ohmidog!

Police suspected a black mixed breed dog they were calling Lady — found last week with her eyes dangling out of her sockets in a parking lot in Bucks County, Pa. — had been struck with a baseball bat.

Since then – thanks to encountering some kinder humans — Lady has received veterinary care, a temporary home from a police dispatcher who overheard the call, and, this week, a reunion with the family whose home she escaped from.

Now, the 7-year-old dog who likely will never see again is being called by her real name again — Dusk.

“We’re happy to have her back,” Marie Waligorski told Phillyburbs.com. “We never expected to get her back this way.”

Dusk escaped from the family’s fence yard four days before she was found in a parking lot, just a few hundred feet from the family’s home in Bristol Township.

The citizen who found her called police Friday morning, and Jessica Finnell, a Bucks County emergency dispatcher listened in.

The caller said he found a dog with both eyes hanging out of the sockets. When he went on to say the dog was alive, Finnell contacted the animal control officer retrieving the dog and urged him not to let her be put down. And she offered to take the dog into her home in Warminster.

At CARES, an animal clinic in Middletown, a veterinarian put Lady’s eyes back into their sockets, but her left eyelid had to be heavily stitched to keep the damaged eye from falling out again. The vet found multiple skull fractures, but no injuries that would suggest she’d been hit by a car. Finnell was told  it’s likely someone hit Lady in the head with a bat.

After Lady received medical treatment, Finnell took her home for the weekend.

“She is phenomenal,” she said Monday night. “She is amazing. She is unbelievable. I totally fell in love with her.”

Finnell also started a ChipIn fund to cover Lady’s ongoing medical care, which has raised close to $3,000.

Finnell brought the dog back to the veterinary clinic yesterday, where she was reunited with her family. Dusk belongs to Waligorski’s son, William Schilling, who adopted her as a puppy when living in Tennessee.

“She was excited, tail-wagging. She seems happy that they were there,” said Finnell, a single mother of two. “I’m happy for her. I miss her like crazy, but I’m happy she is back in her home and can have some of her normal life back.”

(Photo: Lady/Dusk and Finnell; by Rick Kintzel / Phillyburbs.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.

When a Hollywood movie goes over budget, it’s no big deal.

When one being paid for by taxpayers — or even toll violators —  does, it is.

So, as snarky as this investigative report by the 13 Undercover team at Houston’s KTRK is at times, it makes some valid points.

The Harris County attorney’s office hired director Fleming Fuller to produce a public service documentary about the dangers of dogfighting, offering $10,000 for the finished product.

The movie was intended to show the horrors of dogfighting, and get across Ryan’s message that he was going to be tough on people who take part in it.

Normally, we’d applaud something like that, but the movie went 10 times over budget, the county attorney seems to be taking credit for a previous county attorney’s dogfighting bust, and the movie’s director was a good friend of the Harris County attorney’s top assistant.

As the report points out, County Attorney Vince Ryan campaigned as an ethics watchdog:  “So you’d figure his office would the first to make sure your money wasn’t wasted, reporter Wayne Dolcefino says. “Instead, they spent money like they were in Hollywood.”

On top of that, the report says there hasn’t been a big dogfighting bust since Ryan took office.

And, in yet another criticism offered by the news report, the documentary includes scenes of Ryan frolicking with his dog at the beach, which gives the film the appearance, at times, of a campaign ad.

The director charged $500 for his time on an overnight trip to Galveston — apparently just to obtain that beach footage — and expenses there included multiple hotel bills and a pricey dinner.

Fuller is a North Carolina-based director who has made a few horror movies, including Prey of the Chameleon and Stranded.

While the county’s contract specified $10,000 would be spent on the film, and that it would be completed in one month, the final pricetag came out to more than $100,000 and the film took nearly a year to make.

The movie was paid for from a special fund consisting of fines imposed on  drivers who fail to pay tolls.

Ryan said the video has been used to train law enforcement officers and to show high school students and others that dogfighting is inhumane and illegal.

KTRK says the documentary ended up costing cost $13,000 a minute, and that only 171 people have watched it in on YouTube.

The original documentary, as it appears on YouTube, is in three parts, which, combined, add up to nearly 30 minutes, not seven minutes, as the news report says. (The version being distributed for education purposes has been shortened.)

Here’s part one:

To see all three parts, click here.

Trapped in a tar pit in Keokuk, Iowa, a small dog had all but disappeared under the steamy muck by the time police and an animal control officer showed up.

Tipped off by a citizen who heard the dog’s cries from a  landfill, rescuers arrived to see only one side of the dog’s face — an eye and his nose — above the tar that was swallowing him up.

Tar Dog, as he has been dubbed, is fine now, though he still has some black and sticky patches on his fur.

According to the Daily Gate in Keokuk, rescuers slid wooden planks into the tar, trying to position one under him to lift him out.

“We were unable to see where his legs, tail or most of his body were positioned,” said animal control officer Eric Lindley. “We had to basically pry him out with boards positioned under him in the tar.”

As soon as the 15-pound beagle-dachshund mix was freed, he was wrapped in towels and taken to Krichel Animal Hospital, where he was rehydrated, cleaned up, and cleaned up, and cleaned up some more.

“He is doing just great,” said Jean Meyer, who works at Keokuk Animal Services. “He was walking with volunteers and bouncing. He’s one lucky little dog.”

