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Big dog owners — by which I mean the owners of big dogs — are all too familiar with the comments people come up with when encountering their extra large pets.

“That’s a big dog” is probably the most common, not to mention the most obvious. (Hint: We already know that.)

Then there’s, “You could ride that thing.”

And, of course, “Who’s walking who?”

Despite the sameness, I always enjoy Ace getting the attention — or is it because I’m getting attention? — from those startled by his size.

“How much does he weigh?” they invariably ask. “How much does he eat?”

Often, too, they will ask, “Is he friendly?” Usually he will have made that clear himself before I get the answer out.

Then there are the those who show a little extra imagination: “What’s he a mix of – retriever and Buick?”

Repeated DNA tests have shown no Buick in his blood, just four breeds that — if you must know — you can use our search function to find out.

This post deals only with his size — and provides photographic proof that, yes, he is bigger than a car.

True, it’s a Smart Car, and true, he’s in the foreground. Maybe it’s not as incontrovertible as DNA evidence. But there it is, right before your eyes.

And as for the owner of that little car, allow me to ask, “How much does it weigh? How much gas does it eat? Can you ride that thing?

“And is it friendly?”

A concerned citizen saw this dog and, fearing she was being neglected, snapped a photo, posted it online and called animal control.

But the attempt to do good ended badly.

As it turned out, the family that owned her knew she had terminal kidney failure, and was letting live out her final days quietly at home. 

All those who saw the picture, and went on to post nasty comments and threaten the dog’s owners, didn’t know that.

To make matters worse, the animal control department in Sparta, N.J., after picking up the dog, euthanized her.

This week, authorities in Sparta, in an attempt to stop the threatening and mean-spirited comments that continue to be directed at the family, issued an official statement to set the record straight.

The press release noted that the dog, Zoey, a Neapolitan mastiff, had been diagnosed with terminal kidney failure in April, and there were no veterinary options to save her life. Her owners, Roni and Elysia Amiel, chose to keep her home to live out her days among those who loved her.

On June 6, a neighbor who saw Zoey lying on the grass near the Amiel home took a photo of her and contacted animal control, believing that the dog had been abused or neglected.

“The investigation concluded that there was NO abuse whatsoever by the Amiel Family and they were only trying to make Zoey as comfortable as possible in her final days at their home,” the police press release said.

Because the dog wasn’t wearing tags, and the neighbor didn’t know who she belonged to, she was assessed at a local animal hospital and euthanized because of her poor health.

“The Sparta Police Department issues this news release not only to set the record straight on behalf of the Amiel Family but to also serve as an absolute warning that this department will not tolerate harassment to any of our residents and these matters will be aggressively investigated and brought to their logical conclusion.”

(Photo: Tumblr)

A thousand words may be the generally accepted exchange rate for a photo, but here’s one that’s worth 2.2 million views, 230,000 likes, 110,000 shares and also just may help an old dog pay his medical bills.

Professional photographer Hannah Stonehouse Hudson took the photo last week. It’s of a friend of her’s named John, and his arthritic 19-year-old dog, Schoep, floating in Lake Superior.

John, who rescued Schoep as a puppy, says that the water is therapeutic for his achy dog.

“He is the kind of person who wants his animals to be comfortable. I wanted to capture their relationship. I told John, ‘I really need to get photos of you and your dog,’” Hannah explains on her Facebook page. “Last Tuesday, we met at the beach for the photo. While John swam with the dog, I got on the dock so I could be at eye level. It took five minutes.”

The result is a shot that captures the serenity dogs bring us, and maybe vice versa.

“My specialty is documenting relationships, whether it’s a wedding or a man and his dog,” the Bayfield, Wis., photographer is quoted as saying in a Pioneer Press article.

On Facebook, the photo has drawn more than 25,000 comments.

“In this photo, people have said they see everything from pure love to hope for the world,” she said. “They see peace, kindness, the relationship between man and dog. Two women, both whose husbands died from cancer, said they never thought they’d see love again, but this photo showed them love.”

“I know this is not about me — it’s about a guy who loves his dog — but I am in complete awe that my photo has had such an impact.”

Prints can be purchased from the photographer, and part of the proceeds will go toward vet bills for Schoep.

(Photo by Hannah Stonehouse Hudson)

Michael Vick bares a bit of himself — literally and figuratively — in the new (September, 2011) issue of  GQ, now available at a newstand near you.

In an article written by Will Leitch, Vick makes some revealing comments  that seem to come from a little deeper place than his public relations team (it consists of seven members, according to the article) normally allows.

But most of them — like the tired old argument that dogfighting is part of black culture and thus OK  – seem aimed at rationalizing, if not excusing, what he did to dogs. Leitch quotes Vick as saying:

“[The media] are writing as if everyone feels that way and has the same opinions they do. But when I go out in public, it’s all positive, so that’s obviously not true … You got the family dog and the white picket fence, and you just think that’s all there is. Some of us had to grow up in poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods, and we just had to adapt to our environment. I know that it’s wrong. But people act like it’s some crazy thing they never heard of. They don’t know.”

