ohmidog!

A homeless Rhodesian Ridgeback mix being walked by a  volunteer came to her aid when she was attacked on a path behind the Friends of Strays animal shelter in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The 38-pound dog, named Mabeline, scared the attacker off, allowing the 17-year-old girl to escape.

Volunteering at the shelter on a recent Saturday, the girl was chased, grabbed by the hair and pinned down before Mabeline scared the attacker away.

Michael Bacon, a registered sexual predator, was arrested, WTSP-10 in Florida reported.

Since the attack, Mabeline has been adopted. Her new owner, Mary Callahan, had no idea what the dog had done, until 10 News told her.

“I looked at my dog and I thought, ‘You are a hero,’” Callahan said.

The shelter said they are no longer allowing volunteers to walk dogs down the path where the attack happened.

The World’s Ugliest Dog — or at least the reigning title-holder — has died.

Yoda, a 1.8-pound female Chinese crested-Chihuahua mix passed away Saturday, at age 15.

“Say a prayer today 4 my YODA,” Yoda’s owner,  Terry Schumacher of Hanford, California, said in an email, according to the Hanford Sentinel.

“She passed away last night in her sleep. I will miss her funny little ways! But comforted knowing she will be joining my Mom and Dad, who loved her so much! Her memories will live on forever!!!”

Yoda won the dubious, but much sought after honor at the 23rd annual contest held last June at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma.

Contest officials say the title will remain in Yoda’s name until a new ugliest dog is crowned in June.

Schumacher found Yoda behind an apartment building and, after first mistaking her for a rat, took her into her home.

She’s smaller than a can of soda, and wasn’t breathing when she was born at a northern California animal sanctuary, but a palm-sized puppy who’s been named Beyonce Knowles is getting stronger each day.

“She’s the smallest dog I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Beth De Caprio of the Grace Foundation in El Dorado Hills.

Beyonce’s mother, along with two other dogs were pulled from a shelter in Devore, California, where they likely would have been euthanized if not rescued.

When she was born, Beyonce was about a quarter of the size of the other pups in the litter, and she wasn’t breathing. A vet was able to resuscitate her.

The photos of Beyonce accompanying this post were taken by Lisa Van Dyke of  ED Dog Photography. She was visiting the foundation Saturday when she was asked to take a photo of Beyonce, who she describes as a premature Chihuahua mix.

To show how small she was, Van Dyke grabbed some props, like a girl scout cookie, coin, iPhone and soda can.

Foundation officials say Beyonce, was the last of four puppies in the litter, born March 8. She has been bottle fed around the clock since then.

For more information on the Grace Foundation, you can visit  its website, or its Facebook page:

To see Van Dyke’s photos — of Beyonce and more — visit her website, Eddogphotography.com

Apparently the $40 reward offered for the safe return of a lost Dalmatian-pit bull mix named Papa Bear wasn’t enough for three Akron men.

They called the family, repeatedly, and demanded $500, according to News Channel 5.

Papa Bear got out of his family’s back yard last week. The family posted fliers, with their phone number. Friday night, they started receiving phone calls from a man who demanded $500 and, according to some reports, threatened to kill the dog if the money wasn’t paid.

After repeated calls, over the course of four hours, the family called Akron police.

A team of undercover officers arranged to meet the dognappers at Emerling Park with the cash. When three men approached, officers arrested one man and eventually tracked down the other two.

Papa Bear was found safe and unharmed at the address of one of them.

“He was smiling. He was looking around,” said Shannon Alexander, the dog’s owner. “He jumped into the driver’s side door of the van and got into my daughter’s car seat and rode home in the car seat of the van.

Two of the men were charged with theft, phone harassment and receiving stolen property, police said.

Leo fell into a Dumpster and couldn’t get out.

An aging Australian cattle dog mix, Leo apparently climbed a ramp attached to a large Dumpster and, when no one was looking, either jumped or fell in.

Barbara Grabell and her husband George Anderson searched high and low for Leo after he disappeared from their ranch in Alfalfa, Oregon.

“I thought he – sometimes, they just go off to die privately. I was walking the property, looking under trees, the sagebrush,” Grabell told KTVZ.

Grabell said she walked over to the nearby trash transfer station and looked in the 9-foot-tall Dumpster, which has a ramp that allows residents to more easily dump their garbage. It was about two-thirds full of garbage by then, but she didn’t see Leo. She shouted his name, but he’s hard of hearing.

Four days after Leo disappeared, the Dumpster was picked up for the trip to the Knott Landfill in Bend.

There, Paul Decker, a driver for Bend Garbage and Recycling, was watching its contents pour out when he saw, amid the trash, a dog — dazed and confused but alive, apparently having survived on a diet of garbage.

The dog was taken to the Humane Society of Central Oregon, which Grabell had called earlier to report Leo missing. They notified her he’d been found. She picked up Leo, took him to a vet to be checked out, and then back home.

“He’s home and he’s resting comfortably,” she said Saturday night. “I’m so thankful and relieved, you have no idea.”

This one’s a lot like the story we told you last this week — about a German shepherd in Baltimore named Jerry Lee — but in our view it’s the sort of thing that can’t happen often enough.

Bear, a two-year-old Labrador retriever mix who months ago was just another mutt in a Kentucky animal shelter, is the newest addition to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama.

Dustain Vance, head trainer for Advance Canine Academy in Scottsville, Ky., adopted Bear from the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society. Bear had been adopted earlier, but returned by a family who had difficulty controlling the dog’s energetic behavior.

