ohmidog!

Between flight delays and her dog, it’s a wonder Kim Rhode, a member of the U.S. Olympic shooting team, made it to London at all.

Her poodle Norman ate her airline ticket — and that was the least of her problems.

Rhode, seeking to become the first American to win individual medals at five Summer Games in a row, went to the airport in Los Angeles on Friday intending to fly to Copenhagen for training camp.

Flight cancellations forced her to miss training camp, and instead she later flew directly to London — after being reissued a ticket because her four -month-old dog, who she referred to as “hell on wheels” ate the first one.

She finally arrived in London Tuesday, AFP reports.

“My dog ate my ticket,” said Rhode, 33. ” … I know that sounds crazy but I can honestly say and I have the pictures to prove that really happened. It’s not just an excuse.”

Rhode, who is taking part in women’s trap and skeet, said she was looking forward to the arrival of her teammates on Wednesday.

“Some of them sent me some well wishes on Twitter and Facebook. I know they’re having a blast in Denmark. They’ve gone and seen ZZ Top and have been training really hard — a lot of team-building going on there. I’m kind of bummed that I missed that,” she added.

Rhode is seeking her fifth straight medal and her third gold overall.

(Photo: AFP)

It’s not often that I share the personal frustrations of being a dog-blogger — especially one who tries to stand out from the crowd by keeping a lid on the pablum and fluff, and presenting from time to time some stories of depth about important dog-related issues.

Yesterday was a case in point.

I posted three items — about the daily average for ohmidog!

One was a mention of an upcoming motorcycle ride, sponsored by a motorcycle club and Baltimore’s Anti-Animal Abuse Task Force, to raise money for abused and abandoned dogs.

One was a story about a day of global protest against eating dogs in South Korea.

One was an update on a story I wrote a few years back after meeting in Los Angeles a homeless man and his three legged pit bull (her fourth leg was lost as a result of a police shooting). Both have fallen ill and need help.

I was especially proud of the latter two, as they both contained some original reporting, and original photographs, and displayed a little first hand knowledge I had gathered, mostly during the year and a half I was working on my book.

Checking my Google Analytics, as I do from time to time, I saw this morning that the dog-eating post (of global significance) drew 116 views; the post on Michael and Topaz (of national significance) got 46 views; and the post on the fundraising motorcyle ride (of local significance) got 16 views.

What drew most readers to ohmidog! yesterday — 676 of them — was a post, nearly 50 days old, about Jennifer Aniston getting her dog Norman’s name tatooed on her foot.

Thereby showing you the significance of celebrities. It blows my mind.

How people try to remember and memorialize their dogs is a legitimate story — and a large part of the book I wrote — and the fact that more people are going the tattoo route, as the New York Post reported this week, is worthy of note.

But let’s face it, it was Jennifer Aniston that brought me those readers — and while I appreciate her, and those readers who dropped by, it bugs me that her foot tattoo so overshadowed two stories of deeper importance and deeper humanity. But, despite all that’s in the bowl, they chose only that.

My little corner of the universe, or the Internet, serves it seems as a microcosm of what’s happened to the news media, which, to survive, has caved in to the pressure to give readers easily consumable, barely newsworthy bits of what they want, rather than fully fleshed out stories on topics of greater importance to the species, be it human or dog.

Looking at my Analytics — and I think it’s OK to share this proprietary information, given that I am the proprietor — a total of 435 pages and posts were viewed yesterday, 1,941 views in all.

The vast majority, though, were focused on Jennifer Aniston’s foot.

For those consumed with numbers, and getting them to increase, and paying the bills, the thinking would reasonably follow: We need more Jennifer Aniston, more tattoos, more feet, or more of whoever or whatever else is, at this given moment, “trending.”

Here’s one of the things that has happened. News organizations, and bloggers, see what’s “trending” and base their coverage on that, thereby making it “trend” even more, while items of higher significance — worth some digging up — fall unseen by the wayside.

Add to that the fact that those who write strictly for the Internet, often, are no longer writing for humans. Instead of writing for quality, instead of writing, even, for readers, they’re writing for robots — those search engine Peruse-a-trons that scan our words, mathematically determine their import and influence how many readers come our way.

Add to that the fact that average online writer now spends more time touting what he has written via social networks and elsewhere than actually writing what he has written. Time once spent on research and the craft of writing is now mostly absorbed by shouting about and hyping what one has written, even if that “writing” was little more than a cut and paste job.

We’ll even admit to doing some of that — what is now called “aggregating,” what was once called plagiarism. We’ll admit to touting stories we’re proud of on Facebook and Twitter. We’ll even admit to, once in a while, posting a story because we think it will draw a crowd.

Were ohmidog! a true money-making venture — which in some ways would make more sense than being poor and principled — we might follow the route that so many have, bringing you a steady diet of the cute, the happy, the adorable and the celebrity-related.

But, Jennifer Aniston aside, we plan to continue to vary our fare — presenting the cute, from time to time; the uplifting, as often as we can find it; but also the cruel and depraved acts of humans that lead to animal suffering.