Vick didn’t make the cover of GQ — that honor went to another quarterback, the New York Jets Mark Sanchez, who was decked out for his photo shoot in a $185 sweater, a $895 pair of pants, a $590 belt and a $8,850 watch.

Vick — wait a minute, a $590 belt??? — Vick is featured in three photos accompanying the online version of the article about him. He’s clad, or at least partially so, in what appears to be underwear/protective gear from his new sponsor, Nike.

We don’t know if that was a condition of him doing the interview, or just business as usual at GQ,  taking a perfectly good story and turning it into something that doubles as advertising — not to mention also serves to make us covet unnecessary things we can’t afford, such as $590 belts.

The article itself, though, is well done. It manages to partially penetrate the facade built around Vick by his public relations team, and get beyond the canned and rehearsed remarks he normally emits while suppressing his real self and following the dictates of the image-makers.  At one point, Leitch recounts one of Vick’s first appearances before students, which, in conjuntion with the Humane Society of the United States, he does from time to time, impressing upon them the evils of dogfighting.

Vick is  fielding questions from students at Philadelphia’s Camelot School when one asks, in connection with Vick’s prison sentence:  “Are you mad about what happened to you?”

Fifteen feet away, halfheartedly taking notes alongside a cluster of reporters, I snap to attention. What a strange question. Certainly to many, framing the past four years of Michael Vick’s life in terms of something that happened to him suggests a gross misunderstanding of how he wound up behind bars. But this is not the way the Camelot students see it at all. The kid’s question is met with head nods and shouts of “You better believe it!” and “That’s right!”

Vick, who has barely changed his expression throughout the thirty-minute session with the students, smiles wide and looks over his left shoulder, directly toward the hallway of reporters. He glances left and right, cartoonishly grinning, all mock-conspiratorial. “Where the media at?” he says, and everyone laughs.

The article, to its credit, doesn’t totally gloss over what happened to Vick’s dogs:

In April 2007 … Vick, who had been taking great pains not to be seen at the kennels, “helped out” in the killing of seven dogs—the ones who had lost in the fighting sessions. He then assisted in burying the dogs, too. A week later, police raided the compound. Vick said at the time, “I’m never at the house…. I left the house with my family members and my cousin…. They just haven’t been doing the right thing…. It’s unfortunate I have to take the heat behind it. If I’m not there, I don’t know what’s going on.” He tells me today: “I was walking away, just totally refocused on something else…. I just happened to get caught out in the yard trying to help out.”

Vick also told Leitch that he wants a dog: “I miss dogs, man. I always had a family pet, always had a dog growing up. It was almost equivalent to the prison sentence, having something taken away from me for three years. I want a dog just for the sake of my kids, but also me. I miss my companions.”

In addition to making public appearances with the Humane Society, Vick recently spoke out against the Android app called Dog Wars and  appeared on Capitol Hill to back an anti-dogfighting bill.

Since his release from prison in July 2009, Michael Vick has had a team of “at least seven” PR professionals working for him, the article says. Together, they formulated a plan to redeem, if not the man, at least his image.

Rightly or wrongly, as Leitch notes, what may be working most in Vick’s favor — when it comes to the whole “redemption” thing, and putting dogfighting behind him –  is his stellar performance on the field last season. Leitch concludes:

When does a dog relieving himself rate 350 (and counting) Facebook comments?

When it’s Mark Zuckerberg’s dog.

“I just took a dump and made Mark Zuckerberg pick it up. It was glorious,” the Facebook founder’s newly-acquired Puli “writes” on — you guessed it — his very own Facebook page.

The Facebook CEO and his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, recently adopted the puppy, whose name is Beast.

Beast, according to his page, loves  “cuddling, loving, and eating.”

We’re hoping Beast’s future status posts will pertain to more than his bodily functions and what he had for dinner. Then again, why should we hold him to a higher standard than humans on Facebook?

Until he shows us something more, though, our favorite Puli of all time will have to remain The Auditor.

(Photos from Beast’s Facebook page)

My dog Ace gets a lot of compliments — far more than I do — but yesterday he got a doozie.

A burly, fortyish man in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, passing us on the sidewalk in south Baltimore (we’re slow walkers), turned after he passed and said, “If I was a girl dog, I’d hook up with him.”

To which, a few seconds later, he  felt it necessary to add, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not gay or nothin’.”

“It’s just that he’s a beautiful dog,” he explained, then continued on his way.

Our comment of the week comes from TSG, in response to our post about PETA’s banned Super Bowl ad, which showed attractive female models enjoying their vegetables a little too much for NBC’s taste.

“I’m a little confused ….” TSG wrote “does PETA stand for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals…OR…People for the Erotic Treatment of Agriculture????”

TSG will receive an attractive and functional ohmidog! sports bottle for the remark.