ohmidog!

The dog warden’s office in Allen County, Ohio, is living up to its antiquated name and conducting a sweep to ensure all dogs are licensed.

Almost 100 pets have been seized since the sweep began a few days ago, Examiner.com reports. Impounded dogs that go unclaimed after three days can be euthanized under Ohio law.

The dog warden’s office let pet owners know about the impending action last Thursday — or at least those that are Facebook friends.

“Hi all of our Facebook friends. Just wanted to let you all know why we haven’t posted adoptable dogs….. we don’t have any right now! Rescue groups have been able to take our adoptable dogs and we are very grateful they have the room because we have started our tag compliance check,” the office posted.

The post continues: “Every year we print a list of people that haven’t renewed their dog license, then we try to call as many as we can to see if they still have their dog. If they do we encourage them to get it within a given time. If they choose not to, then they can receive a citation or have their dog impounded or both. While out doing our compliance checks we are checking surrounding houses as well…”

In answer to a question on its Facebook page, the office said,  “…so far most have claimed their dogs the same or next day, which is great. If unlicensed dogs are not claimed after the legal holding time of 3 days the healthy, friendly adoptable dogs are offered to rescues … Yes, we do euthanize.”

Under Ohio law, dog owners must buy a license annually.

Owners of unlicensed dogs are subject to fines, in addition to having to pay double the price for a new license. They are also held responsible, if their pet is picked up, for covering the cost of boarding it at the pound. Law requires unlicensed dogs to be held for 3 days, and licensed dogs for 14 days, before they are turned over to a rescue or euthanized.

According to the Examiner article, pit bulls seized during the sweep might never make it back home.

Even though Ohio legislators removed pit bulls from the vicious dog list last year, cities may still enforce breed specific restrictions. The city of Lima, which is the Allen County seat, is one of those that still has a pit bull restriction in place.

“Allen County dog owners be warned,” the Examiner article says. “If your dog happens to be a pit bull, or one of the other dogs that Lima ordinance lists as vicious, your dog will not make it out of the Allen County Dog Pound alive.”

(Photo: One of the dogs seized in Allen County, Ohio / Examiner.com)

When Rubert “Lee” and Elizabeth Littler adopted a 135-pound Saint Bernard from the Highland County Dog Pound in Ohio, they had no idea his first bark would be such a big one.

The Hillsboro family’s new dog — named Hercules, aptly enough — scared a burglar away the same day they took him home, the Wilmington News Journal in Ohio reported.

In his new home for only six hours, Hercules chased down a burglar that had cut telephone and cable lines and was attempting to enter a basement door on the back side of the home.

Up to that point, Lee said, Hercules had not made a sound.

“I was taking Hercules out the back door to go to the bathroom and just had ahold of him by the collar … when he started growling. The next thing I know he’s pulled out of my hand and is going through the screen door,” Lee said.

“Hercules jumped off the back porch, over the stairwell, and I see this guy running toward the fence …(Hercules) ran up and grabbed the guy by his ankle as he was going over the fence.”

Lee said the suspected burglar was able to get away, but probably only because Hercules is still recovering from what a vet says was likely a coyote attack.

Hercules was found last month, bleeding and dehydrated, by a doctor and an attorney who were hiking.

They took him to a veterinarian, who speculated he had been attacked by coyotes. One of the hikers took him home, and after a few days, Hercules felt good enough to jump the 6-foot-high fence.

He was found wandering the streets and taken to the shelter.

Lee said he adopted the dog mainly to save him from being euthanized, and had planned to find him a new home. “But now we don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said. “I think he’s more or less earned his right to stay.”

The Littlers reported the attempted burglary and police responded and searched, but the suspect wasn’t located. Police patrols have been stepped up in the area.

Then again, after his confrontation with Hercules, maybe the burglar has moved on to a new town.

Warrick County, Indiana, appears to be living in the dark ages — at least when it comes to its animal shelter.

Operated by the animal control department, the county shelter makes little or no effort to adopt out animals, according to critics.

And last month, the dogs it had euthanized and dumped at a landfill near Boonville included one that was still alive.

So they took it back to the shelter — and killed it.

“Shelter” probably isn’t even the right word. It’s more like death row. The shelter’s kill rate is 90 percent, and unless an owner comes to reclaim a pet, or the local humane society pulls one out, most dogs end up being euthanized.

Or, as one TV report innocuously put it in the case of the landfill dog, he was taken back to the shelter and “given more medicine.”

The County Health Department told 14 News  it’s common procedure for euthanized dogs to be dumped into landfills, but that discarding a live dog was an unfortunate mistake.

