ohmidog!

An off-duty Buncombe County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a border collie mix at North Carolina’s Catawba Falls says he did so to protect his children from what appeared to be an aggressive dog.

“You’re damn right I shot your dog,” he reportedly told the dog’s owner, Scott Shulman of Durham.

Shulman, who was hiking with his son, said his three dogs got ahead of them when he fell into the water.

By the time he caught up, he saw Deputy Jason Honeycutt pointing a gun at one of his dogs, a 45-pound border collie mix named Nellie, who he says was barking and wagging her tail.

“I hear two or three pops, and I see Nellie roll over and hit the ground,” Shulman said. “I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I just said, ‘Did you shoot my dog?’  He said something like, ‘you’re damn right I shot your dog.’”

Shulman told the Asheville Citizen-Times that his dog was not posing a threat to the officer or his children, and that he thought shooting the dog was “disproportionate and excessive.”

The McDowell County Sheriff’s Office has investigated the case, and the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office conducted an internal probe, but no charges or disciplinary action were recommended against the deputy.

“We don’t have any issue with what our officer did,” said Lt. Randy Sorrells of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department. “He was protecting his children.”

A McDowell County incident report that lists Deputy Honeycutt as the victim states the dog appeared to be aggressive toward children.

Shulman disagrees, and says two witnesses to the shooting also believe Nellie, while barking, wasn’t behaving aggressively otherwise.

“My main concern is making the citizens aware that this incident occurred … I don’t want anybody else to have to experience something like this.”

(Photo: Asheville Citizen-Times)

An Oklahoma teenager has admitted he shot and killed a pit bull with a bow and arrow and posted a photo of its corpse on Facebook, but says the dog appeared aggressive.

Caisen Green, 18, who had fled his hometown with his mother after outrage over the Facebook post led to threats, was interviewed Tuesday  night by Cherokee County Undersheriff Jason Chennault.

Chennault said he will add Green’s statement to his report and deliver it to the District Attorney’s Office today. Prosecutors will then decide whether Green will be charged, the Tahlequah Daily Press reported.

Green told sheriff’s officials that the dog was one of two that wandered onto his family’s property as he was practicing with his bow and arrow.

“The pit and a smaller, non-pit bulldog came into the yard,” said Chennault. “The pit bulldog looked diseased.” Green told Chennault that when he tried to scare the dogs away the pit bull growled and began to move toward him. He said the dog ran about 30 yards after he shot him with an arrow.

Green posted a Facebook photo of the dead pit bull with the message, “For all you Pit lovers out there, here’s what happens when one shows up around my house.”

Lou Hays, who volunteers with the Humane Society of Cherokee County said Green bragged about killing when he was contacted about the post, and didn’t indicate that the animal was causing any trouble .

Hays said HSCC would push for Green to be prosecuted and receive community service at the local shelter.

Green’s post was removed after calls, emails and faxes flooded into Cherokee County authorities over the weekend, many of them demanding he be arrested and expelled from school, some of them making threats.

Chennault said his meeting with Green and his attorney had to be set up at an “undisclosed location” because of the threats made toward Green and his family.

The newly elected sheriff of Chester County, South Carolina, says his dog was poisoned and died early this week.

Alex Underwood, the county’s first African-American sheriff, said he left A.J., his 19-month-old German shepherd, in the yard Sunday while attending a Martin Luther King Jr. parade.

Shortly after he got home, the dog started acting oddly and foaming at the mouth.

He died early Monday, according to a report in The Herald.

A.J. was in training to become a sheriff’s department K-9, and he frequently visited area schools, Underwood said.

Sheriff Underwood

“The kids loved him. We always took him around to different places,” he said. A.J. spent much of his time at the sheriff’s office.”Everybody knew him, I mean he was here. He’d be in 911, sometimes he’d be in my office, sometimes he’d be back in narcotics, he was just kind of, he was part of the family here,” said Underwood.

He said there are some possible suspects, but he wouldn’t elaborate.

“It’s like taking a child, he didn’t bother anybody,” said Underwood.

The fatal shooting of a dog named Ziggy has led to a “firestorm of controversy” in Colorado and to the reassignment of the Adams County deputy who pulled the trigger.

The dog was shot when deputies responding to a burglary call went to the wrong address.

Deputy Wilfred Europe III has been reassigned to administrative duties, according to the Denver Post.

CBS 4 in Denver reported last week that it was the second time Europe had shot a dog during his five years with the sheriff’s office. The first shooting wasn’t fatal.

In a news conference Friday, Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr said the case is still under investigation, but that certain details “need to be set straight.”

According to Darr, two deputies were dispatched to a burglar alarm call  Monday at Thoutt Bros. Concrete at 5384 Tennyson St. The address of the business wasn’t clearly marked and, upon seeing an open door at 5460 Tennyson Street they approached it.

