ohmidog!

What happened when a locally-aired McDonalds ad noted that eating new Chicken McBites is safer “than petting a stray pit bull?”

This:

McDonalds has since pulled the radio ad and issued an apology.

The Portland Press Herald described Sherwood Campbell as a large man who adored his small dogs.

Sixty-four and living with his parents, upwards of 300 pounds, Campbell (shown above in a family photo from the 1990s) died Tuesday night while trying to save his dogs from his burning home in Canton, Maine.

Firefighters found Campbell’s body Wednesday morning at the entrance to his second-floor bedroom, the body of his dog Whomper with him, relatives told the Press Herald. His second dog, a Pomeranian named Little Dog, also died, as did his parents’ miniature pinscher, Muppet.

Campbell’s parents, both in their 80s, were not at home at the time because his father was hospitalized in Portland with a heart condition. The state Fire Marshal’s Office is still trying to determine what caused the fire, which started in the kitchen.

Mark Blanchette, Campbell’s brother-in-law, who lives across the street, said Campbell ran over Tuesday afternoon, his face covered with soot, yelling that the house was on fire.

Blanchette followed Campbell across the street, and tried to stop him from entering the home.

“He shoved me out of the way and went after the dog,” Blanchette said. “I kept telling him the dog’s not worth it.”

Blanchette said he grabbed Campbell’s leg, but Campbell, who he said weighed 300 to 400 pounds, kept going up the stairs, pulling Blanchette as he went.

“I held it as long as I could,” Blanchette said. “I had to let him go.”

Campbell was a fan of the Boston Red Sox and collected baseball cards, the Press Herald reported. He worked for 20 years in a nearby Bass shoe factory, but left due to health and eyesight problems.

“He just loved his dogs,” said his sister, Cindy Holland. “They were his world.”

Authorities say a South Carolina woman put her dog out with the trash — twice.

Not her dog’s body. Her dog.

The dog was first discovered by sanitation workers who found it in a trash bag while picking up garbage on a street in Spartanburg County, according to WYFF.

Jamie Nelson, with Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement, said a trash company worker brought the dog to the house the trash can was in front of, and the owner originally said it didn’t belong to her.

Eventually, she admitted the 8-year-old black and white Shih Tzu was her dog, and animal control was called. While they were on their way, Nelson said, the woman put the dog back in a trash bag and put it back in the trash can, hiding it beneath other bags of trash.

When animal control officers found it there, Nancy Jeanne Smythe, of Spartanburg County, was charged with ill treatment of animals and the dog was taken to a local shelter, where it — other than a pre-existing skin condition — was reported to be doing fine.

A protester emulating Mitt Romney’s dog-on-the-car-roof trick — but without a dog — was pulled over by police in Littleton, Colorado.

“Our 911 center received a call from a motorist who saw the car in the photo drive past, and she said the door to the animal carrier was open and a large white dog was in it,” Littleton city spokeswoman Kelli Narde said in an interview, reported on the Huffington Post.

Turns out the rooftop crate contained only a stuffed animal.

The unidentified motorist was re-enacting what the Republican presidential candidate did on a family vacation in 1983, when his crated dog, Seamus, rode on the roof of his car for 12 hours.

Resurgence of that tale led to the formation of a “Dogs Against Romney” protest movement/website.

When police received the call, a dispatcher radioed nearby officers, who spotted the car and pulled it over, finding only a stuffed animal in the cage. Police said the motorist was not cited for having a kennel on his car roof, but did get a ticket for failing to provide proof of insurance.

“We respect anyone’s right to support or oppose anyone’s candidate but when you pull a stunt like that and lead passersby to think there’s a live animal in there, it’s probably taking it too far,” Narde said.

Police didn’t identify the man by name, but Dogs Against Romney confirmed he was a “pack member” known on the Internet as “Oredigger.”

In a blog post Tuesday, Dogs Against Romney said the fact that motorist was pulled over “clearly illustrates how blatantly awful, incredibly dangerous, outrageously insensitive — and even illegal — Mitt Romney’s decision to transport his own dog on the roof of his car was.”

All in all, it has been a rough few days for Gladiator Max, an 85-pound Argentine Mastiff in Colorado — but maybe rougher yet for Denver TV news anchor Kyle Dyer, who Max bit during a Wednesday interview about the dog’s icy rescue.

Dyer was interviewing the dog, his owner, and the firefighter who rescued him from an icy pond Tuesday — all of whom had been invited to the offices of 9 News in Denver. Max had shown no aggression — not during the rescue and not during the studio interview.

But when Dyer got too close, Max bit her in the face. She was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, where she was listed in fair condition, according to 9NEWS.

