ohmidog!

Fox News is reporting that country singer Mindy McCready’s fatal shooting of her own dog before she commited suicide Sunday was “not an act of malice at all.”

Fox quotes an unidentified friend as saying, “Mindy really loved her dog … It would have been more of a case where she just didn’t want to leave the dog alone.”

How thoughtful.

Not to speak ill of the dead, or to suggest rational behavior should be expected from those in the clutches of mental illness, but there are better ways of securing a future for your dog when you’ve decided you no longer want one for yourself.

And to describe an act like that as anything close to kind-hearted is just plain wrong.

A better description — even if the misguided thinking behind it was a hope they would end up in the same place in the hereafter  – would be selfish.

McCready, who had attempted suicide twice earlier,  had reportedly been depressed since the father of her youngest child, record producer David Wilson, died earlier this year from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. That took place on the same front porch where McCready shot the dog and herself.

“Based on what we have found at the scene at this time, we do believe that she took the life of the dog that we are being told by family members belonged to Mr. Wilson before she took her own life,” said Sheriff Marty Moss of Cleburne County.

McCready’s two sons, aged ten months and six, were removed from her home by a judge on Feb. 6. After that, McCready was committed to a rehabilitation facility for mental health and alcohol abuse examinations, but released two days later.

“She didn’t really have a support network and coming home to an empty house seems to be what really did it,” the source told Fox News. “It is tragic. She was a sweet and kind girl at heart.”

Whatever other morals her tragic life holds, however kind her heart was, whatever her legacy might be, one thing stands out — given the course she chose for her beloved dog — about her messy end:

How much more tragic the story might have been had her children not been taken from her.

(Photo: Associated Press)

A dog was shot in the head and left on the doorstep of a worker for Dogs Deserve Better, the animal rescue organization that moved into Michael Vick’s old house in Surry County, Virginia.

Melissa Wischmeier with Dogs Deserve Better said the dog was taken to Roger’s Veterinary Hospital in Smithfield.

WAVY.com reported that the dog had a microchip.  Later, WAVY reported that the dog had been reunited with its owner Monday night.

Wischmeier said the dog, named Leah, was left in front of the home of a Dogs Deserve Better worker.

Dr. Kathryn Bouvier at Roger’s Veterinary Hospital said x-rays showed a trail of bullet fragments from Leah’s snout all the way to her spinal cord.

Bouvier said the the dog was recovering, but concerns remained about shifting bullet fragments and infection.

Troubled country music star Mindy McCready, whose life read like a sad, sometimes X-rated country song, was found dead of an apparent suicide — commited, according to some reports, seconds after fatally shooting her own dog.

TMZ quoted sources close to the 37-year-old singer as saying neighbors heard two gunshots coming from her home in Arkansas, one of which was fired at her dog.

According to CNN, McCready, who rose to stardom in the 1990s, had suffered two drug overdoses, was arrested on drug charges and twice attempted suicide before 2005 ended.

After a drug overdose in 2010, she joined the cast of VH1′s “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” a reality show about celebrities being treated for alcohol and drug addiction.

Also in 2010, Vivid Entertainment released a porn video called “Mindy McCready, Baseball Mistress” that featured McCready having sex with a boyfriend and talking about her exploits, as a teenager, with baseball player Roger Clemens.

McCready had long struggled with addiction, mental illness and man problems — often publicly.

This year, the father of the younger of her two children, record producer David Wilson, was found dead in his home on Jan. 13 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Over the weekend, the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office said McCready’s body was found on her front porch after neighbors reported hearing shots.

McCready’s children had been removed from her home by a judge on Feb. 6, after which she spent two days in a treatment facility for a mental-health and alcohol-abuse evaluation.

Eicher

An Amish man who shot a mother dog and her eight puppies told police in New York that he thought killing dogs was acceptable under his culture, as long as it was done out of sight and with discretion – or as he put it, “Shoot, shovel and shut up.”

“In the Amish it’s acceptable to put dogs down. I thought as long as you did it out back it was okay,” Jonathon Eicher reportedly told officers who arrested him and the breeder of the dogs in Wayne County.

The nine dead dogs were discovered in a ditch by a highway crew on January 17.

Also charged with animal cruely was Merlin Schmucker, 26, who owned and bred the Australian red heelers, but was unable to sell the dogs because, he said, they’d become too big.

Schmucker

Schmucker asked Eicher, his employee, to put the dogs down, said Wayne County District Attorney Rick Healy.

