been reported across the heat-waved northeast, leading animal advocates to reiterate what they have long said — but apparently not everybody has heard: Dogs should never be left in parked cars, especially not in summer

In the Maryland case, Frederick County Animal Control says the dog was left in a car on Tuesday, as temperatures climbed to 104 degrees, the Washington Post reported. Authorities were notified about the dog, but by the time investigators arrived the dog was dead and the owner of the car was gone. Authorities are still investigating.

Earlier this week, a Bronx man left his Maltese inside his van at FDR State Park in Westchester, while he went for an hour-long swim, the New York Daily News reported.

A stray South Bronx mutt who was “discovered” in a shelter and went on to appear in the hit musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” is enjoying his retirement in a posh home on the upper West Side.

Found wandering the streets as an 8-month-old pup, Fred landed at an ASPCA shelter in New York in early 2005. 

There Bill Berloni, a theatrical animal agent who has trained stray dogs for Broadway shows for more than 30 years, found Fred, took him home and spent a year working with the dog.

Berloni, who also is a behavior consultant for the Humane Society of New York – a no-kill shelter that supports rescued animals — took Fred, a terrier mix, to try out against dozens of other canine hopefuls at the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” auditions.

The New York Daily News recounted Fred’s “wags to riches” story in an article today.

When the show closed in 2006, Berloni arranged for Fred (third from the left in the photo) to be adopted by Chris Grabenstein and his wife, J.J. Myers.

Grabenstein, an author of adult mysteries and childrens’ ghost stories, has created a character based on him. The couple also built a rooftop dog area, where Fred can continue to enjoy the bright lights of the big city.

Amelia Loran lost her dog last week. Snowy didn’t die, or run away. The Maltese mix, injured when run over by a bicyclist, just started accumulating more medical bills than her family could bear.

I’ll let Amelia, who wrote me yesterday, tell the story.

“Hi my name is Amelia Loran. I’m from the Bronx. I am 14 and I had a dog. Her name was Snowy. She was a white long fluffy dog. She was like my other half.

“The accident that happened with my dog, it was a warm sunny Sunday and me and my mom and two cousins were on our way 2 the park so my mom parked the car. We didn’t want 2 be in the jungle gym area. We wanted 2 be in open space where we could run, play, jump.

“So Snowy was on her leash but we let her go so she could be free a little bit, and there was this kid riding his bike in the open space and he ran over her right limb.

(Amelia’s mother, Myra Loran, drove to an animal hospital, and paid for the first vet bill, $629, with credit. She worked out a payment plan for the second one, $275, as well. But the cost of the surgery vets said was still needed — estimated at anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 – was more than she could handle.)

“So my mom had 2 give Snowy up for adoption,” wrote Amelia, whose last night with the dog was last Thursday.

“So Thursday was a night 2 remember. She had a white and blue cast. Me and my mom put on her blue and white pajamas 2 match her blue cast and me and my mom slept together with her … Friday it was a rainy morning so me and my mom went to the humane society and gave Snowy to the adoption agency. I was so sad that I couldn’t say goodbye to her. The ride from my house to where we took Snowy was the longest ride ever. I cried the whole night before that morning and I was crying thru the night. I still cry. When me and my mom go outside I feel like I’m missing a big part in my heart and I feel like I’m forgetting something…

“I have cystic fibrosis and I’m at home most of the time and she was like my twin. I am a only child. My mom works side jobs, babysitting, washing clothes, taxi, to get me extra stuff. I get SSI. So in the daytime I’m home taking meds. I miss lots of school days because of my disease. Snowy keeps me company. She loves to get dressed and lay down and look cute as you see in the pictures. And she is not too active. With my CF I really am not 2 active. We just got her a month ago, but it feels like I been with her my hole life.

“I do not understand why I had to give up my bestfriend because we didn’t have $3000. I had a make a wish about 5 years ago. I went to Florida, and if I can have that gift, I would ask for Snowy. My mom tries to do her best to try and make my life easier because she knows I’m going to need a transplant in the near future.”

(Myra Loran says she now wishes they hadn’t surrendered the dog — even though it would have meant going even deeper in debt. She says she has tried to call the humane society to get updated on the dog’s condition, but her calls haven’t been returned. Amelia’s also an artist. The work to the left was exhibited in 2007 by ArtWorks, a program that provides children and young adults suffering from chronic and life-threatening illnesses access to creative and performing arts.)

Amelia, meanwhile, is holding out hope that Snowy, after she gets her needed surgery, will be put up for adoption – and that maybe she can get her back then. If so, she’d never let the leash out of her hand again, she says. “I swear not to ever let go when we are at the park.”

Amelia’s email address is amelialoran@yahoo.com.

Her mother’s is mloran169@yahoo.com.