ohmidog!

A heartless soul stole 7-year-old Mia Bendrat’s dog on Christmas Eve — scooping him off the sidewalk in front of a store in Manhattan where her owner’s left him tied.

Fortunately, a good-hearted one was out there, too.

Tina Cohen, a teacher, saw a man a couple of neighborhoods away trying to sell a dog on the street, circumstances that made her suspicious. She purchased the dog from him and, on Christmas day, returned the dog to the owners.

New York City police arrested the alleged thief, who they say took the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, named Marley, from outside a shop in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, all under the eye of a surveillance camera.

“Thank you, the people of Washington Heights … Those great Samaritans… And now we got him on Christmas Day,” Mia’s mother Angie Estrada told WABC-TV.

Cohen, a high school Spanish teacher came across a man on Monday in another section of Manhattan standing on a street corner and yelling that he had a dog for sale.

“I said that’s not right. I said I’d like to buy the dog. I only have $100,” Cohen said.

When the man demanded more cash, Cohen went to a nearby Staples, bought some merchandise with her credit card, then returned it for cash.

She paid $200 for Marley and took him straight to a veterinarian, where he was identified through his microchip.

On Tuesday Cohen watched Marley jump into Mia’s arms.

“You guys belong together,” she said. “I’m so happy you are together.”

No word on whether Cohen got her $200 back, but — in the event Santa is listening, and maybe is willing to make a return trip — we’d say she deserves that and much more.

This video — and we warn that you might not want to watch it — shows New York City police shooting a pit bull that was seemingly trying to protect her owner, who was in the midst of a seizure.

It was an act that enraged many onlookers when it happened — on Aug. 13 –  and many more in the week since the video was posted on the Internet.

Most early reports about the incident were sketchy, and the facts — even 10 days later — still don’t seem to have fully come out. Other than these:

Lech Stankiewicz apparently suffered a seizure and ended up halfway on the sidewalk, halfway on the street. His dog Star stood by him.

As can be seen at the beginning of the video, a female bystander, apparently wanting to offer some assistance to the man, gets too close and is chased off by the dog. The dog then turns around and runs toward a police officer — one of at least two on the scene by then, both of whom had their guns drawn.

The first officer shoots the dog, and it appears the second one fires as well, leaving Star whimpering and writhing on the street.

The nine long minutes that follow are almost equally disturbing. No one goes to the aid of the dog, no one goes to the aid of the man, and police, whose numbers have swelled by then, seem concerned only with crowd control as both man and dog lay in the street.

Some websites were quick to report that Star had been “murdered” by police — like this outraged account on Gather.com – but she’s still alive.

Star was taken to Animal Care and Control (ACC) of NYC, but that organization saw fit, at least initially, to release no information.

The Lexus Project, which provides legal defense for dogs it thinks are being treated unfairly and is looking into the case, released a statement, but it didn’t say much either:

“We know that so many of you are concerned, worried and outraged about Star. This is an update and although I know you want more but please respect this is all we are permitted to say at this time. Star is very much alive and receiving medical care and holding her own. We will update as soon as we are permitted to. Thank you for your support and understanding.”

The video appeared on the Gothamist website and subsequently has been shown on many others.

Not to jump to too large a conclusion, but watching the video — and the inaction of authorities, other than shooting Star — suggests to me that police may need more  training for dealing with dogs, not to mention dealing with epileptic seizures.

Peanut butter-bacon may not be your flavor of choice for ice cream on a hot summer day; nor, for that matter, tuna-cranberry.

But dogs go for it, and dogs — mostly — are the clientele  that Andreana Droz seeks out, in a bright red cart that can be seen on the sidewalks of Chicago and its suburbs.

Droz is the founder and owner of Arrfscarf, which sells gourmet dog treats from an ice cream cart.

In an interview with AVClub.com, Droz says her business got started by accident. After her dog, Suki, was hit by a car, she started baking dog treats and sharing them with her co-workers. Then after hearing about some doggie “ice cream” products, she started researching them.

“The timing was right, because food trucks were starting to gain popularity in the city, and a little red umbrella cart would set me apart. I developed my own doggy ice cream recipes and hit the streets,” she said. “Street vending is a great way to market your product and meet your pup clients at the same time.”

The ice creams and baked goods she sells, all based on her own recipes, are made at licensed commissary. She loads them into her cart and hits the streets with her cooling concoctions.

“Technically, our ice cream is for human consumption, just made dog-friendly using Greek yogurt or coconut milk with dog-appealing flavors. Only five ingredients go into our ice cream, compared to about 20 in commercial ones.”

