ohmidog!

Shot in the face, tossed in a trash bag and tied to a fence post on the side of the road, a dog in Conroe, Texas was rescued, treated and — though he’s expected to have lasting damage — is mostly recovering.

Rescuers named him Buck — after the buckshot left in his face by a shotgun blast.

A driver spotted the bag on the side of the road Saturday on Bulldog Lane, and saw that it was moving.

Once it was was opened a bloody dog crawled out and collapsed on the ground.

When a call to animal control produced no immediate results, Tami Augustyn — known in the area for helping animals in need — was called.

Augustyn took the dog to Animal Emergency Clinic of Conroe, where it was determined he’d been shot in the face with buckshot, according to the Mongtomery County Police Reporter, which broke the story.

Dr. Ron Hendrick, a veterinarian at the clinic, said the mixed breed dog, about three years old, sustained damage to both eyes and also shows signs of  hearing loss and brain damage.

The article about Buck — and a Facebook page set up to help him — led to nearly $10,000 in donations towards Buck’s medical care.

This week, the New York Daily News picked up the story.

“Today he’s great,” Augustyn told the Daily News on Tuesday. “He’s very happy when he sees me, when he hears my voice.”

Mu Shu was just four pounds and four weeks old when she fell off a livestock truck in Kansas and was picked up off the highway and taken home by the owner of Hunter, a yellow Lab.

That was in April, and Hunter would go on to become best friends with the piglet who, before bouncing off the truck, was likely destined for a growing farm and a future as ham.

Stacie Tonn picked the unconscious pig up off U.S. Highway 50, and with help from her veterinarian husband, Shane, their four daughters and Hunter, nursed Mu Shu back to health.

Hunter licked and nudged the injured piglet, and helped her get around when she regained consciousness. Left blinded — only temporarily — by the accident, the piglet would sniff Hunter out and follow him around, curling up with him for naps, according to Kansas.com.

Seven months later, Mu Shu is now 300 pounds, and living at Walton Rural Life Center, a charter school, where she helps teach children about livestock and agriculture.

But she still gets together with Hunter, who visits her once or twice a month.

“She still knows the sound of my truck. When I pull up to her pen, she will pop out with excitement. She knows she’s going to get snacks,” Stacie Tonn said.

Walton Rural Life Center serves 167 students, from kindergarten to fourth grade, and students are responsible for feeding Mu Shu and the other animals and maintaining their pens.

“Pigs are our biggest project,” said kindergarten teacher Rhonda Roux. “If she stays healthy, we are thinking of breeding her and having a litter of piglets.”

As for Hunter, he doesn’t seem intimidated in the least by Mu Shu’s girth, or how she so quickly passed him in size since the days he was licking her motionless body.

“She had a lot of bruising and was pretty unresponsive … Neither one of us thought she would live past 48 hours,” Shane Tonn told Kansas.com in an earlier story

You can see a video of Hunter playing with Mu Shu, when she was still a piglet, here.

(Top photo, taken in April, by Mike Hutmacher / Kansas.com)

Talk about a dog with a one track mind.

Few details accompanied this video, posted on YouTube last week, of a dog who’d made himself comfortable in the middle of a Ukranian street and refused to get out of the way of traffic, including an oncoming streetcar.

A bystander tries to coax him out of the way. Then the tram driver, after giving him a pat on the head, gives him a slight nudge in the butt with his foot, at which point the dog begrudgingly takes a few steps.

Eventually, the dog gets out of the way, but just barely.

A wandering veteran who lost his dog while living out of his camper in Utah has been reunited with him, thanks to a chance encounter, a blog entry, and a woman who had a feeling someone was missing the dog her father brought home.

Rusty Reed woke up on a summer morning earlier this year and tied his dog, Timber, to a 50-foot leash so he could get a little more sleep. When he awoke, Timber was gone, having pulled free of his collar.

Reed searched for three days, until, with wildfires approaching, he was forced to leave the area. He went back to Arizona, grieved, felt guilty and gave up on hopes for finding his dog. Two weeks later, he threw away Timber’s toys and dog food.

But the story – told, quite beautifully, in yesterday’s Arizona Republic, in an article by Scott Craven — has a happy ending.