According to Change.org, two people saw animal control officers dumping plastic bags at the landfill. Then they saw one bag start to move, and heard a panting sound come from inside it.

When they brought it to the attention of the animal control employees, one of the officers said, “Guess we’re taking this one back.” Without opening the bag, they tossed it in the back of the truck.

The county says the department’s two animal control officers apparently failed to confirm the dog was dead before taking it to  the dump. Both employees have been reprimanded.

Officials say it was an isolated event, but criticism of the county-run shelter is mounting.

Residents voiced numerous concerns to the Warrick County Commission on Monday night, according to another 14 News report.

Said one resident, ”Any time you try to go out there, nobody is there when you call. You leave message after message so you can set up an appointment and it makes it very difficult to adopt animals from there.”

County Commission Board President Don Williams defended the animal control officers saying they had a heavy workload, and blamed residents of Warrick County for neglecting their animals.

A petition demanding changes at the shelter — critics say it makes no effort to place adoptable animals on pet adoption websites, rarely answers its phone, and makes it difficult for visitors to view animals in its care — can be found at Change.org.

Tell your heartstrings to prepare to be tugged.

Paul Wu was pulling his car out of the driveway in Kirkland, Washington, when he saw a small dog.

“He would not go away,” Wu said.

Wu stopped his car and the dog approached. Around the dog’s neck, attached to his collar, was a bone-shaped poop bag dispenser, inside of which was some money and a note.

Here’s what the note said:

“Please take care of Mr. B. He is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. Six years old. My parents got divorced and Mr. B was supposed to go to the pound. I think he has a better chance with you. This is my birthday money for any of his care. He is used to kids, not other dogs. He’s a good boy. I know God will take care of Mr. B – Everyone loves him…especially me. Thank you.”

Wu took the dog into work, where his colleague, Robert Kuchcinski, offered to help, according to KING 5 News in Seattle. Kuchcinski took the dog to a veterinarian, where Mr. B was found to be healthy except for some dry skin, and plugged ears.

Mr B. didn’t have a microchip, and lacked any identification that included his owner’s name or address.

Kuchcinski took the dog home to stay, introducing him to his wife and three children.

“I’d hate to be a kid making that choice,” he said. “It didn’t seem right that it would go to the pound.”

“All I want to do is let this person know, that we found him a good home. That’s the whole message,” said Wu.

Here’s KING 5′s report:

(Photos: KING 5 in Seattle)

Hope, a mixed-breed dog that seemed to be on the road to recovery after being nearly decapitated in Georgia earlier this month when her owner left her tied to a tree, has died.

She was euthanized Tuesday after encountering breathing complications.

“The good thing is she got to know that people could be nice to her, because she got a lot of love when she was in the hospital,” Pat Corley, president of Forsyth’s Save-A-Pet organization, said Wednesday.

Hope had been at Caldwell Animal Hospital since July 7, when one of the rescue organization’s members spotted her at the pound in Monroe County, a huge gash running the length of her throat.

Although Save-A-Pet planned to cover all of Hope’s medical expenses, donations were coming in from as far away as Australia, and one Forsyth attorney wrote a check for about $1,500 to cover Hope’s expenses, the Macon Telegraph reported.

Shane Smith, the Save-A-Pet volunteer who took Hope to the hospital, was checking on her everyday, and he and his wife planned to adopt her once she recovered.

“She was sweet. She did fight. We just wanted her to have a chance,” Janet Smith said. “She just made such a great effect on so many people in such a short period of time.”

(Caution: Unsettling images appear with the continuation of this story.)

Read more »

Here’s a story out of California that has Orange County written all over it.

Seems Don Ninow, 76, was returning home after picking up his dogs — Sassy Lassy and Mister Magoo — from the groomer, a place called Critter Clipper.

He placed his dogs, a Yorkshire terrier and a Maltese, in the car, a Jaguar of course.

On the way home, he rear-ended a car at a red light and the driver called police. Ninow was arrested by police in Huntington Beach on a charge of  driving under the influence of drugs — though he maintains he had only taken his diabetes, blood pressure and heart medications, according to the Orange County Register.

Ninow, released after the arrest, went to Orange County Animal Care to pick up his dogs, but only one was there — Mister Magoo. Ninow was able to get him back for a $136 fee, but Sassy Lassy was missing in action, and none of the various authorities knew anything about her.

Turns out the police officer  — perhaps a bit Magooish himself — never saw the second dog. Mister Magoo had been sitting in the car, but Sassy Lassy was in a carrier. Apparently the tow truck driver didn’t notice Sassy Lassy either, when he towed the Jaguar to an impound lot.

The dog was left in the car from about 4 p.m. July 3 to about 6 p.m. July 4.