The peanut butter bacon ice cream is the No. 1 seller, she says, followed by tuna cranberry.

“Research shows there are certain flavors that arouse a dog’s sense of smell, which is in fact much more keen than his taste. Peanut butter, bacon, and cheese are at the top of the list.”

Droz says some humans enjoy the treats too, which, though fit for human consumption, are aimed at dogs.

“My dad loves the peanut butter bacon ice cream,” she said.

(Photo from AVClub.com)

As was the case with our kudzu dogs, this one requires just a squirt of imagination.

Ace and I were walking the streets of downtown Missoula when we saw a chocolate Labrador stopping to pee — well, not really stopping at all, which was the interesting part.

For almost half a block, he zig-zagged along the sidewalk, leaving a squiggly trail behind him.

Perhaps he, or his owner, had no time to stop — maybe the human had an urgent appointment, or maybe the dog had a weak bladder; or maybe, just maybe, the dog was expressing himself in the other meaning of the phrase.

Maybe he’d discovered a way around not being able to speak human — and it’s just a case of no one having discovered his amazing ability yet.

Sure, it doesn’t look like much now, but let’s see what happens when we turn it sideways.

Don’t bother moving your computer; allow me:

If I’m not mistaken, it spells Missoula, Montana.

Jiffy — an obese border collie mix found frozen to the sidewalk a year ago in Wisconsin — is 40 pounds lighter, a good deal warmer and living with a new family.

Adopted last spring by Patty and Peter Geise, the elderly dog didn’t suffer any lasting injuries from the incident, but it did lead to his previous owner relinquishing her ownership of the dog, the Sheboygan Press reports.

“He’s moving like a regular dog again,” said Patty Geise. Jiffy weighed 116 pounds then, about three times what he should. He’s now down to 76 pounds.

He’s still overweight, but nothing like he was in December 2008, when he arrived at the Sheboygan County Human Society shelter, where Patty Geise volunteers.

He had been found frozen to a sidewalk after being left outside overnight in single-digit temperatures after his owner couldn’t get him back inside the house. His girth turned out to be friend and foe. It contributed to him getting stuck to ground, but his layers of fat also are believed to have kept him warm enough to survive.

His former owner was charged with  intentionally mistreating animals following the incident, but the charge was later dismissed. The owner had tried to bring the dog inside, called 911 seeking help, put a blanket over Jiffy, and checked him periodically through the night.

After reports about the incident, the humane society was contacted by hundreds of people from as far away as Spain, all wanting to adopt Jiffy.

(Photo: Geise walks with Jiffy; by Gary C. Klein/The Sheboygan Press)

A Sheboygan, Wisconsin woman has been cited for animal neglect after leaving her overweight dog outdoors in single-digit temperatures, where it froze to a sidewalk but survived.

Shelter workers say Jiffy, who remains in their custody, was left in frigid weather last week but the “morbidly obese” (120 pounds) border collie was protected by layers of insulating fat.

Police issued 59-year-old Alice Bigler an ordinance violation for animal neglect. A misdemeanor animal neglect charge could be filed Dec. 22, when Bigler is scheduled to appear in court.

A number for Bigler was disconnected. It wasn’t immediately known whether she had a lawyer, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, also in Sheboygan, police arrested a 37-year-old man Tuesday, who is accused of abandoning a sickly pit bull by leaving it tied to a pole in an alley. A nearby resident saw the dog and called authorities, according to another Associated Press report.

According to police, the dog was extremely underweight and had frostbite on its front paws, front legs and left ear. The dog is expected to recover.

Jiffy the border collie mix is safe and warm and temporarily residing at a Wisconsin humane society after spending last Wednesday night frozen to the sidewalk outside his home.

The dog, 11-years-old and 70 pounds overweight, was let outside by his owner. Neighbors say she tried to get him up from the sidewalk but couldn’t, TV station WTOL reported. So she left him there.

After a concerned neighbor called police the next morning, shelter workers arrived and poured warm water over Jiffy’s back end to unstick him from the sidewalk, said Carey Payne of the Sheboygan County Humane Society.

Jiffy’s 59-year-old owner was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of animal neglect, Sheboygan Police Lt. Tim Eirich said. The woman, who was not identified by name, told police she checked on him every few hours.

The dog’s extra weight might have kept him alive, officials at the humane society said. The dog weighs 116 pounds–70 pounds more than he should.

“I think the extra layer of fat he has kept him insulated,” Payne said. The organization has received about a half dozen calls from people who want to adopt him.