ohmidog!

A poodle-shih tzu mix whose face, from some angles, bears a striking resemblance to that of a human, is gaining fame far beyond Mishawaka, Indiana.

Tonik, 2 years old, is one of over 100 dogs waiting to be adopted at the Homeward Bound Shelter in Mishawaka. Rescued from a kill shelter, he has been there since 2011.

But since posting a photo of Tonik — taken by Renny Mills, who photographs adoptable animals for the shelter’s website — the shelter says inquiries about the dog have been pouring in.

The photos drew attention from Gawker and Huffington Post, and, while Tonik was still available this week, Homeward Bound founder Jen Schwartz says chances are good he’ll be finding a home soon.

You can see him and the shelters other animals at the Homeward Bound’s website.

(Photo: Renny Mills)

An Indiana man left his son in the hospital while he went to exact revenge on the dog that bit the boy, police say.

Determined to kill the dog, the man, from Michigan City, stabbed the animal and attempted to strangle it, but was interrupted by police, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The dog’s injuries were so severe it had to be euthanized, said a spokesman for the Porter County Sheriff’s Department.

The 29-year-old man, who wasn’t identified, will be charged with felony cruelty to an animal. Police did not release information on the injured boy or the extent of his injuries.

Police said the suspect’s son and daughter were spending the weekend with his mother and stepfather. On Friday night, the couple’s shepherd-chow mix was eating a bone when the boy lay down on the floor next to it. The dog bit him in the face, according to the police report.

The suspect told police he became enraged when he arrived at the hospital and saw his son’s injuries.

He left and went to his ex-wife’s home, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, took the dog into the backyard and stabbed it in the side, he told officers. He had his arm around the animal’s throat and was choking it when officers, who’d been told what he was doing, arrived at the home and stopped him.

An Evansville, Indiana man was jailed Monday night on charges of attacking his girlfriend’s dog with an ax.

Police said they responded to a call Sunday night to find the injured dog, who is expected to survive. They found the suspect hiding in a closet.

Neighbors reported squealing coming from the home, WAFB reported.

The grey pit bull is being treated for severe wounds to his head and legs.

Michael Aaron Hughes, 33, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty and resisting arrest.

(Photo: Vanderburgh County Jail)

Darak, a white, mixed-breed dog who took three bullets and was run over by a car while living as a stray in Afghanistan, was reunited with one of the men responsible for sending him to the U.S.

“Hey, buddy,” Kyle Huttenlocker, a 30-year-old security company employee just back to Indiana from Kabul said. “Remember me?”

Darak, it appeared, did,  according to a story published in the Greenfield Daily Reporter.

In late 2010, Huttenlocker was in Kabul, Afghanistan, working for a security company hired by the State Department to protect the U.S. Embassy.

“There was a stray dog that lived in an alley right behind our camp that we were all very fond of,” said Huttenlocker, a Bloomington native who previously spent a year in Iraq as a member of the U.S. military.

Darak, who Huttenlocker and others named after the neighborhood they were in, was scrounging for food, and doing his best to avoid those who mistreated him. Given the affection he received, and bologna, he started calling the camp home.

“Afghans don’t treat dogs very well,” Huttenlocker said. “They throw rocks at them and hit them with sticks … Darak would hang out with us behind our camp, and bark at the Afghans whenever they walked by.”

One day Huttenlocker heard that Darak had been run over my an Afghan motorist. He and friends rushed to the area and found the dog hiding in a ditch.

Huttenlocker and his friends pooled their money and gave $400 to a dog rescue kennel in Kabul, which housed Darak for three weeks. The kennel contacted the Puppy Rescue Mission, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to help American soldiers bring dogs home.

The mission raised more than $4,500 to transport Darak to a veterinary clinic in Pakistan, then to the U.S. for more extensive treatment.

Three months ago, Huttenlocker’s mother, Beth Sherfield, picked up Darak at the Indianapolis International Airport.

Sherfield took Darak to a Bloomington veterinarian, who found he had a fractured spine, and that his abdomen contained three bullets. She then dropped him off at Wayport Kennels, where, as she hoped, another family that had heard his story came forward to adopt him.

“We needed another dog like we needed a hole in the head,” said Kathy Headley, who along with her husband, Steve, already had three dogs and three inside cats. But, she reports, they are all mostly getting along.

The Headleys paid $4,000 to an Indianapolis veterinary hospital to have Darak’s broken spine repaired and the bullets removed.

Upon seeing  Huttenlocker, who stopped by for a visit upon his return to the country, Darak limped over to him and began licking his hands.

“How you doing, Bub?” Huttenlocker said, scratching Darak behind the ears. “It’s good to see you again. You’re one lucky dog.”

(Photo: From the Chip-in page for Darak)

Given the conflicting and changing accounts of a dog’s owner and his girlfriend, what killed Raider was a mystery — until police received a note left at the dog’s grave.

The couple had brought the mixed breed dog to an emergency veterinary clinic, where they initially explained Raider had fallen from their second floor balcony. But upon learning the dog was dead, the boyfriend said his girlfriend had thrown the dog off the balcony.

Police in Fishers, Indiana, meanwhile, investigating a complaint they’d received about a dispute at the residence, said they got similar conflicting reports when interviewing the boyfriend.

Detectives talked to neighbors, friends, and the veterinarian that tried to save the dog, but it was a note found later at the dog’s grave that led them to arrest the girlfriend, 28-year-old Sarah E. Rust, on animal cruelty charges last Friday. She was taken to the Hamilton County Jail.

