ohmidog!

We hereby proclaim this — now that spay-neuter month is officially over — Dancing Dog Day.

And we begin our presentation with a dancing English bulldog who, though deaf, still seems to feel the blues.

Jamynne Bowles, of Long Branch, N.J., shot the video on her phone when her bulldog began seemingly following the rhythm of a song a friend was playing on his guitar.

Some viewers of the video speculate the dog is merely scratching his butt, but others believe, given how the dog’s moves are so in sync with the song, he truly seems to be feeling the music.

Then, too, it’s possible both might be true.

Did you hear the one about the gay bulldog?

Of course you did.

The story that quickly rose to the top of the dog news charts yesterday all stemmed from a Facebook post by a Tennessee woman who regularly visits her local animal shelter and posts photos of animals who might be euthanized if they’re not adopted.

This week, she met Elton, a bulldog — actually a bulldog mix — at the shelter in Madison County, and was told that his owner had surrendered him because he had seen Elton hump another dog and thought he was gay.

She took a photo of Elton and put it on Facebook, along with Elton’s not exactly confirmed but fairly sensational story: 

“… His owner says he’s gay! He hunched another male dog so his owner threw him away bc he refuses to have a “gay” dog! Even if that weren’t the most assinine thing I’ve ever heard, its still discrimination! Don’t let this gorgeous dog die bc his owner is ignorant of normal dog behavior! He’s in kennel 10L and he WILL be put down tomorrow bc there is no room at the inn!”

The post was picked up by the website Gawker, and went viral from there, with news articles appearing in everything from the Daily Beast to the Daily Mail. It also led to a barrage of phone calls to the shelter, mostly from people who wanted to adopt Elton — one of whom did Thursday.

“Stop calling the Madison County animal shelter — the gay bulldog was adopted hours ago,” the Nashville Tennessean reported yesterday. 

The Facebook poster is a mother of four who calls herself “Jackson Madison Rabies Control Stalker” (rabies control being what the animal control office in Madison County calls itself).

According to the biographical information on her Facebook page, she started visiting the shelter a year earlier and adopted a schnoodle that had both a neurological disorder and, it turns out, parvovirus.

Because of the dog’s suffering, she and her husband decided to have it put down, but changed their minds and called the veterinarian back 15 minutes later, which was too late.

What followed, she says, was a depression that lasted for weeks:

“I felt like all my joy and happiness left with that schnoodle! my depression went on so long my husband became concerned! i told him there was nothing to replace my loss, and i didnt know how to get over wanting the schnoodle back!”

A month later, her family adopted another schnauzer-poodle mix in Memphis, and named her Tess.

“… Tess came into my life and the healing began for me … But, I sit here crying even now …  I will always feel as if I gave up on the (first) schnoodle, like I never gave him the chance he deserved. I will always wonder if I had tried, would he have made it.

She adds, “I hated Jackson Rabies Control for the parvo. I blamed the place for my heartache. Until I went back, a few weeks later….I went back and started taking pictures and sharing their stories. and friend requests came in and I sent more out….and my page blew up with people who had no idea Jackson TN had a kill shelter…

Her other recent posts depict a dog at the shelter who she says was being overlooked because he is black, and a dog who was “allegedly poisoned.”

(Photo: Facebook)

When a man claimed her American bulldog Duke escaped her fenced yard and bit him, Carissa Curry was confused — and with good reason.

She’d left the dog inside her Toledo home when she went to work that day. She’d secured the gate of the fence around her yard. And Duke, even if he did manage to somehow get out of her house, had never left the yard before.

Curry returned home from work to find Duke was gone.

A note was left on her door by the Lucas County dog warden. When she called the phone number on it, she was informed that she was being charged with failure to confine her dog.

Toledo Police had been to her home earlier that day, back in August, after a man said he had been bitten by Duke while strolling down the sidewalk. The man said Duke pushed open the gate, attacked him then returned to the yard.

Duke was seized by the Lucas County dog warden, labeled a potentially dangerous dog, and quarantined for ten days.

In the days that followed, Curry, a health care worker and single mother of a 2-year-old boy, would grow only more confused, and worried.

She faced a misdemeanor charge that could carry a penalty of 30 days in jail.

She worried about losing her job, and her home, and having to pay hefty insurance fees as the owner of a “dangerous dog.”

And — even though she had left the door to her home unlocked — she still had no idea how her dog got out of it, or the yard.

She heard from neighbors who had seen the man walking through the neighborhood. One said she never saw Duke leave the yard — but did see the man enter it.

It was looking more and more like Duke, as opposed to miraculously escaping both house and yard, had actually just been defending his home, as Curry suspected from the start.

This week, at a pre-trial hearing, the ”failure to confine” charge against Curry ws dropped.

She still faces a charge of “failure to vaccinate.” While she claims she has the paperwork, she was unable to present it within the two days the dog warden gave her. That charge was upheld in court.

And Duke still faces a determination on whether he’s a “dangerous dog,” which could lead to restrictions that include being muzzled, having signs posted to that effect in his yard, and having to kept in a pen with a roof, according to DogHeirs.com.

The Lexus Project is handling the case against Duke and representing him in court. You can learn more about Duke, and help support his cause by visiting these links:

• Donate to the Support Duke fund
• Sign the petition
• Follow Duke’s story on Facebook

You can read Curry’s explanation of what’s transpired so far in the comments below.

(Photos: DogHeirs.com)

This English bulldog may look like grandpa, collapsed in the La-Z-Boy after too much Thanksgiving dinner, but he’s just a pup.

And we can only guess what he’s doing in his puppy dream.

