ohmidog!

A pit bull who helped show Baltimore the breed’s good side, inspired a blog and turned a young couple’s life around passed away at the end of last week.

Knox, only about 3, died from complications associated with a blood parasite for which he recently tested positive.

His final days, and his short but joyous life — at least since being adopted — are recounted on the blog Pittieful Love: Adventures in Fostering and Loving America’s Dog.

Knox was adopted by a young couple named Brian and Jess DeLeon in May 2010 from BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter), the same shelter Ace came from.

Upon his arrival at BARCS, he’d been given the name Oil Change, because he (and his brother, dubbed Dipstick) came to the shelter from a gas station, where they apparently were leading pretty neglected lives.

His adoption would turn that around, as well as life for Brian and Jess.

“We went from young 20-somethings who wanted to rescue a dog, to two completely devoted owners who also are now completely devoted to this breed (which we didn’t know jack about before) … We brought home a “Baltimore Mutt” (aka a pit-mix) and had no idea how much of an influence he would have on us, on the world he lives in, the streets he walks, and the people he’d meet.  Not to mention the people whom he’d introduce us to.”

Knox was a regular participant in Pit Bulls on Parade, a series of weekend walks sponsored by B-more Dog, aimed at correcting public misconceptions about pit bulls. He was a friend and guide to the other fosters Brian and Jess took in, and a blood donor, as well. And he’d inspire the couple to fight for pit bulls city-wide, through their connections with B-More Dog, Mid-Atlantic Bully Buddies and BARCS.

Just before Christmas, Knox was diagnosed with the blood disorder, and, as Jess blogged, became a different dog — no longer as lively, or as willing to place his 68 pounds, at least half of that seemingly head, on your lap.

In her blog, Jess astutely reflects that, after the long fight, sometimes it’s best to let nature take its course — especially when the heroic efforts you’re making are, at their core, not for your dog but for yourself.

“It may sound horrible, but I refuse to string him along for no reason, not to mention waste thousands of dollars to keep him alive for my own personal benefit … Keeping him alive, barely…who is that serving?  Certainly we love him too much to be that selfish … We love him way too much.

We extend our condolences to Jess and Brian, and encourage them to keep focusing not on the loss, or the void, but on the substantial contribution Knox made, and the joys — big and little – he provided, both to them and others.

Judging from yesterday’s Pittieful Love blog post, that’s exactly what they’re doing:

“You, sneaky boy, were wild.  WILD.  But you loved us right away, and we loved you.  We met you at first in an escort room.  Small, tight space, but we weren’t intimidated by your jumping, your tail, your huge head and that awesome smile.  We wanted to take you outside to the run.  You were in HEAVEN.  And you loved to run!  But you kept coming right back to us, and sitting on our feet.  The fresh air, the open space, you loved it!  But you loved us too.  And that was a good sign to us.  We couldn’t stop smiling.”

(Photo courtesy of Pittieful Love)

Two women who were moving their rescue operation from California to Virginia were arrested after police discovered more than 100 dogs in the back of their rented U-Haul truck.

Bonnie Sheehan, 55, and Pamela A. King-McCracken, 59, both of Long Beach, Calif., were each charged with 128 counts of aggravated animal cruelty, a Class E felony, and were jailed on $100,000 bond each in Fayette County, Tennessee.

Sheehan

King-McCracken

West Tennessee highway troopers found 127 dogs in all, including one who had died. Most were locked in the back of the truck — some in crates, some not.

A few dogs and one cat were in a minivan being towed behind the truck.

Sheehan is the founder of Hearts for Hounds, which describes itself on its website as a non-profit organization that has rescued and placed more than 17,000 dogs into permanent homes.

“We are a pack of humans trying to make a difference in the dog world!” says the website, which was offline yesterday. “Our goal is to find a loving home for every dog we rescue.”

A state trooper pulled the truck over Tuesday for tailgating, and inspected its cargo area after detecting a foul odor coming from it. Upon finding the animals he moved the truck to a Pilot Travel Center parking lot off Interstate 40′s exit 42 in Fayette County, where the dogs could be dealt with away from the Interstate.