When the occupant of the building opened the door, Ziggy, his 8-year-old blue heeler/border collie mix, ran outside.

Darr said Ziggy was “barking and growling” and that the deputy retreated about 25 feet before kicking him. Ziggy continued toward the deputy, who fired two shots, one of which hit and killed the dog.

Jeff Fisher, the dog’s owner, says the officers told him to calm down when he reacted to the dog’s shooting, and that he could “get another dog.” Darr confirmed the deputy made those comments.

Fisher is being represented by an attorney from the Animal Law Center, Jay Swearingen, who says the sheriff’s account differs from that of Fisher. Fisher says Ziggy was running away from the deputy, not charging toward him, when he was shot, and that three shots were fired.

Fisher said he asked the officers after Ziggy was shot why they couldn’t have used a taser, and was told “It is what it is.”

Many citizens have expressed outrage over the shooting — much of it on the sheriff department’s own Facebook page:

“We’re really pleased that the public is concerned,” Swearingen said. “Our client can’t get his dog back, but what happened with Ziggy can …  prevent this from occurring again to another family with their dog.”

A Florida sheriff’s deputy plans to adopt the dog he helped rescue after her owner slashed her throat and stabbed her.

The dog, a 70-pound collie-Labrador mix named Amber, was attacked Sunday night, according to the Jacksonville Times-Union.

St. Johns County Deputy Dan Sorrells arrested her owner and then joined an animal control officer in a search for the dog, following a trail of blood and finding her in a thicket of grass, with her throat slashed and stab wounds to her sides.

When he called her name, she came, he said. “She walked right over to me. She showed no  aggression.”

Amber was taken to Atlantic Veterinary Hospital in Jacksonville. Sorrells plans to pay Amber’s medical and take her home in about a week.

Her owner, Randal Bryen Hart, 28, has been charged with animal  cruelty. Hart, who was being held in St. Johns County jail agreed to relinquish ownership of the dog.

He told deputies the dog needed to be “put down” because she attacked a kitten.

According to Hart’s two roomates, who reported the incident, he became angry when he thought the dog had harmed the cat.

“He called the dog over to him and stabbed it several times,” they told Sorrells. “Then he cut its throat.”

One of the roommates said he tried to help the wounded dog, but that Hart told him to ”back off.”

The kitten, as it turned out, was not harmed.

Amber is believed to be about 4 years old. Sorrells visited her Tuesday and  Wednesday. His family has two other rescue dogs.

“This dog will fit in perfectly with them,” he  said.

(Top photo: Amber, far left, visits the vet with Sorrells, far right; by Bruce Lipsky / The Times-Union)

Credit a family dog in Virginia with finding the evidence that would lead to the arrest of a 20-year-old man on charges of robbery after he lured a car buyer to meet him through an ad on Craigslist.

Derek Shifflett, 20, of Verona, became a suspect in the case after a friend’s dog found the money — $12,000 — hidden under a bed.

Sgt. David Lotts, of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, said Shifflett posted a Honda Civic for sale on Craigslist, and made arrangements to meet an interested buyer.

The victim, from a car dealership in Hendersonville, N.C., traveled to Verona Monday afternoon and met with Shifflett, who told him the vehicle was being cleaned and filled with gas.

At one point, authorities say, Shifflett pushed the prospective buyer, a 64-year-old man, snatched an envelope containing $12,000 from his coat pocket, and ran off.

A few hours later, a Verona woman called the sheriff’s office after her dog pulled an envelope full of cash from beneath a bed in her home and began playing with it.

“The dog drug it out,” Lotts told Newsleader.com. “I guess he thought it was a new toy.”

Lotts said the woman’s son is friends with Shifflett. Shifflett turned himself in at the sheriff’s office late Monday night.

Lotts said the ad was fictitious and that Shifflett ” just took a random picture with a cell phone.”

“I figured that money was long gone,” he said.

An Alabama lawyer who investigators say slit his dog’s throat, then tried to blame it on his estranged wife, has turned himself in to authorities.

James Stewart Robinson, 45, of Birmingham, surrendered to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and was being held in the county jail with bond set at $40,000, Al.com reported.

Sheriff’s investigators charged Robinson Nov. 16 after a five-month investigation that included unearthing the dog’s remains and tests at a University of Florida animal forensics lab.

Robinson is charged with cruelty to a dog, specifically slicing the throat of his American Staffordshire Terrier, Rufus, the subject of a bitter custody battle between him and his ex-wife.

Robinson claimed his estranged wife had killed Rufus to prevent him from gaining custody, but results from a forensic analysis along with data recovered from emails, text messages and voicemails led authorities to conclude otherwise.

According to court records, Robinson texted a picture of Rufus with his throat slashed to his estranged wife, and left her a voicemail that said, “Your day is coming girl.”

“It’s hard to imagine someone being capable of something this twisted yet here we are and he is in jail,” said Randy Christian, a chief deputy. “No doubt there is a special place for people like that.”

