ohmidog!

Ace, a friend and I were sitting outside at a bar downtown over the weekend when Elwood came by.

I being of the belief that one should never pass up an opportunity to meet a dog, especially a puppy, and Ace being of the belief one should never pass up an opportunity to meet anyone or anything, we stopped the young couple and asked to meet their dog.

Elwood quickly got over any camera-shyness, or Ace-shyness, he might have had.

Elwood is 9 weeks old, and a mix of dachshund and pit bull.

We all know that when a dog pees on something, it’s generally not an opinion that he’s expressing.

Still, there are those who see poetic justice in Richard Jackson’s oversized sculpture, “Bad Dog,” a 24-foot black Lab who’s urinating on the side of the Orange County Museum of Art, a building many see — despite all the fine artwork inside — as artistically lacking on the outside.

The work by Jackson adorns one facade of the museum in Newport Beach, where an exhibition of his work –  ”Richard Jackson: Ain’t Painting a Pain” — is underway.

The oversized pup, visible from blocks away, is made of fiberglass panels. Inside, Jackson installed a vat of yellow paint that continuously shoots, via hidden hoses, a stream onto the side of the building.

The peeing dog, and Jackson’s indoors exhibit, will remain on display through May 5, 2013

According to the nearby plaque, the “guileless dog unwittingly points to the sometimes rigid institutional constraints that can frustrate artists and audiences alike.”

My Modern Met describes the project as “one of Jackson’s many ‘painting machines’ that excretes pigments in an unusually creative fashion.”

Got to admire this little fellow’s persistence.

The video was posted on YouTube by Peaceloveandpitbulls.org, which saves dogs from kill shelters in Las Vegas.

Not only is this pup getting a workout in his sleep, as dogs often seem to do, but, in the process, he’s giving his sleeping littermate a nice chin rub.

To see more sleeping dogs, click here, then click on a headline for a video.

Maybe, in your New Year’s Eve celebrating, you found a cocktail last night that you really flipped for — but hopefully not to the extent of this puppy.

He’s so into what’s in his bowl, he ends up toppling into it.

It’s a good thing us humans know the meaning of moderation.

Right?

Here’s hoping any acrobatics you performed last night were intentional, that you didn’t do anything quite this embarassing and that, if you did, it wasn’t caught on video.

And here’s wishing you a Happy New Year.

The Humane Society of the United States reports more than 2,000 pet stores have signed its Puppy Friendly Pet Stores pledge.

In all, 2,003 stores in all 50 states have agreed to  take a stand against puppy mills by refusing to sell puppies.

“These stores have made the responsible decision to pledge not to sell puppies now or in the future, and some of them have even transitioned from selling commercially-raised puppies to an adoptions-only model,” said Melanie Kahn, senior director of The HSUS’ puppy mills campaign.

Of the 9,000 independent pet stores across the country, the majority get their dogs from puppy mills, according to the HSUS.

Lasts week, The HSUS released its third annual investigation of pet stores, linking dozens of pet stores in the Chicago area to more than 2,000 puppies shipped from puppy mills.

“Again and again, such stores have been found to be misleading consumers with stories about getting puppies from responsible breeders, when in fact puppy mills are a key part of their supply chain,” the HSUS said in a press release.

But increasingly, it added, owners of pet stores are realizing they don’t need to sell puppies to run a successful pet-related business. In October, the HSUS worked with two pet stores in Wyoming to help convert them completely from puppy sales to supporting local shelter adoptions.

The HSUS encourages shoppers to purchase pet supplies at stores displaying the Puppy Friendly Pet Stores sign, which states, “We Love Puppies, That’s Why We Don’t Sell Them.”

A list of all the participating stores is available at humanesociety.org/puppystores.

The HSUS estimates that 2 million to 4 million puppy mill puppies are sold each year in the United States; meanwhile 3 to 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters each year for lack of homes.

This two-week old Lab manages to get some rest, despite all the background whining.

The YouTube video has gotten more than a million views, thousands of likes, and 56 dislikes, most of the latter coming from people concerned about the dog wailing in the background.

To see more sleeping dogs, click here, then click on a headline for a video.

This English bulldog may look like grandpa, collapsed in the La-Z-Boy after too much Thanksgiving dinner, but he’s just a pup.

And we can only guess what he’s doing in his puppy dream.

The video comes from Suburban Bullies in Portales, New Mexico, which describes itself as “a responsible and ethical breeder of English Bulldogs.”

To see more sleeping dogs, click here, then click on a headline for a video.

Police say a Pennsylvania couple sold a neighbor’s lost puppy for $50 on Craigslist, rather than returning it to its owner.

Scott Duff, 41, and Roxanne Duff, 38, of Leechburg, Pa., each face three charges — not making a reasonable effort to return lost property, conspiracy and filing false reports, according to the Valley News Dispatch.

Two dogs, a golden retriever and a Rottweiler puppy, apparently wandered away from their home earlier this month and end up at the Duff’s place, down the street.

According to court papers, the golden retriever was  returned to the owner. But the Duffs told the owner that the puppy had run away.

The next day, the owner called police to say he believed the puppy was still at the Duff’s house.

When asked if they still had the puppy, the couple told police they did not, but officers were later told that the puppy was seen in the  yard.

Police said they again confronted the couple, who allegedly  admitted to selling the dog through Craigslist for $50. Roxanne Duff told police she sold the dog to a Pittsburgh woman. The pup was later returned to the owner.

Pet stores that sell live animals purchased from breeders may be looking for a new lease on life — but they won’t be getting one from Macerich, which operates 71 shopping centers in the western U.S.

Under a policy adopted last year, Santa Monica-based Macerich will not renew the leases for any pet stores that sell live animals.

Instead, only adoption centers with rescued animals will be allowed in Macerich-owned malls.

In Arizona, that impact of that change is becoming visible, according to the Arizona Republic, and it’s serving to help out a lot of animal shelters and homeless pets. At many a mall pet  store, animals in need of adoption have replaced those pumped out by breeders.

The change in the company’s policy reflects shifts in public opinion regarding pet buying, and a growing recognition that many of the dogs sold in stores come from puppy mills. A 2011 survey by New Jersey-based Hartz Mountain Corp., a pet-product company, found that, of more than 1,000 pet owners only 4 percent would buy their next pet from a pet store.

“Our focus is now directed to working with local pet-rescue organizations in our communities and pet-accessory retailers to serve the needs of our shoppers,” said Melissa Rupp, assistant marketing manager at Macerich-owned SanTan Village in Gilbert.

The trend toward adoption centers, which had begun in some Arizona retail locations even before Macerich changed its policy, has accelerated, the Republic reports.

Many large retailers already operate adoption programs in with animal-welfare organizations, including and Petco and PetSmart, which reports the adoptions of more than 5 million cats and dogs since 1994.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, 1,700 pet stores across the country have signed its “Pet Friendly Pledge” not to sell puppies in their stores. Fifty-three of those locations are in Arizona.

The Humane Society Petique at the Biltmore Fashion Park opened in November 2009, two years before Macerich’s policy change, and it marked the first time a retail developer partnered with a Valley rescue group. More than 2,000 animals have been adopted out of the rescue storefront.

The venture has helped the local Humane Society, which charges adoption fees of $10 to $160. The money goes to programs for homeless animals such as Second Chance Animal Hospital and daily sheltering needs, Nelson said. The society also runs Petopia at Desert Sky Mall.

Maricopa County Animal Care and Control partners with PetSmart to host adoption events, and it runs the storefront Under One Woof! at Metrocenter Mall, a shopping mall not owned by Macerich.

(Photo: Michael Schennum / The Arizona Republic)