Officers described seeing urine and feces all over the cargo compartment and no food or water for the animals, according to a district attorney’s office press release.

Sheehan and King-McCracken, who both showed California identification, told investigators they were en route from Long Beach, Calif., to Roanoke, Virginia.

“I have seen animals like this when we raided a puppy mill a few years ago,” Fayette County Animal Rescue agent Gina Thweatt told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “But as far as transporting them like this? No… not where they literally could not get any air or circulation.”

The dogs had been locked in the truck and van since Saturday without food or water, police said.

Animal shelter officials said the dogs and cat would be taken to shelters in the Memphis area.

(Top photo by Kyle Kurlick / Memphis Commercial Appeal)

Sometimes breaking the rules leads to better rules.

The Rose Brooks Center for women took in a domestic violence victim and her dog, departing from their standard no-dogs policy after hearing the details of her case — her Great Dane had saved her when she was attacked by a hammer-wielding boyfriend.

According to KCTV 5, the dog covered her with his body, absorbing most of the blows until the boyfriend threw them both out of a second story window.

Despite their injuries, the woman was able to escape with her dog, who sustained several broken bones. She eventually got in touch with the center, located in the Kansas City area.

The center offered her a bed, but when they told her pets weren’t allowed, she balked. The shelter decided, for the first time in its history, to overlook their regulations and allow the dog to stay.

That decision would go on to lead to a change in policy at the shelter.

About 40 percent of battered women with pets stay in abusive relationships  to protect or remain with their pets, said the center’s chief executive officer, Susan Miller.

“They provide so much comfort, and to have to leave that pet behind is so heartbreaking,” Miller said. “It has become abundantly clear that the incredible therapeutic benefits that pets can have on a family greatly outweigh the cost and inconvenience of housing them.”

The center is spending $140,000 to add seven kennels, a walking trail and a pet-friendly play area.

Miller, who made the decision to break the rules, credits the abused woman — who isn’t being identified — with bringing about the change.

“She was not going to leave her pet alone with him,” she said. “He saved her life.”

Shelter officials say they’ve seen a 300 percent increase in applications since becoming pet-friendly.

We start the New Year by looking back at one of last year’s most downer dog stories (and there were many) — that of a stray pit bull who wandered into a hardware store and ended up getting euthanized, despite the efforts of rescue groups and a community to save him.

And we start – Happy New Year! — with what is both its latest twist and its silver lining:

A Detroit rescue group’s efforts to save that pit bull — named Ace – has moved an anonymous California woman to donate $1.5 million to build a no-kill shelter in a city that sorely needs one

Detroit Dog Rescue says the donation — in the form of stock options — came from a woman they described as “a fellow dog rescuer who is battling a life-threatening illness.”

“She just kind of nonchalanty, very humbly, just rambled off very quickly, ‘I just want you to know that we’re going to do this very fast and it’s just going to be a quick transfer of stocks to you guys. You should have the million dollars overnight,’”  co-founder Daniel “Hush” Carlisle told Channel 4 News. “And I was like, ‘Excuse me? Did you just say a million dollars?’”

But the story starts with Ace.

On November 4, the rescue learned through emails and Facebook posts that a dog had wandered into an Ace Hardware store on E. McNichols. He was emaciated, and there were wounds on his neck. DDR staff rushed to the store — knowing all stray pit bulls seized in Detroit are euthanized — but animal control had arrived there first.

“Due to Detroit Animal Control’s egregious policy of euthanizing 100 percent of dogs that they deem to be pit bulls or pit mixes, we knew that Ace would almost certainly be put down,” DDR’s account of the story on its website explains.

“Luckily, the media had gotten a hold of the story as thousands rallied together. A group of people started a “Save Ace” Facebook page, and a licensed rescue (Stray K-9 Rescue) confirmed that they would take Ace if Detroit Animal Control would release him.”

Ace’s supporters attended a city council meeting to urge the dog be released.

Despite that, city health department officials said Ace wouldn’t be released, and that if no owner came forward, he would be killed after the mandatory four-day holding period.

An owner did come forward, after seeing Ace on the news, stating the dog had been stolen from her home. But when she arrived at animal control to claim her dog, the dog she was shown wasn’t her’s. Nor was it Ace, DDR says.

