ohmidog!

Layla — a dog most appropriately named for this particular story — has become the subject of a custody battle in Pittsburgh.

A pit bull mix, she served as an unofficial helper to her owner, a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. But when he moved to a new apartment, Layla, lacking documentation as a service dog, wasn’t allowed to live there.

Tim McGill began working to get Layla certified, and in the meantime asked some friends to look after his 3-year-old dog.

Now McGill has gotten the certification, but he can’t get his dog back.

McGill served in the Army in South Korea and Iraq and left the service with a brain injury, anxiety and flashbacks, KDKA in Pittsburgh reports.

A doctor recommended a dog, and — though Layla wasn’t a certified service dog — having her by his side helped, said McGill, a tattoo artist.

McGill says he moved to a Lawrenceville apartment to go to the Art Institute, but that, without any documentation that Layla was a service dog, she wasn’t permitted to live there.

So he asked a friend, Laura Stratemier, to watch over Layla until he could get her certified. In exchange, he offered to repay her with free tattoos for both her and her husband.

Stratemier admits she was only supposed to have Layla for two weeks, but said that as time went by — six months worth of it — she realized the dog was better off with her.

By the time the certification papers for the dog came through McGill, Stratemier was unwilling to give Layla back.

KDKA reports that local animal control officials are looking into the dispute.

Given all the attention received by Mitt Romney’s former dog, Seamus — he of roof-riding fame — it’s not surprising that Rick Santorum’s dog story takes a back seat.

Then again, unlike Romney’s, Santorum’s doesn’t reflect bad judgment, just bad luck. He brought it out of his playbook again this weekend to make the point that, well, I’m not sure what point it makes, other than he doesn’t let a little dog pee deter him.

On Saturday night, Santorum told the tale — from his first campaign for Congress in 1990 — to an Ohio crowd of more than 1,000 Republicans at the Summit County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner. The Washington Post published it verbatim:

“…We went knocking doors in Upper St. Clair, which is outside of Pittsburgh, a nice little neighborhood … And I knocked on the door and this little elderly lady comes to the door. … She had a little dog that was barking. And I said, ‘Hi, I’m Rick Santorum. I’m running for Congress.’ … She looked at me and goes, ‘Oh, you look so hot.’ She goes, ‘Why don’t you come in for a glass of water?’

“So I went in and sat down. And the dog is running around, barking. And she goes in and gets her glass of water, and I sit down … She hands me the glass of water. And the dog jumps up and hops in my lap.

“Okay, fine. So, I had the dog. I had a sip or two of water. We chatted. And the next thing I know, there is a warm sensation on my lap.

“And I jump up, and on my tan pants is a huge wet spot where you don’t want a huge wet spot. So, I jumped up to look at it, and she was aghast. She reached for my pants and said, ‘Let me dry that off.’ I backed away and said, ‘No, that’ll be fine.’ She goes, ‘Let me get a hairdryer.’ Heaven forbid! And I said, ‘No, thank you very much.’ I start to move out the door and she goes, ‘Well, take your pants off. I’ll put them in the dryer.’ That was the last I heard from her, because I was out the door …

“Undeterred, I soldiered on. … So, I looked at my sheet, and I say, ‘Well, who’s the next door?’ Well, the next door is a name I recognize. Anybody remember the closer for the 1979 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates? Kent Tekulve, correct … I said, ‘Hi, Mr. Tekulve. I’m Rick Santorum, I’m running for Congress…’

Tekulve checked out the wet blotch on the candidate’s pants, but ended up voting for him anyway.

“So, I wanted to share that with you,” Santorum concluded. “I’ve walked the path that you’ve walked. Maybe a little differently, but I’ve walked the path. And we’re walking the same path in this election.”

(Photo: Photo: Tony Dejak / AP)

A judge in Pennsylvania has rejected a Pittsburgh-area man’s petition to change his name from Gary Guy Mathews to “Boomer the Dog.”

Mathews, 44, is an unemployed computer technician and a follower of the ”furry” lifestyle, which celebrates giving human characteristics to animals. He sought the name change because he’s a big fan of the short-lived 1980s NBC show “Here’s Boomer.”

His obsession with the Boomer character led him to create a giant dog costume made from shredded newspaper, which he now wears at home and to conventions.

Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald W. Folino, after hearing Mathews request Tuesday, denied it on Wednesday on the grounds it could cause confusion and possibly put “the public welfare at risk,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The denial, which came in a page and a half-ruling, sounded almost as convoluted as the request:

What if, the judge wrote, Boomer the Dog witnessed a serious auto accident and telephoned police? “The dispatcher on the phone queries as to the caller’s identity, and the caller responds, ‘This is Boomer the Dog.’ It is not a stretch to imagine the telephone dispatcher concluding that the call is a prank and refusing to send an emergency medical response.”

“Right now I’m not sure what I’m going to do next, I’ll just have to look into it,” Mathews said after the decision. “All I know is that I’ve been trying to realize my identity for a long time, like many people have I guess.”

Furries, the Post-Gazette reports, have become fairly common around Pittsburgh, which for five years has hosted the movement’s largest annual convention.

A Steelers fan in suburban Pittsburgh killed his girlfriend’s 13-week-old puppy Sunday because the dog was misbehaving before the football game came on TV, police said.

The puppy was kicked to death on the same day that it as announced that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was donating money to Kansas City police to buy a new police dog.