(Photos: Al.com)

About 300 dogs found living in cramped and unsanitary conditions were removed by authorities this week from Spindletop Refuge, the largest pit bull rescue organization in Texas.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s department on Tuesday served a search warrant at the refuge in Wills, removing dogs from five buildings, including one two-story structure that housed 80 dogs.

Almost all of the dogs were pit bulls, many of them sent there after being rescued by other organizations.

Teams from the Humane Society of the United States were assisting in relocating the dogs. Animal Farm Foundation said it also plans to assist in rehoming the dogs.

“We share HSUS’s goal of ensuring the best possible outcome for each of the dogs, and we’re grateful that HSUS stepped up to oversee a humane and just outcome for all of these dogs. Once the dogs have been triaged at an undisclosed safe location, Animal Farm Foundation will work with HSUS to individually evaluate each dog for rescue or adoption placement.”

The Montgomery County Police Reporter said the dogs were being taken to an undisclosed location to be evaluated by veterinarians.

No charges have been filed yet.

(Photo: Scott Engle / Mongtomery County Police Reporter)

A pug mix found abused, abandoned and with her muzzle taped has been renamed Hope — and given some:

Once she recovers from her injuries, she’ll be adopted by the owners of the Texas ranch where she was found.

Hope was the subject of a day-long search. She was found — with numerous cuts and her jaws bound shut with electrical tape — on a ranch owned by Kit and Charlie Moncrief.

“We’re lucky to have her,” Kit Moncrief  told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It’s a natural fit. We’ve adopted quite a few dogs, and we were just horrified at the abuse this dog endured.” Hope will be living there with horses, and eight other adopted dogs.

“I can’t think of a better family for Hope to belong to,” said Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler, whose office continues to investigate the dog’s apparent torture.  A $35,000 reward, including $25,000 from the Texas Humane Alliance, is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Hope was found last Monday by Debbie Williams, who, after hearing reports about an injured dog wandering the area, joined in a search being conducted by animal control officials and other residents. Along with her husband, she corraled Hope in a brushy area on the Moncrief ranch in Weatherford.

The dog was dehydrated, suffering from blood loss and scared, Williams said. Hope required about 100 stitches to close four cuts, and she lost a small piece of her tongue, according to the veterinarian who treated her.

Kit Moncrief said she expects Hope will get along with the animals at the ranch. “Adopted animals are smart,” she said. “They know they’ve been given another chance and they tend to love each other.”

(Photo: Vet tech Rhonda Sears, shown with Hope, who’s wearing a necklace sent to her by supporters in Garland, Texas; courtesy Parker County Sheriff’s Department)

Andy, Goober and a “talking” dog

Where Ace and I are living now — just down the road from Mayberry — episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” were being shown nearly all day long today after news broke about the actor’s death.

There are those who will tell you there is no real Mayberry in North Carolina. They’re the same ones who will tell you there is no Santa. In truth, in North Carolina, Mayberry is never more than 30 minutes away from wherever you are.

You just head down that country road, away from the big city — the Charlotte, the Raleigh, the Greensboro – and stop in the first town big enough to have gas pumps and a barber shop. If you’re greeted with a smile, and it appears genuine, you’re in Mayberry.

Mayberry is a state of mind — a zen-like destination, reachable only by slowing the hell down, caring about your fellow man, letting yourself think in an unrushed manner and having a second piece of pie.

And one man was the sparkly-eyed epitome of that. Andy Griffith, who died peacefully at his home this morning and, according to the local sheriff, has been laid to rest on the family farm on Roanoke Island.

The “Andy Griffith Show” always struck me as a lot like a dog — able to calm me down, and make me smile, and be convinced, for 30 minutes at least, that the world is a good place, and mankind not too shabby a species.

Dogs had center state in only a few episodes of the show, like the time Opie and a friend rigged a walkie-talkie to a dog and convinced Goober his dog could talk, or, my favorite, the time the sheriff’s office was beseiged with strays.

Of all the smallish towns in North Carolina, Mount Airy — Griffith’s birthplace — is the one that makes the most of its link to Mayberry, and, true to form, it’s only a half hour up the road. We’ve been there for a couple of visits.

But most times we get there via remote control. If you keep flipping, you can usually find Mayberry and, for half an hour, go back to a time and place where folks managed to be social without “social networks,” where the pace was slow, things were black and white, and life had just the right amount of complications — enough to keep it interesting without it being overwhelming.

That’s what I liked about Mayberry: Almost every problem could be resolved calmly, kindly, with unrushed reasoning — even what to do with a pesky pack of stray dogs:

PART ONE: In which Otis gets his breakfast and Opie finds a dog …

PART TWO: In which Barney takes the dogs — 11 of them now — to a happy place …

PART THREE: In which the strays save the day …