ohmidog!

The movie based on the story of a dog whose mistreatment led to changes in North Carolina’s animal cruelty laws had its world premiere in Winston-Salem over the weekend.

“Susie’s Hope” kicked off the RiverRun International Film Festival Saturday, and if you missed that showing there are two more — Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Hanesbrands Theatre, and Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Main Theatre at UNC School of the Arts.

Susie, a pit bull mix, became a poster puppy for fighting animal abuse when she was found burned, beaten and close to death in Greensboro’s Greenfield Park in 2009.

The woman who adopted her, Donna Lawrence, was once a pit bull victim.

Lawrence began feeding a dog near her home in High Point whose owners had moved away. After several days, the dog attacked her, latching on to her left leg and going for her throat before she was able to push it away and seek help. The wound left her bone exposed, and she’d receive 45 stitches.

She didn’t blame the animal: “I blame the owners who turned their dog into what it was,” she writes on the movie’s website. “Their neglect and abuse made their dog fearful and territorial.”

The attack left Lawrence, a long-time dog lover, with a fear of dogs and nightmares, even after her physical recovery.

“Then one day I met Susie, and she changed my life forever,” Lawrence writes. “So now you can see Susie and I shared something in common: she was a pit bull mix that had been had been tortured by a human and I was viciously attacked by a pit bull just a few months before we met. Our similar experiences allowed us to go from being victims to living victorious lives. I forgave the dog for my wrongful attack, and Susie forgave the human for hers.”

Susie’s previous owner had beaten the dog, and set her on fire, because she licked his baby’s face.

She was found with second- and third-degree burns on 60 percent of her body, a broken jaw, her teeth knocked out and her ears all but burned away. Her wounds were infested with maggots and she’d been surviving by eating sticks and drinking from mud puddles.

Lawrence and Susie would go on to foster awareness of animal abuse and push for increased penalties for the crime.  Susie would become a therapy dog and a Canine Good Citizen.

In 2010, the state legislature passed Susie’s Law, which increased the penalty for anyone who “maliciously” kills an animal by “intentional deprivation of necessary sustenance, and raised the offense from a misdemeanor to a felony. Susie’s abuser received a sentence of 4-6 months in jail for burning personal property and a 4-5 month suspended sentence for animal cruelty.

Susie — though a puppy portrays her in her younger years — plays herself in the movie.

Filmed locally, the movie has some actors you might recognize – Emmanuelle Vaugier, best known as Charlie’s ex-fiance Mia on the CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men,” plays Lawrence; Burgess Jenkins (“Remember the Titans”) plays Roy Lawrence; and, in our favorite bit of casting,  Jon Provost (Timmy from the TV show “Lassie”) plays state Sen. Don Vaughan, who sponsored the bill that became Susie’s Law.

(Photo: Courtesy of Susieshope.com)

The Game Show Network (GSN) is bringing back an audience favorite — an all new one hour “Dog Park Superstars,” premiering Sunday (Sept. 25) at 8 p.m.

The show tests the skills of both dog and owner — and, even more, their ability to work as a team.

Over the course of three rounds, the competition tests what an owner’s dog can do, what the owner can prevent their dog from doing, and how well the owner knows their dog.

Each challenge is timed and each score determines who — among the five teams competing — stays in the game and who is sent to the doghouse.

The three remaining teams compete in the final challenge, with the winning pair being awarded a giant gold hydrant-shaped trophy.

The action is moderated by comedian Ben Gleib and ”canine life coach” Laura Nativo.

Gleib is a stand-up comedian and actor, and is a regular guest on the E! network’s “Chelsea Lately.”  Nativo is an actress, producer and dog-trainer who has been dubbed “The Fairy Dogmother.”  She starred in the CBS show, “Greatest American Dog,” hosts a live interactive show for dog lovers, “Preston’s Planet,” on TheStream.tv, and is founder of The Pawtastics, a nonprofit therapy dog team who blend education and entertainment, performing at children’s camps, hospitals and nursing homes.

You can see a preview of “Dog Park Superstars” here.

The modern-day, Richard Gere-infused retelling of the story of a loyal Japanese dog named Hachiko won’t be showing in theaters in the U.S.

Instead the movie, “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale,” will make its American debut on Sunday on the Hallmark Channel, the New York Times reports.

The movie, which has already sold more than $45 million in tickets during its release in Asian, European and South American markets, is a contemporary retelling of the story of Hachiko, an Akita who, when his human companion, a college professor, died suddenly at work, continued for two years to return to the train station to wait for him.

Gere plays the professor and is also the movie’s producer. It was directed by Lasse Hallstrom, who also directed the Swedish coming-of-age film “My Life as a Dog.”

“Hachi” was shot primarily in Rhode Island, using three Akitas to play the different stages of the dog’s life.

“Hachi,” the Times reports, was not eagerly received by Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio which controlled its distribution. Sony opted not to release it in American theaters.

“You think of all the people who really love their animals, love their dogs, love their cats, would embrace this specific movie,” Gere said. “But Sony just had no imagination for it. It was really bizarre.”

Hallstrom said the studio’s strategy was “a mistake of being overly worried about the size of the movie as opposed to the emotional impact of it.”