In an interesting twist, police said they received the letter from the dog owner’s ex-girlfriend, and part owner of the dog, who found it at Raider’s grave.

Investigators say the letter was written by Rust:

“Dear Raider, First and foremost forgive me, but also forgive me and your daddy for fighting. We brought your life into our quarrel. You did not deserve to be any part of our combat. I ended your life, for which I am truly sorry my son.”

Warrick County, Indiana, appears to be living in the dark ages — at least when it comes to its animal shelter.

Operated by the animal control department, the county shelter makes little or no effort to adopt out animals, according to critics.

And last month, the dogs it had euthanized and dumped at a landfill near Boonville included one that was still alive.

So they took it back to the shelter — and killed it.

“Shelter” probably isn’t even the right word. It’s more like death row. The shelter’s kill rate is 90 percent, and unless an owner comes to reclaim a pet, or the local humane society pulls one out, most dogs end up being euthanized.

Or, as one TV report innocuously put it in the case of the landfill dog, he was taken back to the shelter and “given more medicine.”

The County Health Department told 14 News  it’s common procedure for euthanized dogs to be dumped into landfills, but that discarding a live dog was an unfortunate mistake.

According to Change.org, two people saw animal control officers dumping plastic bags at the landfill. Then they saw one bag start to move, and heard a panting sound come from inside it.

When they brought it to the attention of the animal control employees, one of the officers said, “Guess we’re taking this one back.” Without opening the bag, they tossed it in the back of the truck.

The county says the department’s two animal control officers apparently failed to confirm the dog was dead before taking it to  the dump. Both employees have been reprimanded.

Officials say it was an isolated event, but criticism of the county-run shelter is mounting.

Residents voiced numerous concerns to the Warrick County Commission on Monday night, according to another 14 News report.

Said one resident, ”Any time you try to go out there, nobody is there when you call. You leave message after message so you can set up an appointment and it makes it very difficult to adopt animals from there.”

County Commission Board President Don Williams defended the animal control officers saying they had a heavy workload, and blamed residents of Warrick County for neglecting their animals.

A petition demanding changes at the shelter — critics say it makes no effort to place adoptable animals on pet adoption websites, rarely answers its phone, and makes it difficult for visitors to view animals in its care — can be found at Change.org.

Unable to raise enough money to stay in operation, the Putnam County Humane Society in Greencastle, Indiana, is shutting down for good.

More than two dozen animals — five dogs and 26 cats — remain at the shelter, which says it hasn’t received enough in donations to pay its bills.

“It is with extreme sadness that we announce that the shelter will be closing on September 30,” an announcement on its website reads. “We have been instructed that all animals are to be placed by the 30th or be euthanized.

The shelter will be adopting out spayed or neutered animals with a”choose your own adoption fee” special. Those not spayed or neutered will be adopted out with an adoption fee to cover the costs.

Officials at the county humane society say it costs about $7,000 to $10,000 a month to operate the shelter, but that donations have decreased by $4,000 to $5,000 a month.

The Humane Society of the United States say financial donations to shelters are down nationwide due to the bad economy, while the number of animals being abanoned and surrendered has increased.

Two tiny Shih Tzus who police say were thrown out the window of a moving car in Muncie, Indiana, this week are now recovering and up for adoption.

Muncie police say a witness saw the two Shih Tzus being tossed out a blue Buick Rendezvous Tuesday morning.

“I don’t know how anyone could do that,” Phil Peckinbaugh, of the Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) told FOX 59 in Indianapolis. “These are two almost baby dogs. I don’t know what they could’ve done to deserve that.”

ARF is caring for the dogs, both of whom appeared to have been neglected. One has a broken leg.

“They both had to have fluids, because they were so dehydrated and undernourished,” said Peckinbaugh. “And they also had to be completely shaved down – their bodies were covered in gnats from head to toe.”

Staff at ARF have named the dogs, believed to be brothers, Lyle and Tate.

Both dogs are up for adoption, and ARF is seeking donations to help cover medical costs. If you are interested in donating or adopting, call (765) 282-2733 or email info@munciearf.com.

The police dog purchased by heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his son, Jack, arrived in Indiana last week to spend time with his partner and start training on the streets of Muncie.

“Jack and Ozzy sure came through for the department,” Muncie Police Sgt. Jay Turner said. “The Osbourne family, they donated the money for the dog without even thinking about it, they just did it, which was very nice.”

Turner received two checks, one from Ozzy and one from Jack, each in the amount of $4,500, Muncie’s Star Press reported.

Jack Osbourne spent time in Muncie as a reserve officer during the filming of the CBS reality television series “Armed and Famous” in 2006. He has kept in touch with other officers, and convinced his father to help buy the department a police dog to replace an aging K-9 officer.

In other Ozzy Osbourne dog news, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne last week gave daughter Kelly Osbourne a dog for her 25th birthday. Kelly Osbourne told her Twitter followers: “OK are you guys ready to see what I got for my birthday from my mum and dad? He is called Sid!”

Sid isn’t a police dog, but a black Pomeranian, who has helped Kelly cope with the stress of competing on “Dancing with the Stars,” Dogchannel.com reports.

The Muncie Police Department is getting a new K-9, courtesy of Ozzy Osbourne and son.

The “Prince of Darkness,” who was often shown interacting with his family’s dogs on their MTV reality show, was recently convinced by his son Jack to buy the Indiana police department a new K9 officer, according to the StarPress in central Indiana.

“Jack and Ozzy are sending the check either this week or next week and then we’ll go get him,” said police Sgt. Jay Turner. The department plans to name the new dog Ozzy.

Read more »