Now Ninow has filed a claim seeking $9,999 for the impounding of his 12-year-old dog.

Police confirmed that one of the dogs was unintentionally left in the car. They are still investigating the claim, filed by Ninow Dec. 18, as well as the case against Ninow.

(Photo: Orange County Register)

Meet Tom Skeldon, the dog warden — yes, they still use that prison-esque title there — for Lucas County, Ohio.

If he seems a tad perturbed in this video, part of a Toledo Blade report, it’s because a lot of folks — many of them part of the “criminal element,” he says — are calling for him to resign.

Animal-rights groups say Skeldon refuses to work with them and is focused on killing dogs — 2,483 last year and 1,848 so far this year, based on a Blade review of records in the dog warden’s office.

About three of every four dogs that enter the pound don’t make it out, and are instead injected with fatal doses of chemicals each week, frozen in room-sized freezers at the pound, and buried in area landfills. Lucas County’s dog adoption rate was a dismal 13 percent, much lower than in neighboring counties.

The continued killing is at the center of recent calls for the warden to step down. Among those requesting he depart is the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, whose members, armed with candles, staged a vigil outside the pound last month.

Skeldon, however, says the facility’s adoption and kill rates are “statistically glowing,” and that those calling for his resignation are misguided. He told the newspaper that his staff euthanizes only the lamest, oldest, meanest, and most incorrigible of the dogs in their care. Except for unlicensed “pit bulls.” They kill all of those. The dog warden’s office has killed at least 932 “pit bulls” or “pit bull” mixes this year, including 46 “pit bull” pups.

One Lucas County Commissioner, Ben Konop, has also suggested Skeldon resign.

Skeldon, who has been warden since 1987, said that he will not step down from his job and vowed to stay until his retirement, “sometime in 2011.”

A teenager in Michigan got her dog, Blackie, back — thanks to an anonymous donor who footed her bill at the pound after reading of her plight.

Tia Schidler, 14, was swarmed with emails after TV station WNDU first aired the story of how she was unable to come up with the $200 she needed get her dog from the St. Joseph County Humane Society.

Humane Society officials weren’t all that thrilled with the happy ending, because it was the third time the dog had been picked up for running loose.

“I think everyone needs to understand this is rewarding bad behavior,” said Carol Ecker, humane society director. “If the dog continues to get loose it’s going to die.”

On Friday morning, Tia’s $200 bill – a  $100 pick-up fee, a $75 fine as a third offender, a $20 vaccination fee, and a $10 charge for food and care –  was paid in full by one of many people who offered to help the Michiana teen.

Tia’s mom was unable to help her with the bill because she’s disabled, the TV station reported in its first story.

Tia promised her rescuer that she wouldn’t let the dog run loose again, and said she was ecstatic to get her dog back. “Wow. That is like so amazing,” she said. “I didn’t think anyone would actually do that because of the way the economy is now.”

Michele Willliams is said to give a stunning performance in this movie of a girl and her dog — one that’s otherwise getting mixed reviews.

Depressing and, to those seeking escape, maybe a little too accurate a reflection of our times, “Wendy and Lucy” is about a woman whose life is derailed en route to a summer job. Her car breaks down, her dog is taken to the pound, and her financial situation turns dire.

Made for less than $500,000, and filmed in 18 days in August 2007 in and around Portland, Oregon, “Wendy and Lucy” premiered in May at the Cannes film festival where Lucy, director Kelly Reichardt’s own pet, won the unofficial “Palm Dog prize” for her role.

Reichardt wrote the screenplay with Jon Raymond, who she also worked with on her 2006 film “Old Joy.”

Reichardt, in a Reuters interview, said she wanted to make a film about people who fall through the cracks, and delve into a couple of myths.

For one, the idea you can ”go West and improve your situation.”

For another, the idea that, whatever your situation, you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps — “that if you have spunk and ideas and initiative, that’s all you need to improve your lot in life, and if you aren’t able to pull yourself out of poverty it’s clearly because you are lazy.”

The stabbings last week that killed a former Japanese health minister and his wife were the result of an unemployed man’s lingering anger not over his pension, but over the death of his dog in a local pound decades ago.

A man with a knife last Monday and Tuesday attacked the homes of two retired vice ministers who had led the pension department in the Health and Welfare Ministry in the 1980s, when millions of records were lost during a botched computerization effort.

Originally, police suspected that the attacks were connected to public anger over the loss of the pension records.

But Takeshi Koizumi, 46 and unemployed, who turned himself, and his knife, in to police over the weekend, has told police he was “hacked off” not about pension issues but about the death of his dog in a local pound, according to the Washington Post. Read more »