Here’s the beginning: Reed came into possession of Timber three years ago. He was visiting Washington and ran into a friend who owed him money. The friend asked if he’d rather have cash or a dog.

“The dog,” Reed recalls having said.  “A dog lasts longer than money.”

Calling Flagstaff, Arizona, home in the summer, and wintering in Lake Havasu City, Reed would walk Timber every day — either on a six-foot leash, which Reed called the “walkin’ leash,” or a 50 foot leash, which he called the “explorin’ leash.”

And when Reed hit the road in his camouflage-painted 1975 pick-up truck, which it sounds like he did often, Timber would come along.

Earlier this year, while camping, Reed met a woman named Sue Rogers, who was living the gypsy lifestyle as well in a camper with her two dogs, and blogging about her adventures at rvsueandcrew.com.

Four months after she posted about meeting him, Rogers heard from Reed again, who called to tell her about losing Timber.

“Rusty starts a tale I immediately sense is not going to have a happy ending,” she wrote on her blog after the talk.

Shortly after midnight on Aug. 26, Rogers posted a piece about Timber going missing, which led to numerous comments, and a few of her readers turning detective in hopes of helping locate the homeless veteran’s dog.

One of those posted a notice that, according to Fidofinder.com, a shepherd mix had been found July 10 near Loa, Utah. The listing included no photos, but Rogers contacted the poster and forwarded photos of Timber to her.

When Daisy Pettem, of Boulder, Colo., looked at the photos, she tried the name on the dog her family was calling Willy.

“Timber?”

His ears went up.

Her father had found the dog as he camped outside Loa in early July and, unable to locate an owner, brought him home.

Pettem said that, given how sociable the dog was, she knew he belonged to someone, and that someone was likely missing him. It was she who posted the ”found dog” notice on Fidofinder.com.

Pettem communicated with Rogers, and then Reed, who, when he called her, asked her to put the phone to the dog’s ear.

“To to Timber, how are you boy? Daddy’s Number One Timber,” Reed said. Timber barked.

After some repairs to his pick-up, Reed headed to Longmont, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. He heard Timber barking when he stopped his truck.

Timber jumped out of an RV and dragged the holder of his leash over to Reed.

“Daddy’s here, boy, daddy’s back,” Reed said.

(Photo: Stephen Root / 12 News)

A state representative in Tennessee has removed a video from her YouTube channel that showed her holding her dog outside the window of a moving car and laughing as it went “air swimming.”

State Rep. Julia Hurley took the video down two days after posting it, but insisted — sounding a little like Mitt Romney talking about Seamus — that Pepper, a Chinese crested, enjoys being held out into the wind, outside of a fast moving car.

Hurley, who’s seeking a second term, said she removed the video because she “didn’t want to deal with” criticism she calls politically motivated. “I think it’s a liberal ploy to take the attention off the bills and the legislation I’ve passed and the positive things I’ve done, to make me look like a bad person,” the Lenoir City Republican said.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Hurley’s short video titled “Pepper Air Swims” was pulled two days after being posted on YouTube.

The newspaper wrote about the video after being contacted by the Rev. Peggy Blanchard, who criticized the video in an email. “I find Ms. Hurley’s behavior to be extremely unkind and irresponsible. While Ms. Hurley and her friend are laughing and having fun, the dog is clearly terrified.”

“This sort of behavior exhibited by a person who has a position of leadership sets a very poor example of behavior for both adults and children,” Blanchard wrote.

Hurley countered, “My dog obviously enjoys it. She’s very happy.” Still, she said, the backlash could lead her to stop posting social media updates.

“People say they want a legislator they can relate to, they want an open-door policy and know everything that’s going on,” she said. “But you try to give them that, and they use it against you to try to make you look like a bad person.”

Pepper was the subject of previous media attention when the lawmaker was thrown out of the Roane County courthouse for bringing her dog along in March. She argued that the 11-pound dog is classified as a service animal, though she brought the pet along as a companion.

Upon her election to the House in 2010, Hurley drew national attention for crediting her success to the time she spent working at Hooters restaurants, in a two-page article for the chain’s magazine.

