ohmidog!

Sheriff’s officials say a bassett hound found severely burned in a ravine in Ventura County had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was asking for the public’s help Tuesday in finding whoever was responsible. The dog — who was three years old and named Buddy — died from his injuries.

The man who left his injured dog atop a Colorado mountain, now facing animal cruelty charges, wants his dog back.

But one of the dog’s rescuers want to keep it.

The dog is safe and recovering now, but another doggie custody battle looks to be in the offing, pitting a dog’s original owner against someone who helped save it.

Anthony Ortalani was charged with animal cruelty Friday following an investigation by the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office, KUSA reported.

“We base that on information we learned that the dog had been up there for eight days in this rugged terrain. The weather had been inclement on certain days with rain and snow and the fact that he made little attempt to go back up and get the dog or try to make any other arraignments to retrieve the dog and get it back,” Sgt. Rick Safe with the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Department said.

The dog, named Missy, has not been returned to Ortalani, who faces a court appearance Oct. 16.

“The dog is doing great now and is expected to make a full recovery,” Sgt. Safe said.

But apparently that’s no thanks to the sheriff’s department.

The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Department is the same agency that Ortalini contacted for help once getting down the mountain. He says they declined to attempt a rescue of his German shepherd

According to Ortalani he was climbing Mt. Bierstadt when his dog’s paws became blistered and too sore for her to continue walking. Ortalani says he tried to carry the 112-pound dog off the mountain but was unable to. He says that attempts by him and his friends to lower the dog with ropes ended up injuring the dog even more.

With a storm approaching, he says, he was forced to leave Missy behind.

Once down the mountain, Ortalani contacted a search-and-rescue group and the Clear Creek sheriff’s department but says he was told it was too risky to send a rescue crew up for the dog.

A group of volunteers managed to pull it off, though.

Scott Washburn was out hiking with his wife when he spotted the dog, 13,000 feet up Mount Bierstadt. He posted photos of the dog on a climbing website, 14ers.com. A group of volunteers was assembled, and they climbed back up and brought Missy down.  The hikers took turns carrying her in a backpack down the mountain. Missy, who spent eight days on the mountain without food or water, was taken to a veterinarian who treated her for injuries to her paws and dehydration.

While Ortalani wants her back. Washburn and his wife have asked to adopt the dog.

Ortalani posted his thanks for those who rescued his dog on 14ers.com: “I am at a complete loss of words. My gratitude for the people involved in this is without measure.”

He went on to say, “I humbly beg the forgiveness of the community and most of all my Missy Girl. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

(Photo: 14ers.com)

Rocky, a K-9 with the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department in New York, died Sunday night after falling from a five-story building while pursuing a burglary suspect.

The 2 1/2-year-old German shepherd attempted to leap over a 3-foot retaining wall and fell 60 feet into the parking lot.

Rocky, a tracking and narcotics dog, graduated at the top of his class in the spring of 2009 and often assisted other police agencies, the Buffalo News reported.

Recently, he uncovered key evidence in a murder investigation at the Walmart store in Orleans County, and this past summer, he helped track a murder suspect in Albion. When he wasn’t chasing bad guys, Rocky visited children at the Niagara County Fair and through the DARE program.

Niagara Falls Police Superintendent John R. Chella said police got a call from residents who thought they heard someone inside the vacant building. His department requested two K-9s from the sheriff’s office to help in the search.

Following the search, Marcus A. Johnson, 24, of Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo, was arrested by the Niagara Falls Police Department. Police said he was trying to steal copper wiring from a vacant building.

Rocky worked with his handler,  Deputy Craig Beiter, whose previous K-9, Zeus, was also injured in a fall. Zeus was tracking burglary suspects at Lockport’s Old City Hall in 2007 when he fell 30 feet down an old shaft leading to the original Erie Canal Locks. He worked three more years, retiring in 2010.

Rocky was buried by Beiter at a private location, the sheriff’s department said, but a memorial service is being planned.

Gayla’s Little Poodle Palace, on the outskirts of Sparta, Tennessee, wasn’t so little.

More than 200 dogs — 221, according to the Humane Society of the United States — were seized from the puppy mill last week by the White County Sheriff’s Department after complaints that they were being housed in unsanitary conditions and lacked proper socialization and medical care.

All of the animals have been surrendered by the owner to the custody of the White County Sheriff’s Department, according to an HSUS press release.