The rescue group suspected animal control might have euthanized Ace the day he arrived, and that it was attempting to cover it up.

Hiring lawyers, the rescue group and the owner went to court and were granted an injunction that barred animal control from killing any dogs resembling Ace until a hearing could be held.

On Nov. 10, though, animal control reported it had euthanized Ace.

“We at Detroit Dog Rescue believe that Detroit Animal Control put the dog they tried to pass off as Ace down early rather than have to prove whether he was or was not Ace … Their preferred method is one of eradication and they believe themselves to be above the law. They bumbled, lied, tried to backtrack, and then disregarded a direct order from the judge,” the DDR website says.

While unsuccessful in saving the dog, DDR’s efforts impressed the mystery donor.

DDR spokesman David Rudolph said the donor tracked the organization’s work after seeing it on TV in May, and decided to make the donation after learning about the group’s attempt to save Ace.

Carlisle said the donation brought him to tears. “To have a donation of this size given to us in the amount of time that we’ve been up, 10 months, it’s going to be a really exciting time,” he said.

On top of that donation, DDR — whose budget had reportedly shrunk to $43 at one point — saw an influx of donations, more than $200,000, after it was featured on an NBC Nightly News segment called “Making a Difference.”

“This donation is just the beginning,” said Monica Martino, who co-founded the organization after city officials denied a Discovery Channel request to film her series “A Dog’s Life.”

“While Hush and I were working on the streets of Detroit, we saw firsthand the true scope and scale of the stray dog situation. This problem in Detroit is an epidemic and the system that is in place to control it is broken. The first step is to build a no-kill shelter.”

Despite an outpouring of support from the public, time is running out for four dogs found starving and tied to a tree in Columbia, Tennessee last month.

The four, described as “American Shepherd-Bulldogs,” were all set to go to a rescue organization, but on Christmas Eve the plan fell through, News Channel 5 reports.

Now, unless another rescue can be found, the dogs are facing the end of the road — an outcome they weren’t far from when they were found.

“I was physically ill when I saw their intake pictures,” said Sonja Rine with Pet Pals of Maury County Organization.

“They were vomiting rocks and twigs because that is all they had eaten and they were all attached to one tree,” said Councilwoman Debbie Matthews, who is also trying to help them find a home.

An animal control officer spotted the dogs tied to a tree in their owner’s backyard last November. The owner told the officer the dogs hadn’t been fed in “a couple of days.” A judge ordered the owner to give the dogs up and donate $100 worth of dog food to the shelter.

He has yet to do so, but others in Columbia have stepped forward with donations.

“What a little love can do, it’s an amazing thing,” said Matthews.

The dogs are about a year old. They’ve tested heartworm positive, and have some other medical issues, so they need to go to a rescue before they can be adopted individually.

“They have tried so hard, they have such a will to live, they forgive. They don’t hold a grudge,” said Rine. “It’s gonna happen, it’s just gonna happen they deserve it,” said Rine.

We ran our “Christmas miracle” story yesterday — that of an eyeless dog named Stevie Oedipus Wonder, who, with a lot of help, found his way back home.

Then we came across another we have to share, too — that of a pit bull named Kapone, who, missing for six months, also made his way back home for Christmas.

Kapone, 11 years old, was one of two family pit bulls who escaped from their fenced yard six months ago in Cordova, Tenn., and were picked up by a Memphis animal control officer.

But when the family arrived at the Memphis Animal Shelter the next day to pick up the duo, only one dog was there.

“We found Jersey in the back row,” Brooke Shoup, the owner of the dogs said. “…Then we kept looking for Kapone and he wasn’t anywhere.” Shoup said a shelter manager told her his staff didn’t know where Kapone was. “He said he would review the videos and try to find out where my dog was, and what happened, and he would be in contact with me.”

Not until the next month did word come out that, while animal control records indicated both dogs were picked up, records indicated only one arrived at the shelter. What happened to Kapone was a mystery, and not exactly a new one in Memphis.

According to statistics from No Kill Memphis, in addition to the nearly 12,000 dogs euthanized at the Memphis Animal Shelter in 2010, 155 went missing — that’s right, missing, from a shelter.