“This is simply a case of animal cruelty,” he said. “They can’t treat the animals the way they want to treat the animals; they must treat the animals humanely.”

Both Schmucker and Eicher were charged with nine counts of cruelty to animals , WHAM reported.

Schmucker told police he had “raised the dogs and couldn’t put them down myself so I asked Jonathan to do it.”

Eicher admitted killing the dogs with a .22-caliber rifle, police said.

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.”

DNA from a dead pit bull’s mouth led to the arrest of a suspect in an Ohio home invasion — but not until after the suspect allegedly went on to shoot and kill a pregnant 16-year-old Akron girl.

David Stoddard was indicted Thursday for aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in connection with a home invasion in Barberton on Oct. 6.

Three masked men burst into a house, robbed the occupants and shot and killed the family’s pit bull mix after it bit one of the intruders on the arm, according to News Channel 5.

Police investigating the crime swabbed the inside of the deceased dog’s mouth in hopes of finding DNA evidence that would lead to the bitten suspect.

On Dec. 5, Barberton police learned the sample had led to a potential match to Stoddard and began trying to find him — both at his home and through his attorney, who said Stoddard would turn himself in.

That didn’t happen, and police did not issue a warrant for Stoddard’s arrest, in part because they were hoping to confirm the DNA results first with a second test.

On Jan. 6, Stoddard allegedly broke into an Akron home and shot and killed 16-year-old Anna Karam, who was 4-months pregnant.

Stoddard is being held in the Summit County Jail. He’s facing multiple  charges, including aggravated murder in connection with the Akron killing.

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.”

Police in Baltimore shot and killed a family’s pit bull when the dog ran out of his home as police were chasing a suspect.

“He wasn’t just our dog. He was our family,” Stacey Fields said of the family’s dog, Kincaid. “It’s a horrible thing seeing your dog that you love  laying on the ground dead and bloody.”

Fields said a suspect being chased down an alley ran into their basement stairwell, with police in pursuit.

Kincaid ran out of his home during the commotion, and Baltimore police say he charged at the officers.

WJZ reported the dog was shot three times, twice in the head

“He was just barking like ‘Hey, what are doing in my yard? Who are you?’” Fields said.

“If it was a Cockapoo or a Chihuahua it probably wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “If he had pulled his mace, Kincaid would still be here.”

The Tucson Police Officers Association is seeking to honor a police dog killed in the line of duty by having a dog park named after him.

Ivan, a 3-year-old Belgian malinois, was shot and killed two weeks ago while trying to protect officers from an armed carjacking suspect.

The dog park at Purple Heart Park on East Rita Road, which officially opened over the summer, is where Ivan would go with his handler to unwind after his shift.

“(He) would allow him to run the energy off for the night before taking him home,”  TPOA secretary, Officer Paul Sheldon, told the Arizona Daily Star.

Sheldon, at the request of  Ivan’s handler, Officer Chris Fenoglio, is spearheading an effort to have the park named after Ivan. Last week, he took petitions to the park, seeking signatures in support of the idea.

The petition will be presented to Tucson’s Parks and Recreation department for approval at its next board meeting, after which it would head to the city council for a vote.

Sheldon said he hopes the approval process can be completed by February.

Ivan was shot on Dec. 13 by a carjacking suspect who pulled out a gun when officers encountered him. Released by Fenoglio the dog ran to the suspect and managed to bite his left arm before he was shot.

Sheldon said Fenoglio has received dozens of letters of support from the community.

If the dog park is named after the hero police dog, it won’t be the first time.

In 2006, a Tucson Police Department dog named Miko died after jumping off an overpass in pursuit of a carjacking suspect.

The dog park at Reid Park was named in his honor —  Miko’s Corner Playground.

(Photo of Ivan courtesy of Tucson Police Department)

Great Danes Samson and Epic were shot to death in 2010 by a neighbor who felt threatened by them.

In death, they’d go on to be disrespected again.

The cremated remains of the two dogs were snorted by burglars who, for some reason, thought the urn they stole contained drugs.

One of the three men accused of stealing jewelry, a laptop, a flat screen TV and the urns from the Florida home of Holli Tencza was sentenced Friday to more than eight years in prison, Ocala.com reports.

Jose David Diaz-Marrero, 20, was involved in a string of burglaries in Silver Springs Shores with two other men between December 2010 and January 2011, police say.