ohmidog!

For the one in five children who learn they need to wear glasses, and maybe aren’t feeling the best about it, Arlo can help.

Arlo’s a shaggy, free-spirited dog who loves to play catch, until one day he finds he can’t. Unable to see the ball anymore, he learns he needs glasses.

Arlo Needs Glasses (Workman Publishing) is the latest book from Barney Saltzberg, the bestselling (and bespectacled) author of Beautiful Oops!, Peekaboo Kisses, and Good Egg.

The book was inspired by Saltzberg’s own dog. Just like his character, the real-life Arlo is not very good at playing catch either,­ although he loves to play.

“He just couldn’t get the ball to land in his mouth,” Saltzberg says. “We tried over and over and I honestly had never seen anything like it.”

The interactive picture book is intended to helps kids see the fun in wearing glasses. Children get to do just what Arlo does to solve his problem: They read an eye chart, look through a fold-out phoropter (that big machine optometrists use), and try on different pairs of glasses — from movies star glasses to superhero glasses to mad scientist glasses.

Arlo, though we hate to give away the ending, becomes the best ball-catcher in the neighborhood, and picks up a new hobby along the way — reading.

In connection with the book’s release in July,  the publisher sponsored a “My Dog Needs Glasses” contest, inviting pet owners to submit photos of their dogs in glasses. That’s one of them, Wilson, to the left.

Five winners will be chosen to win signed copies of the book. The deadline to enter has passed, but you can see some of the contenders here.

Saltzberg is the award-winning author-illustrator of Beautiful Oops!, the successful Kisses series, Peekaboo, Crazy Hair Day, and Good Egg, as well as many other beloved children’s books. Also a singer-songwriter, he has written tunes for the PBS show “Arthur” and continues to perform music for children.

(For more news and reviews about dog books, visit our Good Dog Reads page.)

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is investigating the treatment of a dog frequently seen in costume outside New York’s baseball stadiums, raising money for her pandhandler owner.

Coffee, who some fans believe is being made to obey commands with help from a shock collar, is put on display at both Yankees and Mets games, often wearing sunglasses, a Groucho Marx disguise or holding a pipe in her mouth.

MSNBC reports that the ASPCA sent investigators to Yankee Stadium Sunday to look into the allegations.

The ASPCA said Monday it was unable to locate the dog or its owner.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and remain prepared to take appropriate action, as warranted,” the organization said in a statement.

Concerns about the dog led to the creation of a Facebook page, “Stop Abusing Coffee.”  As of yesterday, its fans numbered close to 7,000.

“Coffee is FORCED to sit outside Citi Field with a pipe in her mouth every Mets home game for hours on end with a shock collar on & no food, water or rest,” the page reads. “Something needs to be done about this.”

The website Gothamist, meanwhile, which is following the story closely, has published a photo of Coffee’s owner, and also reported that Coffee has no teeth.

A Lab mix whose blindness is believed to have led to aggression toward other dogs, preventing her from being adoptable, heads to Las Vegas on tomorrow night’s episode of Dogtown for surgery that could restore her sight.

Dr. Patti Iampietro, of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, accompanies Lake, whose blindness was caused by cataracts, to Las Vegas for the surgery, performed by Michael Brinkman, a veterinary opthamologist.

Dogtown airs Friday at 10 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel

Brinkman was also a pioneer in devleoping glasses for dogs.