Since then, the shelter has been the subject of investigations, some firings — including Demetria Hogan, the animal control employee who picked up the Shoup’s dogs — and lingering suspicions that impounded dogs were being sold, possibly to dogfighting operations.

None of that was helping to find Kapone, though, until last week.

A week ago today, the Shoup’s and animal advocates got an anonymous tip from the Memphis CrimeStoppers hotline that Kapone (an $8,000 reward was being offered for his return) was at a house in Senatobia, Miss., about 50 miles to the south.

Senatobia police escorted Darrel Shoup to the home. “I called his name, went over to pet him and he just went crazy,” Shoup said. “And we put him in the back of the van.”

You can see last week’s reunion in this Action News 5 report.

No charges have been filed against the homeowners, who had two other pit bulls. They told police Kapone had just wandered into their yard.

(Photo: From the Where’s Kapone? Facebook page)

Unwanted and tossed out of her Chicago home a few days ago, Isis, an abused shepherd terrier mix, is now in demand.

The Chicago Tribune reports that at least a dozen callers have made inquiries to the city’s office of Animal Care & Control about fostering or adopting her.

The dog’s owners kicked her out Saturday because they were moving to a new apartment that didn’t allow pets.

But Isis ended up back at the family’s new apartment in East Garfield Park, two blocks away from their old one, scratching at the door.

Neighbors say the shepherd terrier mix paced the sidewalk outside of the new home, howling and barking in the cold for hours. Police said, during that time, several youths tried to beat the dog with broomsticks and baseball bats.

Police charged the dog’s owner, Lashon Johnson, who told officers she no longer wanted the dog, with misdemeanor animal cruelty.

Animal control officials said Isis did not suffer life-threatening injuries. While uncertain when she would become available for adoption, they pointed out that there are dozens of other dogs in the shelter in need of homes.

(An update to this story can be found here.) 

Apparently gunning down stray dogs on the streets wasn’t enough for the dog unfriendly officials of Cumberland County, North Carolina.

Now they want to slay, within 72 hours, every dog that comes into the shelter who is, or appears to be a mix of: 

American Staffordshire terrier, Rottweiller, Akita, chow chow, Doberman pinscher, German shepherd, Great Dane, Presa Canario, Siberian husky or mastiff. There’s a convenient catch-all pit bull category as well.

They’re not doing it yet, despite what you may be reading on the misinformation highway.

But they’re talking about it.

The county’s Animal Control Board is recommending that authorities limit the adoption of the above dog breeds, or, as one county official referred to them, ”attack animals.” (Clearly, they haven’t met many Great Danes.)

The idea is only in the discussion stages, but many websites are reporting –erroneously — that the new policy goes into effect today.

“I’ve probably had 1,500 emails,” said John Lauby, director of Cumberland County Animal Control. (Here’s hoping he gets about 150,000 more.)

Lauby told a Fayetteville Observer columnist that misinformation on the Internet led people to believe the county will ban adoption of pit bulls and other breeds starting Monday, and immediately euthanize any members of those breeds in the shelter.

In reality, the county hasn’t taken that medieval step, it’s just considering it.

“We’re looking at a list of animals used as attack animals,” County Commissioner Charles Evans said. “It has been suggested that something needs to be done about those.”

The recommendation would have to make its way through a committe and then require approval by the county commissioners before going into effect. But it’s scheduled to be introduced at a meeting tonight. (6 p.m., at Cumberland County Animal Services, 4704 Corporation Drive, Fayetteville).

Lauby said animal control constantly receives calls from residents complaining about dogs behaving aggressively or running loose, preventing people from getting into their cars.

“We have an inordinate number of pit bulls in the county that are chasing people, chasing dogs, they’re on school grounds and generally bother people,” he said. “The reality is that about 80 percent of our calls are related to that particular breed.”

Complaints from the public also led Cumberland County to hire an outside contractor to capture stray dogs in and around Fayetteville — a massive roundup that started in August and, at last report, led to more dogs being gunned down than caught alive.

Fayetteville doesn’t have its own animal control department, instead relying on the county office to handle dog-related issues.