The HSUS assisted in removing the animals and transporting them to an emergency shelter set up and staffed by the HSUS, the White County Humane Society and United Animal Nations. There, the dogs will be examined by a team of veterinarians before being transferred to animal shelters for evaluation and adoption.

“These dogs were being sold to unsuspecting consumers over the Internet and through newspaper advertisements. This should be a reminder to anyone looking for a new pet to first consider adoption, and only purchase a dog if you have personally visited the breeder,” said Leighann McCollum, HSUS Tennessee state director.

The dogs, mostly toy poodles, some with serious medical issues, were all living living in a small home.

Sheriff Oddie Shoupe said puppy mill owner Gayla Jackson was cooperating with authorities.

“She said she needed the help and didn’t know where to turn, and that this was a blessing in disguise,” said Shoupe. “She started grooming dogs, then it blossomed into a breeding operation, and it was too much for her to take care of.”

What’s believed to have been one of the top five dog fighting operations in the country was raided Tuesday morning, and 33 pit bulls were seized.

The Duplin County Sheriff’s Department in North Carolina discovered equipment used to train dogs for fighting and a dog fighting ring during the raid at a home in Mount Olive, WECT in Wilmington reported.

Authorities arrested the home’s owner, Harry Hargrove, 76.

“This gentleman has been known as one of the top five dog-fighting operations in the United States,” according to Anna Ware, with Atlanta-based security firm Norred & Associates who assisted in the raid.

“We have evidence to support that its probably been a 40-year operation,” said Miguel Abi-Hassan, of the Atlanta Humane Society, which deployed an animal rescue team and a trailer to help evaluate and treat the dogs before transporting them to an undisclosed location.

The dogs found at the home were trained to fight and some are worth as much as $10,000 in the underground ring, investigators said.

Two veterinarians checked and treated each animal seized. Most of the dogs had scarring consistent with dog fighting, Abi-Hassan said.

Confidential leads from a tip line sponsored by Norred led to the raid.

Koozie, an 8-year-old mix-breed was rescued — and then re-rescued — from icy Lake Erie in New York. Monday.

After wandering away from her owner’s home outside Buffalo, she was spotted Monday night about 30 miles away, trapped on the ice off Westfield.

An Erie County Sheriff’s Department helicopter was summoned, but the rescue effort was put off until yesterday, when a crew member was lowered in a basket and plucked Koozie from the ice.

After being brought to shore, the dog immediately trotted back out onto the ice and had to be rescued a second time by the helicopter crew, according to the Associated Press.

She was checked out by a veterinarian and returned to her owner.

Texas police and Humane Society officials seized 500 to 600 dogs and about 15 cats Tuesday in a raid on what they say is a puppy mill in Kaufman County, Fox News reported.

The Humane Society began investigating the kennel when someone came to them inquiring about dog food donations for the operation. Authorities found poor living conditions and sickly animals when they visited the location.

The kennel operated in a large metal building in a rural area near the Prairieville community, about 45 miles southwest of Dallas.

The animals seized are mostly Chihuahuas, poodles and other small-breed dogs. They were examined by vets to determine which ones needed medical attention.

The seizure was conducted by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in conjunction with the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake and the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department.

“This day marks a new beginning for these animals, who are suffering from a variety of serious health conditions and have been kept in constant confinement their entire lives producing puppies for the profit of the mill owner,” said Scotlund Haisley, senior director of Emergency Services at HSUS.

The dogs were found to be living in filthy conditions. Many were severely matted and suffering from chronic infected wounds, internal and external parasites and serious skin and eye infections, officials said.

All of the animals were being transported to a nearby emergency shelter.

A California man who gave his girlfriend a 3-month-old yellow Lab for Christmas has been taken into custody.

Officials say the dog was stolen – three days before Christmas — from a Stanton pet store.

The theft of the Marley look-alike from Pet City was caught on the store’s surveillance cameras, according to the Orange County Register.

The boyfriend – Ryan Rickman, 23, of Orange – returned to the store with the dog to pay for it Tuesday, but instead was booked into county jail on suspicion of burglary and grand theft, officials said. Later, the puppy was turned over to Rickman’s girlfriend, who ended up paying for her own Christmas gift.

Sheriff’s investigators have identified a second man involved in the theft but have not been able to contact him, said an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Security video shows two men walking into the store and spending several minutes talking to clerks. After one of the clerks leaves for a lunch break, one of the men distracts the remaining clerk while the other man lifts the puppy from a cage and runs out the door.