ohmidog!

Police dog handlers from the St. Louis area and around Illinois paid final respects Monday to a retired O’Fallon Police Department dog named Rex.

Rex, 12, whose nickname was “Fluffy,” was was laid to rest at the East-West Police K-9 training grounds and cemetery in Sauget.

“He was a phenomenal dog. Amazing. He saved my life at least two times,” said Rex’s hander, patrolman Keith Lewis.

Lewis, shedding tears, spoke at the service, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.

He recalled how Rex once took down a suspect attacking him with knives, and how, on another occasion, the dog found a man  hiding in a pile of leaves with a rifle and night-vision goggles.

Rex served the department from 2001 to 2009, fighting crime and also winning numerous awards in Police Canine Association trials.

Rex retired in 2009 and stayed with Lewis and his family.

Rex had been suffering from herniated disks as well as a degenerative neurological disorder. He was put to sleep early Monday morning.

His final resting place in Sauget is with other police dogs, not far from the center where police K-9s are trained.

(Photo: St. Clair County Sheriffs deputy Calvin Savage salutes Rex during the funeral; by Steve Nagy / Belleville News-Democrat)

Rose Lakey, the Missouri woman who called 911 when her Great Dane collapsed on Easter Sunday, paid a $100 fine this week for what authorities said was a misuse of the emergency number.

Lakey, of  O’Fallon, referred to her dog Oreo as her “daughter” on the phone, leading emergency workers to assume they were rushing to save a human.

One paramedic, upon entering the Lakey home, threw her hands up into the air and said, “It’s just a dog,” Lakey said. Other, more soft-hearted paramedics helped Lakey and her husband Randy load the 140-pound dog into their car. Oreo died at the animal hospital.

The next day, O’Fallon police appeared at the Lakeys’ door with a notice for an ordinance violation.

Lakey said that in her conversation with dispatchers she said her dog collapsed, then later  used the word “daughter.”

She pleaded not guilty during a court appearance a few weeks ago, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But at a hearing this week — facing the prospect of hiring a lawyer and paying a $1,000 fine if she lost the case — she agreed to pay the $100 municipal fine.

(Photo: Oreo, in a parade; St. Louis Post-Dispatch file photo)

Rose and Randy Lakey were trying to save their Great Dane’s life when they called 911 on Easter Sunday.

Oreo, a 4-year-old, 140-pound  harlequin, had collapsed.

“It was so fast and we were so upset, that all I could think of was to tell her we have to call for help,” Randy Lakey told Fox 2 in St. Louis.

When an ambulance arrived, a paramedic, upon seeing the patient, threw her arms into the air and said “It’s a dog, are you kidding me?” Rose said. “Then she turned and walked away. Then she started yelling out to the policeman, ‘it’s just a dog.’”

Another paramedic administered oxygen to the dog, and, along with police, helped the Lakeys get Oreo into the car.

It was too late, though, and Oreo died by the time they reached the emergency animal clinic.

The next day the Lakeys were charged by police with filing a false report. They’re due to appear in municipal court in O’Fallon next month. At worst, they face a fine.

Rose says she originally told the 911 operator she was calling about a dog, but that she might have referred to Oreo as her daughter at some point.

(Note to emergency officials: Many dog owners feel that way abour their pets, and even refer to them that way. Also, they don’t appreciate phrases like “just a dog.”)

Oreo was once featured in a front page photo in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (above), marching in a pet parade while wearing a pink tutu.

The Lakeys have two grown daughters, and say they thought of Oreo as their third. They didn’t purposefully mislead authorities, they said.

Said Randy Lakey, “You know, it was not intentional. We didn’t mislead anybody. We just needed help. There’s nothing false about that,” Randy said.

(Photo of Oreo by Gabe Hartwig / St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

A rescued dog in eastern Missouri adopted an orphaned baby raccoon as her own after losing one of her puppies during labor.

The dog, named Sasha, had been surrendered to a shelter with what was suspected of being a tumor.

But after she was rescued by a group in St. Peters called SNUGGLE (Special Needs Under Gentle Guided Love Everyday) ultrasound tests showed the lump was two soon-to-be-born pups.

Only one of the puppies survived.

Around then, a baby raccoon who’d been found under a carport was brought to the same veterinarian.

“We started off bottle feeding it and just couldn’t keep up with its needs,” veterinarian Dr. Kelly Hogan said. So they offered Sasha the job. Both Sasha and her pup accepted the raccoon as one of their own.

“Even when he started making little raccoon kind of noises, she didn’t have a problem with it,” Hogan said. “And she loves him. She’s protective of him now.”

Eventually, the raccoon will be transferred to a wildlife rescue group and then released into the wild.

As SNUGGLE’s Sharon Maag sees it, Sasha — having been rescued herself — is returning the favor.

“We saved her life, and she saved the raccoon’s life … It’s the circle of life. I think that’s the way it goes.”