ohmidog!

We love it when a distressing dog story turns into an uplifting one — as is often the case, it seems: Some lowly human mistreats a dog; some angel-like human comes to that dog’s rescue.

We hate it when a feel-good dog story turns bad.

That appears to be the case with the tale of the photographer in California who helped a man get his dog out of a city shelter.

The woman who took the touching photos of Dave Thomas after he learned he didn’t have enough money to retrieve his dog, who posted them on Facebook, and who raised enough money to help him, now says she’s had a falling out with him.

That’s according to KABC in Los Angeles, which helped the photographer find Thomas after the photo went viral and funds started coming in.

Maria Sanchez says she used about half of the donated funds to pay for the dog’s shots, neutering and kennel fees so Buzz Lightyear, a 2-year-old pit bull mix, could go home with Thomas.

Thomas wanted the rest of the money, as well.

Sanchez says she originally planned to let Thomas have the money — but not in cash. Instead she was going to apply it to his unpaid traffic. Thomas asked for all the cash, though. And Sanchez decided to refund what remained to the donors, or use it to help other animals.

That led to an angry voice mail from Thomas, which Sanchez posted on line (click on the video above).

Thomas was arrested last Friday, and animal control picked Buzz up and placed him in the San Bernardino City Animal Shelter.

When Thomas, upon his release, went to the shelter, he was told he needed to pay $400 in shelter fees to get Buzz back. Sanchez, who regularly visits the shelter to take pictures of adoptable dogs and post them on the Internet — in hopes they will get adopted before their time is up — came across Thomas, who had only $6,  as he visited his dog.

When she posted the photos of a sobbing Thomas and his dog on her Facebook page, donations started coming in to help him get his dog back — more money than was needed.

In the view of Thomas, apparently, he deserved that money, too.

That adds a sour note to an otherwise sweet tale. But even though the previously sympathetic character at its center turned out to be something less than gracious, maybe even greedy, it still has a shining one, Maria Sanchez.

Not to mention Buzz Lightyear, who we’d guess is enjoying his newfound freedom, and doesn’t care a whit where the extra money goes.

Reverend Richard Herrin — after a four-year stretch without one — now has a service dog to help him serve God.

Herrin, a Baptist minister who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, lost his most recent service dog in 2008.

After moving from Texas to North Carolina earlier this year, to be closer to family, he began looking for funding to help cover the $25,000 expense of getting a trained service dog and bringing it home.

His new community kicked in $6,000 of that — through a campaign drive headed by a Moravian church in Winston-Salem.

Herrin went to North Dakota in July to pick the dog up from the Great Plains Assistance Dogs Foundation Inc., the Winston-Salem Journal reports.

Now, Dakota, a 3-year-old black Lab, is at his side, helping him with everyday tasks and in his ministry.

Due to the costs, Herrin had gone four years without a service dog since his last one, a golden retriever, died when he was living in Texas.

Not long after moving to North Carolina, Herrin visited  Trinity Moravian Church, several blocks from his house. The secretary there referred him to the Rev. Russell May, interim minister at Bethania Moravian. May coordinated the fundraising effort, and Trinity Moravian accepted the checks and sent them on to North Dakota.

The dog’s main job is to pick things up and give them to Herrin. She’s learning to help Herrin take off his shirt, and has mastered bringing items to him from the refrigerator. She has also chewed up the television remote, but that’s part of the learning curve, say Herrin and his wife, both of whom are professional dog trainers.

“The dog has to know who you are,” Herrin said. “Can they look into you? Can they trust you are going to be honest? Are you going to be who you are? Without building a relationship, you might as well hang it up.”

On top of the chores a service dog helps with, he says, ” the value is the relationship with it.”

Dakota has made several visits to Herrin’s church, Southside Baptist, but Moravian congregations and others are pulling for him as well.

“The support of the Winston-Salem community has enabled him to get a tool that will challenge him, and that empowers him,” May said. “This is not simple charity. They have given him a responsibility, too… He wants to do ministry. This dog will help him in that.”

(Photo: Andrew Dye / Winston-Salem Journal)

Neighbors in South Philadelphia found a bruised, battered and hungry dog, took him in, and have raised enough money for him to have surgery tomorrow.

Apparently, the 6-month-old shepherd mix, who they’ve named Sailor — given he was a bit of a shipwreck when they found him at 15th and Federal Streets in South Philadelphia — had been abandoned, and hit by a car. Three of his legs were injured and he was barely able to walk, CBS in Philadelphia reported.

When his rescuers brought him home, Sailor was so emaciated some weren’t sure he would make it, but he has gained 10 pounds since then, and he’s scheduled for surgery this week, at a cost of about $5,000.

