ohmidog!

A malnourished dog who was surrendered to a New Jersey humane society by a couple who said they found him in a trash bag is back up on his feet and continuing to recover.

The couple, meanwhile, turned out to be the dog’s owners — and they’ve been charged with animal cruelty.

Samurai, or Sammy for short, is a cocker spaniel. He was turned in at the Associated Humane Society in Tinton Falls last week, with an ear infection, skin infection, open wounds and with his fur so matted together he couldn’t walk, according to NJ.com.

This week, he took his first steps at the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, where officials said he has also started eating on his own again.

Victor Amato, the chief humane law enforcement officer for the Monmouth County SPCA, said hundreds of calls have been received by people from around the world since the dog’s story hit the news — initially as the story of a rescued dog.

Keith Morgan, 56, of Brick, told staff at the humane society that he and his wife found the dog in a garbage bag on the side of the road.

Morgan, in interviews with media, said he opened the bag and “started to cry …I couldn’t understand that anyone could be that cruel … my heart dropped.”

For a while, the dog was named after his apparent savior.

Officials, however, learned by tracing the dog’s registration that the couple had actually owned the dog for at least nine years. Sammy is estimated to be 13 or 14 years old.

Keith Morgan was charged in Tinton Falls with animal cruelty by abandonment of a sick or maimed animal and filing a false report with law enforcement. He was also charged in Brick with interfering with an investigation and animal cruelty by failure to provide sustenance and causing unnecessary suffering.

His wifre, Shauna Ewing Morgan, 43,  faces similar charges in Tinton Falls and Brick.

Each faces a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine on each count. They are scheduled to appear in court March 27 in Brick and April 9 in Tinton Falls, where a judge will decide their sentence.

The animal hospital said a fund has been set up for Sammy, and donations can be sent to the Morgan/Samurai Fund at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, 197 Hance Avenue, Tinton Falls, N.J. 07724.

(Photo: Red Bank Veterinary Hospital)

Patrick the pit bull — a dog who was starved, placed in a garbage bag and tossed down the trash chute of a 22-floor apartment building in Newark — continues to slowly recover.

And considering the condition he was found in — by a maintenance worker who noticed a soon-to be-compacted plastic bag moving — that’s pretty close to miraculous.

According to Associated Humane Societies, Patrick, as he was later named, was living — and just barely — somewhere in the Garden Spires apartment building, which is equipped with garbage chutes on each floor.

“Someone had no more use for this dog. They had starved it to near death, put it in a garbage bag and threw it down the garbage chute,” AHS reports on its website.

Normally, the contents of the bin at the bottom of the building are sent directly into a trash compacter, but on Wednesday, March 16th, a maintenance worker noticed a bag moving, opened it and found the dog inside – about one year old, pathetically thin and on death’s doorstep.

“His eyelids were moving a little. But he was just lifeless — his body hung there when we picked him up,” Monmouth County animal control officer Arthur Skinner said.

Skinner took the dog to Associated Humane Societies Newark Animal Care Center, and he was sent from there Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls,  veterinarians and technicians have been giving him transfusions of blood, feeding him intravenously and warming him with heated blankets.

By Monday, Patrick, who was named by hospital staff on St. Patrick’s Day, was able to sit up and walk. He’s now off IV fluids and eating canned dog food.

Patrick — and we’ll warn you now that the picture below, taken shortly after he was discovered, is highly disturbing — is slowly becoming more than skin and bones. He spends most of his time in his cage, napping next to stuffed animals donated by the hospital’s staff. He doesn’t bark or wag his tail, but lifts his head whenever someone passes by, accordingn to the Star-Ledger in Newark.

Officials from the Monmouth County Humane Society have offered a $2,000 reward for information leading to the dog’s abuser.

The Associated Humane Societies reported this week that Patrick is now able to stand, eats little bits of food several times a day and is having normal bowel movements. The organization is accepting donations towards his continued care. You can find AHS updates on Patrick here.

Behavior problems are the main reason dogs end up in shelters, the main reason they get returned, and the main reason that some of them never get out.

So it only makes sense that helping dogs and the families that adopt them resolve those issues would lead to far more happier endings and far fewer dogs being put down.

Realizing that, Best Friends Animal Society in Utah has developed a new program in conjunction with the Monmouth County SPCA that matches dog trainers with shelters and families whose dogs have behavioral issues.

Sam Wike, the first trainer accepted into the program, is shown in this video working with Rufus, one of the first dogs referred by Best Friends’ Community Training Partner program. Wike is the lead trainer at Purr’n Pooch, a pet boarding/training/grooming facility in New Jersey.

Rufus, who was in the Monmouth County SPCA, needed a “finishing school” environment in order to be ready to be adopted, Best Friends says. Now he’s completed the training and is ready for adoption.

The main goal of the program is to lower the number of dogs returned to shelters and to counsel people considering relinquishing their dogs because of behavior issues.

When a family comes into the shelter to turn in their dog, a staff counselor sits down with them, and talks through the reasons the family is considering giving up their pet. Owners then are offered the option of training and behavior modification for their dogs, which is funded through the Best Friends program.

“We started this January working with the staff and we’ve also initiated doggy play groups with the shelter dogs,” Wike said. “The play groups help the dogs to learn how to interact appropriately with other dogs. The dogs burn off excess energy romping with each other and it’s a great showcase for their personalities when potential adopters come by the shelter,” Wike said.

A Pennsylvania woman was charged with animal cruelty and a weapons offense after she slit a dog’s throat Sunday night during an argument with her fiancé at his family’s home in Union Beach, N.J., authorities said.

Michele Milford, 35, of Scranton, was being held in the Monmouth County jail in Freehold in lieu of $10,000 bail, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Victor “Buddy’’ Amato, chief animal cruelty officer for the Monmouth County SPCA, said Milford and her fiancé argued during a party. During the dispute, she went into a laundry room and slit the throat of the family’s dog — twice.

While waiting for authorities, partygoers tried to slow the bleeding by pressing T-shirts and other items of clothing to the neck of the dog, a two-year-old Jack Russell terrier named Penelope.

The dog was rushed to the Red Bank Animal Hospital where she was scheduled to undergo surgery today.

Amato said Milford used a push knife, a two-inch blade with a T-handle designed to be grasped in a fist so the arrow-like blade protrudes from between the knuckles.

Amato said he did not know the reason for the argument, but it apparently had nothing to do with the dog.

The charges against Milford are fourth-degree offenses. The animal cruelty charge would be upgraded to a third-degree offense, punishable by a possible jail sentence, if the dog dies from her injuries, Amato said.

A New Jersey man who admitted driving nails through a fence in hopes of injuring his neighbor’s dogs has been sentenced to 15 days in jail.

David Lench, 50, of Middletown also was ordered to pay $4,000 in fines when sentenced Wednesday by Middletown Municipal Court Judge Richard Thompson. He had pleaded guilty to three counts of animal cruelty.

Officials say Lench drove 18 3-inch nails through the a wooden fence separating his yard from Michael Flynn’s, which led one of Flynn’s three German shepherds to suffer puncture wounds to its face.

Neither Lench nor his lawyer, Michael V. Gilberti of Red Bank, could be reached for comment Wednesday, according to an Associated Press report.