If, in the three years we’ve existed (did I mention we’ve just turned 3?) and in the 3,000 posts we’ve posted, ohmidog! has shown anything, it is this: the depths to which humans can sink and the heights to which they can rise when it comes to dogs.

We’re going to keep doing that.

And you can tattoo that on your foot.

Jennifer Aniston has had her deceased dog’s name tattoed on the inside of her right foot.

I don’t find that too bizarre, given some of the far more outlandish lengths bereaved pet owners go to — all covered in my book, “DOG, INC.: The Uncanny Inside Story of Cloning Man’s Best Friend.”

I don’t find it particularly newsworthy, either.

But it is Jennifer Aniston, and it is her foot, and she did love her Norman, a Corgi-terrier mix.

As many a pundit has noted, including those at the Daily Mail, which devoted major space to the story yesterday, it was a truer and longer lasting relationship than she has seemed to enjoy with any of the men in her life.

Norman died last month at age 15.

Aniston confirmed that the tattoo was a tribute to her pooch while talking to James Lipton during a taping of “Inside the Actors Studio,” People reported.

In 2008, Aniston, while doing publicity for the movie version of “Marley & Me,” in which she starred, told a magazine she wished men were as faithful as Norman.

Aniston, who divorced Brad Pitt in 2005 and had recently split from singer John Mayer, told the magazine she longs to meet a man that is more like Norman.

“It wouldn’t be bad if, when a man comes home, he’d run to his woman with his tail wagging,” said Aniston. “This sort of excitement is something I’ve always missed in a man, to be honest.”

Norman was already slowing down by then, and was undergoing a full regiment of therapy, at a cost of $250 a week, including massage, Reiki and and acupuncture, according to media reports.

In DOG, INC., a chapter is devoted to the sometimes extreme lengths people go to in trying to hang on to the memory of their pets — from freeze-drying to modern-day mummification. Cloning, in a way, is only the newest, not to mention most expensive and controversial, one.

I’m glad Aniston — at least as far as I know — didn’t choose to pursue that route.

In comparison, a tattoo is almost tasteful.

(Top photo: Aniston in a 2005 Elle magazine spread)

Jennifer Aniston’s Welsh corgi-terrier mix, Norman, has passed away.

“He died a few weeks ago. He was an old dog and it was just his time,” a representative of the actress confirmed.

Norman was 15.

The death, according to the Daily Mail, came just before Aniston closed a deal on a New York penthouse, purchased in Norman’s name.

The former “Friends” brought Norman with her most everywhere, including television and film sets, and their relationship long outlasted that she had with the men in her life.

“He’s my baby boy. Norman goes with me on location – I’ve got to take Norman,” she said in a February appearance on the Chelsea Lately show, where Norman appeared at her side.

Even as a puppy, Aniston said, “he was as cool as a cucumber. He’s just a person in a dog suit,” she said.

Norman went missing for two days back in 1998 but eventually turned up unharmed at an animal shelter. Aniston also has another dog, a white German shepherd named Dolly.

When Aniston recently bought three units in a New York City condo, she did so under the name Norman’s Nest Trust.

Who says the paparazzi are good for nothing?

TMZ is reporting that Jennifer Aniston’s dog, Norman, escaped from her Malibu home over the weekend, and was found and returned by a photographer. What’s more, the photographer saved the dog from walking into traffic, TMZ said.

Aniston, now appearing in Marley & Me, is shown here with Norman, a corgi-terrier, in a 2005 Elle magazine spread.

A video posted on TMZ.com shows a paparazzo taking the dog back to Aniston’s home. No comment yet on the incident from Aniston.

Jennifer Aniston thinks men should be more like her dog.

The former “Friends” star — soon to appear in the movie version of “Marley & Me” — recently told Britain’s “Skymag” that she wishes men were as faithful as her beloved corgi mix, Norman.

Aniston, who was divorced from Brad Pitt in 2005 and recently split from singer John Mayer because he reportedly didn’t want to settle down, told the magazine she longs to meet a man that is more like Norman.

“It wouldn’t be bad if, when a man comes home, he’d run to his woman with his tail wagging,” she’s quoted as saying. “This sort of excitement is something I’ve always missed in a man, to be honest.”

Norman, meanwhile, is slowing down in his old age, and Aniston has hired a therapist for him.

The former ‘Friends’ actress is paying $250 a week on massage, Reiki and acupuncture treatments for  Norman, according to media reports.

A source said: “Norman has been Jennifer’s constant companion during all her emotional upheavals, but he suffers from aching joints and stiffness. Jennifer doesn’t want to put him on medication just yet, so she has opted for doggy spa treatments from a licensed vet technician.”

The therapy sessions at Jennifer’s Malibu home have helped ease Norman’s aches and pains, the source said. ”Norman has more spring in his step these days!”

(Photo: Aniston in a 2005 Elle magazine spread)