William Woodson, 22, of Bridgeville, was being held on $25,000 bail in the Allegheny County Jail, pending a preliminary hearing on animal cruelty, scheduled for next Monday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The puppy, a pit bull named Flip, had been the source of recent arguments between Woodson and his girlfriend, according to police. A witness saw the dog being kicked down the street and called Bridgeville police. By the time police arrived, the dog was dead and Woodson was gone.

Woodson’s girlfriend told police he kicked the dog because the pup would not walk with them. Police located Woodson at a friend’s house.  ”He admitted the dog would not behave prior to the Steelers game and that he became upset at it,” the affidavit said.

Kansas City police on Sunday announced they’d received an $8,000 grant from Steeler quarterback Roethlisberger’s foundation, which  distributes grants to police and fire departments in Pittsburgh and in the cities of the Steelers’ road opponents. The $8,000 will pay to replace Rambo, a Kansas City police dog that is set to retire at year’s end because of arthritis. The Chiefs beat the Steelers 27-24 on Sunday.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — instead of commiting crime — is taking a bite out of it, with his donation of two K-9 unit dogs to Detroit,  the city where he won the first Super Bowl.

Roethlisberger, in Detroit yesterday to play the Lions, is paying for both dogs. They replace a pair of retiring dogs that left the Detroit Police Department at the end of the year.

Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans told the Detroit Free Press he was grateful for the donation.

“We are deeply appreciative to the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for this grant,” Evans said. “In these difficult budgetary times, we must rely more and more on outside sources of funding to support our officers’ efforts. This grant will provide our officers additional resources to protect the citizens of Detroit.”

The quarterback created the the foundation to distribute grants to police and fire departments in Pittsburgh and cities of each regular season road opponent for the Steelers.

“It’s incredible to see the strong bond that is formed between the dogs and their partners both on the job and at home,” Roethlisberger said in a statement.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison is hoping to find a way to avoid having his it bull, Patron, put down.

The dog bit Harrison’s 2-year-old son, James Harrison III, last Wednesday, and since then has been lodged at Animal Control of McKee’s Rocks, where Harrison originally said he would have him euthanized after a mandatory 10-day quarantine.

The dog became agitated when the toddler began crying last Wednesday at their Franklin Park home. The dog bit both the child, who was released from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital and is now home, and the child’s mother, Beth Tibbott. A friend of Tibbots was also injured as they tried to separate dog and boy.  Harrison was not at home during the attack.

Harrison’s agent, Bill Parise, said yesterday that they were seeking an alternative for Patron, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

With the toddlers  improvement — “the baby was actually walking [Monday], there is no muscle or nerve damage, no infection,” Parise said – Harrison wanted to see whether there was a way to avoid putting Patron down.

“I just got done talking to James,” he said yesterday afternoon, “and he would love to find a home for him, but only if it was a home that would provide maximum security. This decision is not being made lightly, and it would have to be in the best interest of the welfare of the animal as well as of people.”

Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison’s toddler son was believed in stable condition at a Pittsburgh hospital after being bitten on the thigh by the family’s dog.

The boy’s mother, Beth Tibbott, was also treated and released for a bite she received when she tried to get the dog off the child, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Harrison, 31, the NFL defensive player of the year last season, could not be reached for comment. He was not home when the incident took place, friends said.

At the Harrisons’ home on Matterhorn Drive, a family friend said that Harrison was at the gym in the late afternoon when she, Ms. Tibbott and the child, James Harrison III, were outside in the fenced yard, where the dog was kept in a crate.

The friend said the dog, a pit bull, bit the baby on the thigh when it was released, and that Ms. Tibbott began screaming and threw herself on top of the baby.

Steelers management said in a statement Friday: “We are aware of this unfortunate situation. We express our concern for his family and hope that everyone involved makes a complete recovery.”

Channel 11 News in Pittsburgh is reporting that a pit bull owned by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison attacked the player’s young son on Thursday.

An unidentified neighbor said one of the star player’s three dogs got loose Thursday at Harrison’s Franklin Park home and attacked the boy, James III. His age was not immediately available.

The boy was taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital, where his condition is not known. The hospital declined comment.

“We are aware of the situation, but it a personal matter for James,” the Steelers said in a statement.

Harrison, 31, is the NFL Defensive Player of the Year — and the team member that opted to stay home on the day the Super Bowl-winning Steelers met with President Barack Obama.

Firefighters in Plum, Pennsylvania said they used an industrial-strength vacuum to pull a Shih Tzu puppy — a family’s Christmas gift — from the bottom of an abandoned well.

The pup, named Romeo, fell into the well — actually a narrow drainage pipe — during the weekend.

After three hours trying to rescue him, firefighters hooked up an industrial-strength vacuum, latched on to Romeo’s leg and hoisted him out, Pittsburgh television station WPXI reported. You can see a video here.

“It was a miracle,” said Assistant Fire Chief Jim Scuffle.

The pup wasn’t breathing when it came came out of the well, but firefighters performed mouth-to-snout resuscitation on the way to veterinarian and Romeo awakened and started to breath on its own.

The veterinarian gave the puppy a clean bill of health.

Pittsburgh morning talk show host Jim Krenn called off work Wednesday to look for his missing dog, Gizmo — showing that even though his dog wasn’t in the right place, his priorities were.

“He was just gone. He just disappeared,” said Krenn, who works for WDVE radio. “I’m just beside myself. As every pet owner knows, this is a worst nightmare.”

The dog disappeared early Tuesday evening; he was found Wednesday not far from Banksville Park, according to an MSNBC report. Read more »