ohmidog!

Tragedy struck the tragedy that is “Teen Mom 2″ when Chelsea Houska’s French bulldog — left outside unsupervised — was attacked and killed by a neighbor’s Siberian husky.

Houska, one of several single teen mom’s featured on the MTV reality show, had let both of her dogs outside as she rushed to get ready to go take her GED test.

Only one came back.

When she went to look for Frankie, she saw her being attacked by the husky next door.

“It was like the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” she tells her father later. When she called police, she says, she was told they couldn’t do anything and that “if  your dog was on a leash she’d still be alive.”

As Houska recounts to her father what happened, her daughter, Aubree, says, ”Mommy’s crying.”

“Yeah, she misses Frankie”

“Where’d Frankie go?”

“He went away for a little while,” says Houska’s dad.

An Oregon State University student was jailed on a theft charge after she refused to relinquish the dog she found in Portland earlier this year.

Jordan Biggs, 20, was booked into a Corvallis jail Friday, and later released — but without the dog she calls Bear.

Bear, or Chase, as he was previously known, is in the custody of animal control as officials look into the claims of the Portland man who says he’s the original owner and allegations that he treated the dog in an abusive manner.

Biggs has said she found the dog earlier this year in Portland and took him with her to Corvallis. She trained the dog to assist her when she has an asthma attack, according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times

When she returned to Portland for a visit in May, the original owner spotted the dog and asked that Siberian husky mix be returned.

When she declined, Sam Hanson-Fleming, 30, filed a complaint with police.

Biggs, meanwhile, hired animal rights attorney Geordie Duckler, who has filed a civil suit alleging Hanson-Fleming was abusive to the dog and asking a judge to grant custody to his client. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s has opened an investigation into whether Hanson-Fleming was abusive toward the pet.

Duckler said the dog would remain at a humane society shelter in Corvallis while the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office investigates the allegations.

Hanson-Fleming told The Oregonian in Portland on Saturday that the allegations of animal abuse and neglect are false:  “I’ve never hit Chase, I’ve never kicked him. The only thing I’ve done is swatted him with a rolled up newspaper,” he said.

Duckler said a private investigation through his office revealed Hanson-Fleming kicked, slapped, beat and urinated on Chase in order to show “who was in charge.”

The lawyer also said Hanson-Fleming regularly kept the dog in a cage that was too small, and that he regularly made the dog “inhale significant amounts of marijuana smoke in order to amuse himself and his friends.”

(Photo: Jordan and the dog she calls Bear; by Amanda Cowan / The Corvallis Gazette-Times)

When Pat Panek’s six-year-old Siberian Husky disappeared in November, she did what most of us would do — made some posters.

But when she put them up on the streets of Acton, Mass., she says, city officials told her she couldn’t do that, and even took them down.

She says the city told her the signs violated its laws.

“It makes me really angry and I don’t understand it,” Panek told WBZ News. ”Frankly, I just can’t wrap my brain around it.”

Panek is pursuing other routes — passing out brochures and  maintaining a Facebook page about her lost dog, but Bridgett, despite 30 reported sightings, still hasn’t been found.

Mike Gowing, the Chairman of the Acton Board of Selectmen, says the town’s laws pertaining to signage — intended to keep the town from being overrun with signs and losing its “historic feel” —  are confusing, and in the process of being rewritten.

How long lost dog signs should be allowed to stay up is one of the matters to be addressed.

“If you’ve lost your dog, how long is it that you should have the ability to put up signs that say, ‘Where’s my dog’? When do you call that?” he asked. In the case of Bridgett, he added, sounding something less than sensitive, “…It was over the winter, this dog’s either been taken in by somebody, or it’s gone.”

The director of Acton’s Planning Department, which enforces the towns signage laws, said Panek was never ordered to take down a sign, only informed that she was responsible for eventually taking them down.

(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 »

A Pennsylvania man accused of slipping drugs to a competing Siberian Husky in hopes of helping his girlfriend’s dog win a dog show was found not guilty of all charges Wednesday.

Prosecutors had said 68-year-old Ralph Ullum gave Protonix and a second human drug, possibly Benadryl, to Pixie, a prize-winning husky, during an American Kennel Club-sanctioned dog show in Wheaton, a suburb of Chicago, in December.

Ullum faced misdemeanor charges in DuPage County that included animal cruelty and attempted criminal damage to property.

DuPage County Judge Ronald Sutter found Ullum innocent of the charges Wednesday, saying prosecutors hadn’t proved their case against him, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Pixie wasn’t harmed by the drugs.

Jessica Plourde, Pixie’s owner, testified Monday she found pill fragments in and around Pixie’s cage during the show, and that an undigested pill was discovered after a veterinarian induced the white-and-brown female show dog to vomit.

Two witnesses testified they saw Ullum walk up to Pixie’s cage while Plourde was absent and slip something inside.

Defense attorney Ed Maloney contended the allegations against his client were unfounded, and a result of a long-running rivalry between dog trainers.

Neither Pixie nor the dog trained by Ullum’s girlfriend won the best in show award.

A Tennessee family returned home to find their 10-month-old Siberian husy hanging from a tree last week.

The dog, named Allison, who they left on a 50-foot chain, was found by Juanita Phariss’s 18-year-old daughter, Emily, at their home in Smyrna.

The dog’s chain was wrapped around a tree five times, and she’d apparently been hoisted up, with the chain being attached to the fence, the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro reported.