As I’ve implied before, that might be part of the problem — the problem, in my view, being not just too many uncontrolled dogs, but too many unenlightened public servants, who see dogs as foes and death as a solution.

Maybe it’s the army base influence. In any event, someone needs to usher Cumberland County into modern times.

In a way, the proposed policy — while it it lists some new ”public enemy” breeds, like the husky, and some returning ones, like the shepherd — would only formalize what’s already common practice in the county.

Since April, Cumberland County Animal Control has taken in nearly 1,300 pit bulls, but only 124 have been adopted. The shelter has taken in 180 Rottweilers since then, only 26 of whom were adopted. Of 96 chow chows received at the shelter since April, 15 have been adopted, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

The rest are euthanized.

Now, some want to make it official, banning the adoption of any of those breeds and guaranteeing a death sentence for all of them, or any mixes thereof — all based on what will likely be, judging from the wisdom they’ve shown so far, an uneducated guess.

In addition to complaints, worries about liability issues are also behind the proposal. The county fears it might be held responsible for any damage done by dogs adopted from its shelter. Most shelters handle that with a simple waiver.

Petitions against the policy can be found on several websites, including our-compass.org and change.org.

If you’d like to give Cumberland County officials a piece of your mind — and it appears they could use it — continue reading for contact information.

Read more »

Utah’s Deseret News describes him as Michael Vick’s meanest dog — “Mike Tyson, Hulk Hogan and a little Ray Lewis rolled into one.”

But these days Lucas, one of 22 former Vick dogs placed in the care of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary four years ago,  is one social animal, spending several days a week greeting visitors to the organization’s office in Kanab.

“Open the door to the executive offices, and there he is, a smile on his face, a lick on his lips, and eager anticipation of either a pet or a treat written all over his eyes,” writes Lee Benson, a Deseret News columnist. “Only the fading scars on his neck and face suggest that he was once the toughest, scariest and most-abused dog in Virginia.”

To Judah Battista, the director of animal care at Best Friends, “Lucas is Exhibit A in the argument that all dogs are good dogs if they’re treated well,” Benson reports.

Six of the 22 Vick dogs that ended up at Best Friends — Mel, Cherry, Oliver, Halle, Shadow and Handsome Dan — have been adopted. A seventh, Little Red, is in a foster home about to be adopted.

The column reminds readers that some organizations — including the Humane Society and PETA — wanted to euthanize all 49 dogs that were found in Bad Newz Kennels.

“Historically, dogs were punished or killed for the crimes of their owners,” Battista said. “There was a prevailing assumption that all dogs in these circumstances were innately vicious, rather than that the people who owned them and were responsible for them were innately vicious. It was very fear-based decision-making…

“What we needed to prove was that man could be dog’s best friend as much as dogs could be man’s best friend.”

(Photo by Lee Benson / Deseret News)

Last week’s report about the Ohio dog found with an arrow poking out of both sides of his body got me to wondering about whatever happened to the Georgia dog who, in September, was found in a similar situation.

And, just as I started wondering, the answer came.

In the Ohio case, a 15-year-old German shepherd mix named Hershey disappeared from his home, ran off into the woods and was found 17 days later with an arrow going in one side of his chest and coming out the other.

A veterinarian removed it and he was last reported to be back home with his family and recovering.

In the Georgia case, a police officer discovered a one-year old pit bull mix wandering the streets of Atlanta with an arrow through his head. It had gone in near his left eye and came out behind his right ear, but veterinarians at a VCA Pets Are People Too Veterinary Hospital were able to remove it and treat the dog’s other injuries.

Interest in adopting the dog, dubbed Arrow, was high after news reports about him were aired, according to the Fulton County animal shelter.

After six weeks of recuperation, we’re happy to report, Arrow ended up getting adopted by Kevin Bryant, executive director of Pets Are Loving Support (PALS).

Bryant, whose organization provides pet food and money for veterinary care to people with terminal illnesses and disabilities, emailed me last week to share the news.

He reports that Arrow is doing well, and that both dog and human are helping each other heal: Five months ago, Bryant lost Murphy, his dog of 12 years, to cancer.

Bryant explains his decision to adopt Arrow in this video, produced by the website Fashionado: