ohmidog!

An Iowa woman told police she hung the pit bull she shared with her boyfriend because the dog was old and annoying, and was “going to die soon anyway.”

Sheena Cornwell, a 28-year-old home health aide, hung the 15-year-old pit bull, named Lilly, by her collar and leash from a rafter in the garage, police said.

Cornwell lived in Des Moines with her boyfriend. He told police that she’d been annoyed with Lilly for two months, because the dog paced a lot.

“(Sheena) had complained about the dog before, but she never abused her,” Joshua VanDyke told the Des Moines Register. “She wanted to get rid of her, but she never said anything about doing something violent to her.”

Police reports indicate Lilly was barking in the garage when Cornwell left the room, returning a few minutes later to tell VanDyke, “She’s dead, I killed her.”

Animal control officers removed the dog from the home after police were called. Cornwell was charged with one count of animal torture.

ABC News reported Cornwell could face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $6,250 if convicted.

(Photo: Des Moines Register)

Police in Osceola, Wisconsin, say a man tied up a teenager he suspected had stolen from him, hung him upside down and commanded his pit bull to attack him.

Police said the 58-year-old homeowner ordered his pit bull to attack the 18-year-old three times — first as part of “interrogating” him, then a second time, then a third time after tying him up, dragging him outside and tying him upside down to the porch rafters.

The 18-year-old was treated at a hospital for for multiple dog bites and released, according to the Fond du Lac Reporter.

Police said the young man’s father witnessed, and may have participated in, the “interrogation.”

A third person who saw what was going on at the residence called police.

Charges of false imprisonment, negligent handling of a dangerous weapon, aggravated battery and bail-jumping are being referred to the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s Office against the 58-year-old  man, who is scheduled to be tried on an unrelated charge of child abuse later this year.

The boy’s father is expected to face similar charges, along with failing to aid the victim in reporting a crime.

The dog is being held at the Fond du Lac Humane Society.

What is it about police agencies and the press in, shall we say, non-urban areas, that prevents them from seeing dog abuse when it seems to be staring them in the face?

The Muskegon Chronicle reports that deputies are “not sure abuse was involved” in injuries suffered by a dog found Monday afternoon … HANGING FROM A HOOK ON A TREE.

Pardon my caps. This reminds me of our recent report about a pit bull in Missouri who was dragged behind a car, tied to a pole and set on fire before being found dead, in a case the local TV station called “alleged animal abuse.”

In the new case,  a young male Sheltie-Pomeranian mix is expected to recover from the injury left by the large hook that protruded from the roof of his mouth.

Muskegon County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Herremans said the incident is being investigated and that while abuse has not been ruled out, it also is possible the dog was victimized by an illegal coyote trap.

Rescuers, however,  told WOOD TV-8 the animal was abused, and a local veterinarian who treated the dog concurred.

(It’s also interesting to note how, while the police and reporter call the male dog an “it,” the veterinarian refers to him as a he. Is there a connection, you think, between people who call a dog, even when the gender is known, an “it,” and how seriously they take animal abuse?)

Herremans said deputies are seeking the dog’s owner, who lives across the street from the wooded spot where the animal was found. He theorized it was possible the dog got caught in “some type of coyote trap.”

However, an official at Pound Buddies, a non-profit group that operates the county animal shelter, told WOOD TV-8 that the hook was too high for the small dog to reach by himself.

Residents in the neighborhood said the dog was normally kept tied up.

A Tennessee family returned home to find their 10-month-old Siberian husy hanging from a tree last week.

The dog, named Allison, who they left on a 50-foot chain, was found by Juanita Phariss’s 18-year-old daughter, Emily, at their home in Smyrna.

The dog’s chain was wrapped around a tree five times, and she’d apparently been hoisted up, with the chain being attached to the fence, the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro reported.

 ”I untied her collar to get her down before my younger kids could see her,” said Phariss, wo’s 14-year-old daughter, Amanda, has cystic fibrosis.

“It’s been really hard on her, especially,” Phariss said. “She doesn’t even want anybody mentioning Allison’s name. She made a cross for her grave out back.”

Phariss said the chain disappeared from her yard between the time she called the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and deputies arrived.

Anyone with information in the case are urged to call the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office at 615-898-7770.

Police in Danville, Virginia, have filed charges against the resident of a home where a dog was found dead, hanging from a cable.

Hope Angela Flowers, 39, who lived at the house on Elizabeth Street, and Maurice Lashawn Holloway, 24, of Pittsylvania County are charged with animal neglect, animal cruelty and tethering an animal, according to Godanriver.com.

The Danville Area Humane Society was called after police discovered the dead animal, according to Paulette Dean, executive director. “It was a gruesome scene … just gruesome,” Dean said of finding female pit bull mix. The body of the animal was to be taken to Lynchburg today for a necropsy.

The Humane Society seized at the same location a male pit bull, which it said had been tethered and left out in the heat for an extended period. Dean described the animal as dehydrated and weak, but said he “will be OK.”

Danville’s anti-tethering law prohibits leaving a dog chained up for more than four hours out of a 24-hour period.

That decomposed animal body found hanging in a tree in Philadelphia was not a dog after all, but a raccoon — and it was likely abused after death.

But investigators are still treating it as a cruelty case, given the circumstances — the animal had a stick shoved down its throat and was found dangling from a tree last week in Philadelphia’s Bridesburg section.

The Pennsylvania SPCA initially thought the animal, which had decomposed after at least two days in the heat — was a dog.

“While the circumstances of the animal’s final disposition were very disturbing, there are currently no laws regarding the treatment of animal remains if they are already deceased,”  PSPCA spokeswoman Wendy A. Marano told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “However, the Pennsylvania SPCA is continuing to investigate to determine whether the animal’s death was a result of cruelty.”

Pennsylvania SPCA Humane Law Enforcement officers are investigating the death of a dog that was found hanging in a tree in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia.

The dog, whose breed was undetermined, was found by a man walking his dog in a wooded area near the Delaware River Wednesday evening.

“It appears the dog has been hanging there, in my estimation, for a couple of days in the heat. It is starting to decompose,” SCPA Humane officer George Bengal told WPVI, the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia.

The dog also had a stick shoved down its throat.

The area where the dog was found is a popular hangout for teens.

Gucci, the dog who helped make animal abuse a felony in Alabama, died Wednesday.

Doug James — Gucci’s rescuer and owner — said he made the difficult decision to euthanize the dog, who recently turned 16.

“I had dreaded it, and put if off for two or three days,”  James, who lives in Mobile told the Times Daily. “His kidneys were failing him.”

James caught some youths torturing the chow-husky mix one night in 1994. The youths hanged the dog by his neck and set him on fire.

The incident triggered a campaign for animal rights that resulted in the Pet Protection Act, better known as the “Gucci Law,” in Alabama.

The act , making animal cruelty a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, was signed by then-Gov. Don Siegelman on May 19, 2000 – the sixth anniversary of the attack – as Gucci looked on.

Gucci’s celebrity continued after that, with appearances at schools, on ”The Maury Povich Show” and “Inside Edition.” He also played played “Sandy” in Mobile theatrical productions of “Little Orphan Annie.”

The dog was only 12 weeks old when he was beaten, hung in a tree by his neck, doused with lighter fluid and set on fire.  Two of the three abusers received sentences of community service, while a third — the lone adult — was sentenced to six months in jail.

“If ever there was a dog that should hate people it should be Gucci, but he loved everyone,” said Brenda Cashdollar, vice president of Friends of the Mobile Animal Shelter.

Cashdollar told Al.com that Gucci was unable to walk by the time of his 15th birthday, but still wagged his tail in response to those who greeted him. A party planned to mark his 16th birthday Saturday at B&B Pet Stop in Mobile will now serve as a memorial event, organizers said.

Gucci will be cremated, James said, and his ashes will be placed in a memorial garden planned at the Mobile Animal Shelter.

Animal control officers in Connecticut are asking for the public’s help in solving the mystery of a dead pit bull found in a trash bag hanging from a tree near a highway.

Authorities say bloody clothing, needles and syringes were also in the bag, found near a highway in the town of Orange on Saturday. It’s not clear how the dog, a 1- to 2-year-old female, died, according to the Register Citizen in Litchfield County.

The pit bull had puncture wounds on its shoulder and officials are looking into whether it was used in dogfighting rings. A necropsy is being conducted at the University of Connecticut.

The resident who found the bag called police about 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Officers took pictures of the bag in the tree and left it with the resident, who buried the dog with the bag and its other contents in his yard, Assistant Animal Control Officer Linda Schaff said.

After being called about the incident, Schaff went to pick up the dog Sunday, which is when the resident disinterred the animal and turned it over to her.

Anyone with information on the dog is asked to call the shelter at 203-389-5991.