She was the subject of another embarassing video, as well, when a state trooper pulled her over in 2011 for speeding, and a dashboard camera recorded the hard time she gave the officer about the ticket she received. Here’s that video:

(Photo: Erik Schelzig / Associated Press)

Upset that her family’s parked car had been blocked by another vehicle, a Newark woman threatened and assaulted the car’s owner and threw her shih tzu into oncoming traffic, authorities say.

Honey Bey, 2 years old, died instantly.

Nearly ten months later, an Essex County grand jury indicted Haniyyah Barnes (above right) this week on charges of  animal cruelty, burglary, criminal mischief and theft, according to the Newark Star-Ledger

Prosecutors said a Newark police officer who happened to be patrolling in the area saw Barnes storm out of the house with one hand around the 4-pound dog’s throat and toss her into the street.

The argument began when Barnes went to the home of a neighbor who was allowing Barnes’ mother to park her car there. The homeowners vehicle was blocking it in the driveway.

Prosecutors say Barnes, 25, began screaming and kicked in the woman’s front door, then threatened and assaulted the woman.

At that point, Honey Bey, the 31-year-old homeowner’s dog, started barking. Barnes grabbed the dog and threw her into oncoming traffic, police said.

“It was a tiny dog that was barking instinctively to protect its owner,” said Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Michele Miller. “It wasn’t attacking the defendant. It went to see what the commotion was and paid for it with its life.”

If convicted, Barnes faces up to 10 years in prison on a second-degree burglary charge and five years for the third-degree animal cruelty count. She remains free on bail and an arraignment is scheduled for June 18 in Superior Court in Newark.

Barnes’ public defender could not be reached for comment. A relative told the Star-Ledger that Barnes “wasn’t in her right mind when she did it,” and that she believed alcohol played a role in the incident.

A 57-year-old Las Vegas grandmother was struck and killed by a car when she stopped to help an injured dog.

Valerie Roberts was struck Wednesday night while in the middle of Boulder Highway, where she was helping another motorist who had gone to the dog’s assistance.

Her family and friends told News 3 in Las Vegas they’re not surprised her final act was trying to save a life.

Roberts, who worked taking care of the elderly and disabled, was also known to take people in to her home, rent free, to help them get back on their feet.

Roberts had two daughters and three grandchildren.

Las Vegas police say the Roberts had stopped her car and gotten out to help another person who was assisting the dog.

Authorities say the driver of an approaching car swerved to avoid hitting the stopped car and hit Roberts. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

We couldn’t find any news reports indicating whether the dog survived.

A dog found shot on an Indian reservation is slowly recovering, and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians has donated $2,500 to help pay his medical bills.

Chance, a retriever mix about 18 months old, is being cared for at the San Diego County Department of Animal Services Shelter after being found on the side of a road on the reservation, according to Fox 5 in San Diego

“We are very proud of the Viejas tribal family member who first discovered Chance on the side of the road and called authorities for help, the Viejas tribal firefighter who responded first and provided aid to Chance, as well as the veterinary professionals who saved this dog’s life,” tribal chairman Anthony Pico said

“This shooting goes against everything Viejas stands for and we will do everything we can to make sure Chance eventually gets to a home where he can know the safety, comfort and love that he deserves,” Pico said.

A single bullet passed through Chance’s lungs and his treatment included four days in an oxygen chamber.

The dog was found Feb. 20 by a woman who spotted him from her car. Animal Services is investigating the shooting.

The tribal contribution will go into the Animal Services Department’s Spirit Fund, which pays for veterinary care beyond what the shelter can afford. The dog’s owner was located and surrendered him to the county.

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case, and San Diego Animal Advocates is offering an additional reward up to $2,000 for information leading to a conviction. Anyone with more information is urged to call county Animal Services at 619-236-2341, or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

(Photos: San Diego Department of Animal Services)

Crunching leaves

Shuffling through dry leaves

One of life’s distinct pleasures

 Wet ones … not so much

(All our Highway Haikus can be found archived here.)

“Ode to October”

If ever I’m told

I’ve only one month to live

I’ll choose October

(You can find all our Highway Haikus archived here.)