The incident aired live, but the station is not reshowing video of the bite.

Doug Kelley, the director of Denver Animal Care and Control, said Max’s owner will be cited — for the bite, for the leash law violation, and for not having Max vaccinated against rabies.

The dog is being held at the Denver Animal Shelter and will be quarantined for 10 days, according to Kelley.

The studio interview was for a follow up story on Max’s rescue Tuesday evening. Max chased a coyote onto the ice of Smith Reservoir and fell through, according to 9 News in its initial report.

The dog spent 20 minutes in the freezing water before firefighters arrived. Firefighter Tyler Sugaski fell through the ice on his way to Max, swimming the rest of the way to grab him.

“The dog recognized right off that I was there to help, so he came towards me,” Sugaski recalled.

Other than some scrapes from the ice, the dog appeared fine and was taken into an ambulance to be warmed up.

“He’s just a rock solid dog,” said his owner, Michael Robinson.

Animal control officers in Anne Arundel County are seeking the owners of an injured pit bull found last week in Linthicum.

And it’s not so they can hold a reunion.

A citizen called authorities about the dog, found on the 600 block of Andover Road, NBC 4 in Washington reported.

Officers found the dog suffering from multiple wounds — possibly from being used as a bait dog by dog fighters — but described him as affectionate, even though he was barely able to walk.

The Waugh Chapel Animal Hospital offered to treat the dog, who they have named Rocky Road.

Rocky underwent surgery and is now in stable condition. He is  expected to take several weeks to recover, after which he’ll be placed in the care of Tara’s House, a rescue group.

More than 150 dogs were seized Tuesday from a Danbury, N.C., breeder who was selling dogs for thousands of dollars but raising them in conditions authorities described as unhealthy and inhumane.

“I’m very ashamed that this happened in my county, and I’m appalled at how the dogs were being kept,” Phil Handy, Stokes County Animal Control officer, told Fox News in Greensboro.

The dogs were seized from Dan River Bullies, which sold English bulldog, French bulldogs and Shih Tzu puppies. (Its website was taken down yesterday.)

Officials with the Humane Society of the United States said the dogs appeared never to have been groomed or vaccinated, and lived in stacked cages, their food thrown on the floor next to their feces.

The Guilford County Animal Shelter in Greensboro took in 130 of the animals, many of which had multiple health problems, including infected eyes, skin and teeth, shelter director Marsha Williams said.

The rest of the animals were taken to Raleigh and Charlotte.

Veterinarians said several of dogs were old, but appeared to have spent most of their lives being bred.

The property is owned by Lucile Mabe, who authorities said could face multiple animal cruelty charges.

Williams said the case once again shows the need for strong puppy mill legislation in North Carolina.

“We need to change that and make it stricter, where they’re getting inspected and they’re required to have medical attention for their animals,” she said.

Truth in advertising? It’s a lot like honor among thieves. Society stopped expecting either long ago.

Still, it’s interesting to see how Skechers ad-makers gave an apparent facelift to Tucson Greyhound Park, the site of their “Mr. Quiggly” ad, in which a French bulldog outraces a group of greyhounds thanks to his Skecher’s athletic shoes.

The pictures to the left come from Grey2KUSA, the anti-racing group that sponsored a boycott of the ad, which aired during the Super Bowl.

I’m not sure if the improvements were digital or real, and, if real, whether they were temporary or permanent, but they raise the question: If the track is something to be proud of, as some backers of greyhound racing maintain, why did it need a cosmetic makeover?

Of course, the purpose of the ad was to sell sneakers, not expose the so-called sport’s seamy underbelly. But sprucing the place up beforehand does lend some credence to Grey2KUSA’s concerns that the ad would glorify greyhound racing.

The organization launched a boycott of Skechers before the ad aired and urged its backers to send their shoes back to the company. More than 122,000 people signed its online petition asking the company not to air the ad.

While that wasn’t achieved, Grey2KUSA says the company did make some changes to the ad, including removing “Tucson Greyhound Park” from the footage and digitally replacing it with a fictitious name, “Rexford Downs.”

In addition to altering the sign, the company also spruced up the grounds, the organization says, “bringing in green shrubbery, flowers and other improvements to make this otherwise dilapidated track look attractive.”

“It is not known if the greyhound racing ad will continue to air, but if it does, we ask you to continue boycotting Skechers,” Grey2KUSA informed its members this week.

According to Grey2K, dog racing continues in seven states, and three of those — Arizona, Iowa and Florida — have bills pending in their legislatures to ban it.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled today that Charles Jones, shown above kicking his State Highway Patrol dog in September 2007, and fired shortly thereafter, should be reinstated.