 ”I untied her collar to get her down before my younger kids could see her,” said Phariss, wo’s 14-year-old daughter, Amanda, has cystic fibrosis.

“It’s been really hard on her, especially,” Phariss said. “She doesn’t even want anybody mentioning Allison’s name. She made a cross for her grave out back.”

Phariss said the chain disappeared from her yard between the time she called the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and deputies arrived.

Anyone with information in the case are urged to call the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office at 615-898-7770.

Luna, the Siberian husky who has spent more than a month in solitary confinement and faced the death penalty for attacking two chickens at a neighbor’s property in Connecticut, has won a reprieve with help from a lawyer.

Luna on Thursday was signed over to New York lawyer Richard Rosenthal, co-founder of the animal defense group The Lexus Project, who became involved in her case after learning about it on Facebook.

According to the Hartford Courant, Luna was to have a court hearing Thursday, but the town of Tolland and Rosenthal came to an agreement prior to the hearing.

The town withdrew the “disposal order” issued by Tolland animal control officer Tina Binheimer in June, and the judge approved the agreement.

Rosenthal said he will in turn give the dog to Ruth Hanley of Double Dog Rescue in Massachusetts, who will care for and rehabilitate Luna until the organization can find her a new home.

According to the settlement, Luna can return to Connecticut — but not to Tolland.

“Luna’s now spent over a month in solitary confinement and it does take a toll, they are very social animals,” said Rosenthal. “I’m told by people that visited last week she’s starting to show some apprehension, a little bit of fear of people. So she just needs to quietly be reintroduced to being around people and see that it’s OK.”

Luna has been in the Tolland animal pound since June 20, after she escaped from owner Paul Doyle’s property and twice killed chickens belonging to a neighbor.

After the first incident Doyle was ordered by a judge to build an enclosure, but he never did and Luna escaped a second time, killing a second chicken. After the second attack, animal control officials issued an order of disposal for the dog, which stipulated that Luna had to be put down by June 21.

A Facebook page in support of Luna attracted the attention of Rosenthal and his group. Rosenthal filed a civil lawsuit and received a temporary restraining order against Binheimer and Tolland Animal Control. On Thursday he planned to challenge the legality of the order issued by Binheimer before coming to an agreement with Tolland’s town attorney Richard Conti.

As part of the settlement The Lexus Project, which worked for free, agreed to pay the town $660 to cover fees for Luna’s stay in the dog pound.

(Photo: From the “Save Luna from Tolland” Facebook page)

Police have filed animal cruelty charges against a Pennsylvania man who allegedly drugged a competitor’s Siberian husky at a dog show in Wheaton.

Ralph Ullum, 68 of Claysville, was attending a kennel club show in December at the DuPage County Fairgrounds with his girlfriend, whose Siberian husky, Diana, was entered in the competition.

He’s accused of feeding Protonix and possibly Benadryl to a competing husky, named Pixie, NBC in Chicago reported.

Pixie’s handler, Jessica Plourde of Newark Valley, N.Y., noticed a crushed pink pill near Pixie’s cage on the second day of competition, according to police. Later, witnesses came forward saying they had seen Ullum feeding and petting Pixie while Plourde was away from the cage

A veterinarian induced vomiting in Pixie and found a rubber band, dog food, chicken pieces and an undigested Protonix pill. Protonix is used to treat acid reflux and heartburn. Wheaton police say the pink crushed pill found near Pixie’s cage is believed to be Benadryl, an over the counter allergy medicine that can cause drowsiness.

Ullum denied feeding anything to Pixie, but said he did pet her.

His hearing on misdemeanor cruelty to animals charges is scheduled for June.

Prosecutors say they are still at least a week away from deciding whether charges will be filed against the federal officer who shot and killed a Siberian Husky he thought was acting too roughly with his dog at a Maryland dog park.

The officer, though authorities have withheld his name, has been identified as Keith Elgin Shepherd, employed by the Army at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Northern Virginia.

Anne Arundel County prosecutors told the Baltimore Sun yesterday that it may take another week for them to finish their investigation. The investigation was prompted by a public outcry after authorities originally said no charges would be filed.

Public interest in the case remains high. About 20 people demonstrated yesterday outside the Anne Arundel County courthouse in Annapolis, supporting of the owners of Bear-Bear, fatally shot Aug. 2 in a private dog park in the Quail Run community in Severn.

Police say the shooter thought Bear-Bear, who was unleashed, was getting too rough with his German shepherd, who was leashed. 

Police have refused to identify the shooter, and his name was blacked out on police reports supplied to the news media. But a report without redactions obtained by the Sun identifies him as Shepherd.

Prosecutors said last week that key issues focused on whether the shooter was legally allowed to carry a personal handgun off-post, and whether he broke the law in shooting the husky or was acting to defend his dog, self and wife.

Police still haven’t released the name of the officer who shot a Siberian husky at a Severn dog park, but two Anne Arundel County prosecutors have been assigned to work with police on the continuing investigation.

Bear-Bear was shot Aug. 2 at the private dog park in the Quail Run community by a civilian police officer employed by the Army at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Northern Virginia. The officer told police his leashed German shepherd was attacked by Bear-Bear.

One of the prosecutors assigned to investigate whether charges should be brought against the officer is Kimberly DiPietro, who handles the office’s animal cruelty cases and other matters relating to animals.

DiPietro told the Baltimore Sun there are two issues: whether the shooter had a right to carry a weapon, and whether the shooting of the pet violated the law.

The weapon used in the shooting was the man’s personal weapon, police said.