The Hallmark Channel, which broadcasts about 22 original movies a year, stepped in and bought it, and will premiere the film Sunday night.

Big guys with large tattoos rescue dogs in “Rescue Ink Unleashed,” a new weekly series on the National Geographic Channel.

It premieres Sept. 25 at 10 p.m.

Rescue Ink was formed a few years ago when eight tough guys with soft spots for animals began their mission to save animals from abuse.

The New York Times had an excellent article on the group last year,  which led to National Geographic’s interest. Its members include bouncers, security guards, a retired New York City detective, and some who have run afoul of the law.

Each one-hour episode of “Rescue Ink Unleashed” takes viewers on “ride-alongs” as members follow up on leads in the New York metro area. Taking an average of 100 calls a week at their headquarters on Long Island, they jump into their cars — or on their “hogs” — and confront alleged animal abusers, rescue fighting dogs, investigate stolen animals and  encourage owners to give up their pets if it is in the best interest of the animals.

TV’s “Dog Whisperer” has sniffed out some new turf: He’s launching a magazine that will hit newstands next week.

The magazine — dubbed Cesar’s Way – will be a joint venture between Cesar Millan and the New York sports management and entertainment firm IMG, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Journal reports that the premier issue is heavy on celebrities, with Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston and their pets filling many of its pages. Articles seem to have a celebrity bent as well, including “Can Your Dog Fix Your Marriage? Just Ask Jada Pinkett Smith” and “7-Day Doggie Detox.”

IMG says it plans to publish two issues this year and six in 2010.

Millan, following in the footsteps of Opray Winfrey and Rachel Ray, will see if his fame parlays into newsstand sales. He’s listed as editorial director of the magazine.

The new magazine joins about 60 other dog-related titles in the U.S., including Dog Fancy, Doggie Aficionado and Urban Dog, according to the National Directory of Magazines.

The Journal says Cesar’s Way faces the worst ad climate in decades — one that has forced the closure of such magazines as CosmoGirl, House & Garden and Domino. In the first half of 2009, magazine ad revenue plunged 21% from a year earlier, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Nevertheless, IMG and Millan think they can profit from the 75 million dog owners in the U.S. and the “recession-resistance” of the pet industry. “People have continued to spend on their pets,” Millan said. “You always want to make sure your family is taken care of, and Americans believe the dog is part of the family.”

IMG isn’t the only company to see dollar signs in the pet market. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia added a pet destination to its Web site this year. People Magazine introduced PeoplePets, and Honda is touting its pet-friendly Element with features such as a cushioned pet bed in the cargo area and a pet-restraint system.

Perhaps its says something about my maturity level, but, when it comes to the three new dog movies on the horizon, I’m most excited about “Hotel for Dogs” — a family-friendly flick about two orphans who set up a refuge for dogs in an abandoned hotel.

The DreamWorks/Nickelodeon release opens Jan. 16.

Adapted from author Lois Duncan’s 1971 children’s book of the same name, the movie stars Don Cheadle, Emma Roberts and Lisa Kudrow.

There’s just something about those movies where kids conspire to beat the odds, overcome the bully, and/or outwit the grownups that gets me every time. Throw in a rag-tag collection of dogs and you’ve got a movie I may even leave the house for.

While celebrities walked the red carpet at Thursday night’s premiere of “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” about 20 protesters stood by with signs urging people not to rashly buy chihuahuas after they see the movie.

“We know the movie is cute,” says Kim Sill, who runs the campaign against puppy mills for Last Chance for Animals, the group that organized the protest. “We don’t want to say we’re against the movie. We’re against people going to a pet store after they see the movie.  We want them to go to a shelter, because there are a lot of Chihuahuas there”

Animal welfare advocates have been concerned about the impact the Disney movie — which opens Oct. 3 — will have on sales of Chihuahuas, the Los Angeles Times reports in its pet blog, Unleashed.

Popular dog movies often cause a run on the breed featured. “101 Dalmatians” led to a surge in Dalmatian ownership. But when people realize the dog may not be right for their family — Damaltians are difficult and Chihuahuas are not always great with children –”they get dumped,” says Sills.

When a movie is about to open, puppy mills, she contends, gear up to produce more of that breed to supply pet stores.

There are already more Chihuahuas among registered dogs in Los Angeles County than any other breed, and shelters say they already have high concentrations of the breed.

Some of the Chihuhuas at the Carson shelter, run by the Los Angeles County shelter system, are featured in the video that Last Chance for Animals made to drive home its point about not buying Chihuahuas.

Sill said her group wanted Disney to air a pre-movie public service announcement in theaters, telling patrons to think hard before choosing a pet. “We would have happily produced it for them and given it to them,” said Sill.

The movie’s credits include an advisory that getting a pet is a serious and lifelong commitment that should be researched first.

Ed Boks, general manager of LA Animal Services, saw the movie Thursday night.  “I was a bit disappointed,” he said. “The movie has a strong ‘adopt’ and ‘rescue’ message, but no ‘spay/neuter’ message. In fact, one female dog opined that she longed for a boyfriend who has NOT been ‘fixed.’

“…Disney just does not seem to share our concern over the influence this movie could have on people who will now think of Chihuahuas as cash cows.”