And with back pay.

Jones was fired after another trooper turned over two 15-second video clips of him suspending his K-9 partner, Ricoh, from a railing and repeatedly kicking him to force him to release a chew toy.

In 2008, the State Personnel Commission found Jones’ punishment too harsh and ordered that he be reinstated.

Tuesday’s ruling is the latest in a series, all of which agreed the Highway Patrol did not have cause to terminate Jones’ employment. (Ricoh didn’t get a vote.) You can find the full text of the ruling here.

Patrol leaders said they initially planned to discipline Jones but decided to fire him when then-Gov. Mike Easley’s office intervened.

In its ruling, the court noted testimony from Jones’ former supervisor, Lt. Col. Cecil Lockley, who said, “They want him gone … the decision regarding Sgt. Jones’ career was predetermined, not by the patrol’s disciplinary process but by an outside entity.”

Lockley called Jones’ method of disciplining Ricoh “ugly,” but said it did not fall outside the realm of patrol-accepted training techniques.

The appeals court agreed with a lower court ruling that ”the training method used by Jones on Ricoh in this matter, while appearing excessive and extreme to the general public, is not unreasonably outside of or substantially different from several of the training techniques that are tested, trained and approved for use by the Patrol.”

It concluded, “Jones acted consistently with his training, and used compliance techniques on Ricoh similar to those used by all Patrol members who were canine handlers.”

We’d hope that the highway patrol has redefined the boundaries of its realm of training techniques –  as it stated it would after the case came to public attention.

A rebuilding of the K-9 unit was promised, and an end to the kind of rough training tactics — swinging, suspending and kicking of patrol dogs — that the video depicts. New training procedures, they said, would specifically prohibit punching, kicking, beating and choking of dogs.

A pit bull who helped show Baltimore the breed’s good side, inspired a blog and turned a young couple’s life around passed away at the end of last week.

Knox, only about 3, died from complications associated with a blood parasite for which he recently tested positive.

His final days, and his short but joyous life — at least since being adopted — are recounted on the blog Pittieful Love: Adventures in Fostering and Loving America’s Dog.

Knox was adopted by a young couple named Brian and Jess DeLeon in May 2010 from BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter), the same shelter Ace came from.

Upon his arrival at BARCS, he’d been given the name Oil Change, because he (and his brother, dubbed Dipstick) came to the shelter from a gas station, where they apparently were leading pretty neglected lives.

His adoption would turn that around, as well as life for Brian and Jess.

“We went from young 20-somethings who wanted to rescue a dog, to two completely devoted owners who also are now completely devoted to this breed (which we didn’t know jack about before) … We brought home a “Baltimore Mutt” (aka a pit-mix) and had no idea how much of an influence he would have on us, on the world he lives in, the streets he walks, and the people he’d meet.  Not to mention the people whom he’d introduce us to.”

Knox was a regular participant in Pit Bulls on Parade, a series of weekend walks sponsored by B-more Dog, aimed at correcting public misconceptions about pit bulls. He was a friend and guide to the other fosters Brian and Jess took in, and a blood donor, as well. And he’d inspire the couple to fight for pit bulls city-wide, through their connections with B-More Dog, Mid-Atlantic Bully Buddies and BARCS.

Just before Christmas, Knox was diagnosed with the blood disorder, and, as Jess blogged, became a different dog — no longer as lively, or as willing to place his 68 pounds, at least half of that seemingly head, on your lap.

In her blog, Jess astutely reflects that, after the long fight, sometimes it’s best to let nature take its course — especially when the heroic efforts you’re making are, at their core, not for your dog but for yourself.

“It may sound horrible, but I refuse to string him along for no reason, not to mention waste thousands of dollars to keep him alive for my own personal benefit … Keeping him alive, barely…who is that serving?  Certainly we love him too much to be that selfish … We love him way too much.

We extend our condolences to Jess and Brian, and encourage them to keep focusing not on the loss, or the void, but on the substantial contribution Knox made, and the joys — big and little – he provided, both to them and others.

Judging from yesterday’s Pittieful Love blog post, that’s exactly what they’re doing:

“You, sneaky boy, were wild.  WILD.  But you loved us right away, and we loved you.  We met you at first in an escort room.  Small, tight space, but we weren’t intimidated by your jumping, your tail, your huge head and that awesome smile.  We wanted to take you outside to the run.  You were in HEAVEN.  And you loved to run!  But you kept coming right back to us, and sitting on our feet.  The fresh air, the open space, you loved it!  But you loved us too.  And that was a good sign to us.  We couldn’t stop smiling.”

(Photo courtesy of Pittieful Love)