ohmidog!

Regina Ebey’s dog, Sloopy, a Jack Russell and black lab mix, was more than a pet. Twice, she says, he saved her life — waking her up when, due to a medical condition, she stopped breathing in her sleep.

Last weekend, a neighbor shot and killed him.

The neighbor was arrested by police in Jacksonville, Fla., and charged with cruelty to animals and discharging a firearm.

News 4 in Jacksonville,  which  featured Sloopy in a February 2011 report, said the Ebeys had just moved into a new home in Jacksonville the night before.

On Saturday night Regina’s husband, Ross, went outside to smoke, taking Sloopy with him. The dog was sniffing around the driveway when neighbor Kenneth Martin opened his front door and shot him.

When officers arrived, Martin told them, “I have made the biggest mistake of my life. I have no reason for what I have done.”

Martin was booked into the Duval County jail.

Alex Ebey said her mother-in-law moved into the neighborhood to be closer to her family because of her poor health.

“She was trying to make it easier on her heart, and now she’s lived here eight hours and has a broken heart,” he said.