The video comes from Suburban Bullies in Portales, New Mexico, which describes itself as “a responsible and ethical breeder of English Bulldogs.”

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

The dog ate the car keys? No big deal — at least not in this case, and as far as the car goes.

In this new ad from Volkswagen, entitled “Vet,” a Jetta owner, and bulldog owner, discovers the latter has eaten the keys to the former, but calmly handles the situation.

He grabs the bulldog, puts him in his car and, thanks to a keyless operating system, starts the car up and heads for the veterinarian.

(To see all of our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here.)

Bianca, the English bulldog belonging to Howard Stern and his wife Beth Ostrosky Stern, has passed away.

Ostrosky Stern broke the news on Twitter this week, saying, “We lost our precious Bianca today. My sweet little girl, may you rest in peace. I love you forever.”

Howard Stern, who has Bianca’s name tattooed on his arm, also tweeted: “Tough day today my friends. Thanks for all the kind messages. Give your dog a hug for me tonight.”

The 10-year-old English bulldog participated in the couple’s New York wedding in 2008, and her photo is on the cover of  Ostrosky Stern’s 2010 book (no relation to ohmidog!), “Oh My Dog: How to Choose, Train, Groom, Nurture, Feed and Care for Your New Best Friend.”

According to MSNBC, Bianca was purchased in 2002 from a “rescue breeder.” (Maybe they meant a breed rescue.)  There has been no word on the cause of death.

The dog would often accompany Ostrosky Stern, who is a spokesperson for the North Shore Animal League, on appearances.

(Photo: Beth Ostrosky Stern’s Twitter page)

In another month, he’ll be trying to bring home some gold, but it was back in November that Michael Phelps went to New York for a “Today Show” appearance and came back to Baltimore with a dog.

The olympic swimmer was there to talk about his training regimen — and it was the same day the show was presenting another segment in its Bow To Wow series, in which shelter dogs get makeovers.

He offered to walk that day’s featured dog, a catahoula mix named Penelope, to the outside plaza — and ended up adopting her.

Now renamed Stella, the dog is doing fine, Debbie Phelps, Michael’s mother, reports, and she’s getting along well with Michael’s other dog, a bulldog named Herman.

Michael’s mom told MSNBC that Michael plans to teach Stella to swim soon — maybe once the Olympics are out of the way.

(Photos: Top, MSNBC; close-up by by Lisa Dixon)

Another dog guru debuts this week, joining the ranks of televised trainers who straighten out the bad behavior of dogs, usually by straightening out their human owners.

“Dogs in the City” follows New York City trainer Justin Silver, who in the premiere episode confronts a celebrity bulldog who doesn’t seem to like his owner’s new wife; a Bernese mountain dog with a weight problem; and an office mutt who doesn’t get along with strangers.

The hour-long summer reality series will air Wednesdays on CBS, at 8 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific time).

Silver, a dog trainer, behaviorist and owner of a pet care company, is also a comedian and founder of Funny for Fido, a nonprofit organization that raises money for homeless animals by producing a yearly stand-up comedy event.

According to the show’s press release, Silver “has a creative and instinctive ability to connect with his canine customers while solving dilemmas for their two-legged masters. In each episode, he meets with clients who present a range of relationship problems, lifestyle changes or domestic issues. Justin gets as imaginative as necessary to reach a satisfying resolution, often finding that the owners can be a special breed themselves.”

If you’re impressed with that artwork to the left, called “Watching Birds,” consider this: It was painted by a dog.

A one-eyed dog, no less.

Last fall, Austin artist Jessica Stone decided she wanted another dog — one in need of a home, maybe even one with special needs.

San Antonio Bulldog Rescue had a candidate — a 7-year-old bulldog named Piper, whose hip  dysplasia caused her to walk with a limp, and who often made a mess of herself when pooping.

There wasn’t much known about Piper. “The guy who surrendered her wouldn’t give San Antonio Bulldog Rescue any information,” Stone told KXAN in Austin. “He said that he was afraid of her because she can be grumpy.”

Stone and her husband adopted the dog anyway.

“She gets startled easily. You can’t bug her when she’s sleeping. She doesn’t like to get picked up because it hurts her hips,” Stone said.

Piper immediately took an interest in Stone’s work, watching intently, with her one eye, as she painted, and then, with Stone’s help, taking it up herself.

“…She chews on the brush and I hold the paper and I change her colors,” Stone said.

On a whim, Stone decided to post one of Piper’s pieces on Facebook. It sold within a week. In a matter of months, Piper had sold about 50 paintings.

“She has over, I think, 2,700 fans now on Facebook,” Stone said. “She has her own business card, e-mail, website .”

Piper is making enough money to cover her own medical bills, and a percentage of her income goes back to the rescue group she came from.

Piper will be appearing this Saturday at Austin’s Just for Pets store at 3742 Far West Blvd., from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

A Chicago area woman has been charged with animal cruelty after biting the family dog, police say.

Analise J. Garner, 19, of Lake in the Hills, returned home drunk over the weekend and bit her family’s 80-pound English bulldog at least three times, officers said.

According to the  Chicago Tribune, she was also charged with domestic battery and underage drinking.

Police were called to her home about 4 a.m. Sunday after neighbors reported loud noises, Sgt. Mike Smith said.

Garner scratched and hit her 37-year-old mother in the face and also bit her on the right hand. Three bite marks were found on the dog, he said.

“The bulldog finally did bite her back in self-defense,” Smith added. “There were no charges against the dog.”

Garner was released Monday from the McHenry County jail after posting bail on $3,000 bond. She is due in court  May 23.