“A lot of vets told me to put him down right away,” said Clair Sauer. “The surgeons were ready to operate on him yesterday, but I had to tell them ‘I don’t have the money.’” Sailor’s foster family set up a Sailor website to help raise the money. In little more than 24 hours, they reached their goal.

According to the website, the surgery will be performed at CARES in Langhorne, Pa., by Dr. Brentz. Sailor will have his rear femur cut and “put back into place with lots of metal…”

“Recovery will be long and will take patience, but we will be there for him! He will need lots more x-rays to monitor how his bones are healing. And, when he is ready, physical therapy. These will incur more costs, but we will stay optimistic!”

Once Sailor recovers from his surgery, he will be put up for adoption.

Likely the oldest dog to ever appear at Crufts — and probably one of few mutts ever allowed entry – the skeleton of a sea dog named Hatch is on display at the prestigous UK dog show before heading to her forever home.

Hatch — a mongrel, believed to have been about two years old — died in 1545 when her ship, the Mary Rose, sank in the Solent Channel.

After Crufts, she’ll return to the south coast for display at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth.

The dog was likely assigned to catch rats aboard the ship, a common practice at the time because cats were believed to bring bad luck.

According to experts, the formation of her skeleton suggests that she spent almost all of her life confined to the ship’s smallest and darkest areas.

The Mary Rose, the flagship of Henry VIII, sank in 1545 at the Battle of the Solent. Artifacts including clothing, jewelry, furniture, musical instruments, medical equipment and weapons were discovered when the vessel was raised in 1982.

The bones of Hatch were found on board the ship, near a hatch door that led to the carpenter’s cabin, the BBC reported. Staff at the Mary Rose Trust reconstructed her bones, and came up with her name.

John Lippiett, chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust, said: “Expert analysis of Hatch’s bones suggests that she spent most of her short life within the close confines of the ship … It is likely that the longest walks she took were along the quayside at Portsmouth, her home town.”

The animal’s skeleton  and will go on display March 26 at the Mary Rose Museum at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. A new museum to house the Mary Rose Collection is scheduled to open in 2012, and will display the preserved hull of the ship.

Remember those fiberglass dogs displayed around Lafayette, Indiana as part of an outdoor art exhibit — the ones that, between vandals and thieves, weren’t always treated too kindly?

They’ve gone on to raise $24,000 for the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine and the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, co-sponsors of the “Dog Days of Summer” exhibit.

More than 150 people bid on 25 of the the life-sized artworks over the weekend, Channel 6 in Indianapolis reported.

Forty-one painted and decorated dog statues were placed in outdoor sites around Lafayette and West Lafayette in the exhibit, though many were later moved indoors after theft and vandalism.

Only one dog, Alfie the Alpha Dog, was too damaged to be preserved.

Organizers and art lovers, though dismayed that the statues weren’t safe in the community, said they are pleased with the auction results.

A woman in Poland is suspected of fattening up her dogs, then slaughtering them and selling their lard as a health supplement, according to an AFP report.

Polish police were questioning a woman at a farm near Czestochowa, in southern Poland, whose 28 dogs include St. Bernards and several puppies, found living in cages on the farm.

Police also founds bottle of lard, which they are testing to see if it came from dogs.

An animal welfare group tipped off the police after buying some lard at the farm.

Some of the dogs “were overfed to the point of no longer being able to walk,” according to a spokesperson for the organization For Animals.

The For Animals group’s undercover inspector, Renata Mizera, said the farmer had stressed the health benefits of the lard and told her that she herself added a spoonful to her daughter’s evening meal.

The police are checking whether the lard – which was found in bottles in a refrigerator at the woman’s farm – comes from dogs.

The 37-year-old farmer could face up to two years in jail for animal cruelty and distributing an unsafe substance, Poland’s TVN24 reported.

The dogs were seized and are being cared for by a vet while For Animals seeks to find new homes for them.

Lisha, a nine-year-old Labrador, is helping raise three month-old tiger cubs whose mother rejected them — and that’s just the latest in the long line of species she has suckled.

A resident of the Cango Wildlife Reserve in the Oudsthoorn area of South Africa, Lisha has served as a substitute mom for more than 30 orprhaned animals, including a porcupine and a hippo.

“We have had Lisha since she was a puppy,” said owner Nadine Hall. “‘It is all about her conditioning and fear. We noticed early on that she didn’t care if it was a cat or a porcupine. She would just walk up and lick the creature she was caring for. Although in the case of the porcupine that was more amusing.”

Mrs. Hall and her husband Rob, who is director of the Cango park, realized their dog had a unique gift and started bringing orphaned animals home for her to raise.

“If Lisha sees an animal being brought back in a box, she automatically assumes that it is to be cared for,” Mrs Hall said.

Lisha has never had her own litter.

You can see the family’s other photos in yesterday’s Daily Mail.