No one knows how the dog got through the fence surrounding Keokuk’s old landfill last week, or how it managed to become stuck in the tar, which was in a sticky liquid state due to the heat. No one knows who the good samaritan who called police is either.

Friends of Keokuk Animal Services is trying to raise funds to pay for the nearly $1,000 cost of Tar Dog’s veterinary care and treatment.

Anyone interested in contributing to the dog’s care can send donations to FOKAS, P. O. Box 1181, Keokuk, IA or contact Meyer at 524-1127 or 526-5421. If funds in excess of Tar Dog’s costs are raised, they will be put into a fund to care for other animals needing care.

Cesar Millan says he plans to build a temple to his deceased pit bull, “Daddy,” and bury the dog’s ashes there, on the highest point of his California ranch.

In an interview with People Pets, the star of National Geographic Channel’s “Dog Whisperer,” also revealed that he and his famiy lit 500 candles in honor the the dog, who died after a long battle with cancer.

Millan has also announced the establishment of the Daddy’s Emergency Animal Rescue Fund, (DEAR) which will be operated by the Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation. The DEAR Fund will provide assistance for dogs who are victims of abuse or violence, man-made disasters, and large-scale natural disasters.

After seven days missing in the frigid mountains of west-central New Mexico,  67-year-old hiker Robert Sumrall was found semi-conscious with his dog, a black Labrador mix named Zulu, lying atop him.

Two ranchers found Sumrall, but they inadvertently scared away his dog — who many now believe may have saved his master’s life by keeping him warm.

Sumrall, of El Paso, has regained consciousness, but hasn’t been able to talk, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News, and the search for Zulu continues.

Sumrall’s wife, Jan Sumrall, a former El Paso city council member, said her husband, though frostbitten, and voiceless from a tracheotomy, is slowly recovering. Meanwhile, his family and dog lovers in several states aren’t giving up on the search for Zulu, who is being called a hero.

A reward fund has reached $3,500, according to the El Paso Times, and has led other hikers to join El Paso’s Animal Rescue League in the search for the dog.

The Animal Rescue League  installed live traps and took food and clothes from Robert Sumrall to the search area last week. They have also posted flyers around the area.

The reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed two dogs in Chester County, Pennsylvania, has grown to $11,000.

Rich Britton, a spokesman for the Chester County SPCA, said this morning that the Humane Society of the United States contributed $2,500 of the sum, most of the rest coming from public donations.

The reward started out at $500, grew to $5,000 by the next day, and was up to $11,000 by day’s end, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The dogs, Luna and Emma, both about 2, were killed, and left arranged tail-to-tail along the railroad tracks in Pennsbury Township, Pa. They were found on Sunday. The dogs were owned by a family that has not been publicly identified that lives about three miles from where they were found. They were last seen at the home on Saturday.

Both were shot between the eyes with a small caliber handgun.

Investigators are loking for the owner of a red Ford F-150 pickup truck with a cap that was seen parked beside Brintons Bridge Road with lights flashing sometime between 1 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, he said.

Anyone with information about the crime should call 610-692-6113, Ext. 213, he said.

To contribute to the reward fund, make checks payable to the CCSPCA and mail them to CCSPCA, 1212 Phoenixville Pike, West Chester, Pa. 19380.

A Tennessee lawyer who was suing a local groomer over the death of his dog is now working to raise money for the groomer’s parentless children.

Knoxville attorney Tom Ramsey set up the fund after learning that Erik Webb, the man he was suing, had fatally stabbed his wife, then shot and killed himself.

The Webbs had three children.

Erik Webb owned Happy Tails Pet Spa in West Knoxville. He and his wife, Sarah, were separated, according to a  WATE-TV report.

Police said Webb killed his wife with a kitchen knife at her home, then drove to his pet spa and shot himself.

Ramsey started the fund the day after the killing. Ramsey had taken his beagle, Moxie, to Happy Tails last year for a bath and the dog later died. A necropsy found Moxie suffered broken ribs and a lacerated liver, as well as bruising inside the beagle’s ear and mouth and signs of heat exhaustion.

The Ramsey family filed a $750,000 lawsuit in December claiming that their dog died as a result of “intentional or highly reckless conduct.” Webb was also charged with animal cruelty.

Ramsey says he doesn’t feel responsible for what happened, but started the fund to help the Webb’s children.

“I’ve got three kids and I spent a sleepless night last night, obviously. But our goal all along with this lawsuit was only to stop the practices that were going on. Our goal wasn’t …  to hurt anybody in the family or family members.” Ramsey says.

(Photo: Erik Webb in police file photo)

From now until supplies run out, all proceeds from the sale of “ohmidog-O’s” will go to BARCS Franky Fund to help offset the medical costs for Phoenix, a pit bull recovering from being doused with gasoline and set on fire in Baltimore this week.

We’re turning our entire inventory — which isn’t a whole lot — over to Lucky Lucy’s Canine Cafe, which has agreed to pass 100 percent of all ohmidog-O sales on to the Franky Fund at Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter.

What are ohmidog-O’s? They’re the healthy, all natural, handmade dog treat that keeps on giving. We cooked them up and sold them to raise money for the Maryland SPCA at last month’s March for the Animals. Since then, they’ve gone to raise money for a couple of other dog-related causes.

Now what’s left of the limited edition treats will be sold at Lucky Lucy’s to raise money for the BARCS Franky Fund, which provides emergency medical care to seriously ill and injured animals.

Stop by Lucky Lucy’s, 1126 S. Charles St., and pick up a bag.