“For a drug dog, that’s what we actually look for,” Sheriff Ted Sexton, who swore in Bear as a deputy Wednesday, told Al.com. “We’re looking for a dog that has drives and instincts primarily in play and prey and hunt, and he excels in this particular area.”

The Sheriff’s Office purchased the dog from the training center, and he’s been assigned to a partner, a deputy attached to the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force.

Bear has been trained to sniff out marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Last week, Bear and his new handler returned from training to Tuscaloosa, where the dog immediately found a pound of marijuana in a FedEx package. He has since made another bust.

Deputy Nick Lolley said he and Bear are getting along well in their first week on the job. “He has to trust you and you have to trust him,” Lolley said. “That’s — I say 50 percent of it, because if a dog trusts you, then he’ll work for you.”

(Photo: Chris Pow / al.com)

A pitbull mix missing part of a rear leg was found last month by the side of some railroad tracks in Baltimore.

Today, she’s up and around, and scheduled to appear at a press conference where her sad but inspiring story will be told.

Baltimore City Animal Control picked the emaciated dog up Feb. 13. The bottom third of her rear leg was missing, leading officers to believe she had been hit by a train.

Staff at the Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS), examined her, and promptly dubbed her Kisses because of her sweet disposition and all the licks she gave them, despite the pain she clearly had to be in.

As bleak as her outlook was, BARCS staff — “seeing her strength and will to live” — dipped into its Franky Fund, created to help homeless animals  in need of immediate medical care, in hopes she could be saved.

BARCS contacted Essex Middle River Veterinary Center, which agreed to take a look at the dog.

BARCS staff assumed Kisses would have the rest of her leg amputated, but Dr.  Joseph Zulty and his staff instead recommended closing the wound and raising funds to get her a prosthetic device.

The surgery was a success and Kisses has been fitted for a prosthetic. A member of the veterinary center staff took her home to provide foster care during her recovery, and BARCS reports that the hospital staff member plans to keep her.

BARCS & Essex Middle River Veterinary Center are holding a press conference this afternoon to tell the story of Kisses.

More information about the Franky Fund can be found at the BARCS website.

(Photo courtesy of BARCS)

A dog found shot on an Indian reservation is slowly recovering, and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians has donated $2,500 to help pay his medical bills.

Chance, a retriever mix about 18 months old, is being cared for at the San Diego County Department of Animal Services Shelter after being found on the side of a road on the reservation, according to Fox 5 in San Diego

“We are very proud of the Viejas tribal family member who first discovered Chance on the side of the road and called authorities for help, the Viejas tribal firefighter who responded first and provided aid to Chance, as well as the veterinary professionals who saved this dog’s life,” tribal chairman Anthony Pico said

“This shooting goes against everything Viejas stands for and we will do everything we can to make sure Chance eventually gets to a home where he can know the safety, comfort and love that he deserves,” Pico said.

A single bullet passed through Chance’s lungs and his treatment included four days in an oxygen chamber.

The dog was found Feb. 20 by a woman who spotted him from her car. Animal Services is investigating the shooting.

The tribal contribution will go into the Animal Services Department’s Spirit Fund, which pays for veterinary care beyond what the shelter can afford. The dog’s owner was located and surrendered him to the county.

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case, and San Diego Animal Advocates is offering an additional reward up to $2,000 for information leading to a conviction. Anyone with more information is urged to call county Animal Services at 619-236-2341, or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

(Photos: San Diego Department of Animal Services)

A New York man who promised to take a friend’s dog to a farm in the country instead duct taped the dog’s mouth and legs and tossed him in a ditch, state police say.

Shane Morehouse, 52, of Fort Edward, was charged Saturday with animal cruelty and abandoning an animal — both misdemeanors, the Saratogian reported.

Police say the dog belonged to an acquaintance of Morehouse who could no longer care for the dog.

“The dog’s owner said he was going to be released on the farm,” state police Sgt. Chuck Salaway said. “Morehouse apparently changed his mind and left it along the side of the road without any concern over what was going to happen to it.”

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

The dog, a 12-year-old malamute mix named Chubby, was taken to a local SPCA, where he was euthanized after he was found to be suffering from an unrelated illness.

A Florida man will serve 40 days in jail for tying a 30-pound dumbbell to a dog’s neck and tossing him in the river.

Willie T. Bell, 41, of Palmetto, told police he was trying to make the dog stronger.

He pleaded no contest to the third-degree felony earlier this week, the Bradenton Herald reported.

Police in April spotted the two-year-old pit bull mix, named Blackie, in the Manatee River, not far from where Bell was fishing.

According to Palmetto police officer Micah Mathews’ report, the dogs snout was sticking up as it tried to tread water.

“Mr. Bell said he was trying to make the dog stronger,” Mathews wrote.
“The dog was unable to touch the ground and was not able to move the weight,” the officer wrote. “When I arrived I could see only the nose of the dog out of the water.”

On the officer’s request, Bell brought the dog to shore. Bell told the officer the dog had been swimming in place for about 15 minutes.

Mathews asked Bell the same question that’s probably running through your mind right now: Would he like to be anchored to a dumbbell and left in the water like that? Bell replied, “Hell no,” the police report states.

Bell was not the dog’s owner, animal control officials said.

The dog was returned to its original owner and animal control officials said it suffered no lasting physical damage.