ohmidog!

An animal control officer in South Carolina responded to a call about a barking dog behind a Home Depot, and was touched when she discovered what all the noise was about.

“This is one example of why I love my job,” officer Michelle Smith said in her report.

A stray dog was nursing a kitten along North Pointe Creek in Anderson.

On Monday, a caller to animal control reported a dog had been barking in the area along the creek since Saturday, Fox Carolina reported

Smith followed the noise and found the dog and kitten at the bottom of a steep embankment.

She took them both to Anderson County P.A.W.S.

Smith said the dog is taking care of the kitten, cleaning and feeding it.

Animal control is hoping either the dog’s owner or whoever adopts her will agree to bring the cat home, too.

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.

Some dogs stories tend to sound a lot like fish stories.

But that’s not to say we’re casting any aspersions on this one.

Mark Wessells of Myrtle Beach, S.C., says that six months after he dropped his black Lab mix off at his father’s house in Winchester, Va., the dog named Buck, managed to walk all the way back to Myrtle Beach — a distance of 500 miles.

Wessells was in the process of moving and had left the dog with his father to keep temporarily.

“I wanted him to be up in Virginia where my dad has all this other property and he would’ve been happy,” Wessells said.

But a week after Wessells dropped Buck off, the dog disappeared from his father’s home.

Six months later, Buck showed up in South Carolina, where he was found by Brett Gallagher. For two weeks, the dog played happily with Gallagher’s yellow lab mix Hannah. Gallagher eventually took the dog, who he was calling Deuce, for a checkup at Grand Strand Animal Hospital where a veterinarian found a microchip identifying the dog and his owners.

“The nurse came back and said, ‘Are you Buck?’ and he got so excited,” Gallagher said. “It must have been the first time he heard his name since he left.”

Wessells was notified and came to claim his dog, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun. (Click the link for video of the reunion.)

“I still don’t know how I feel,” Wessells said. “I’m just glad he’s back.”

Lucy, a husky mix from Greenville, S.C., has been named the worst behaved dog in America by Camp Bow Wow, the pet care franchise — and as winner of that dishonor she’ll receive some much-needed training.

Camp Bow Wow reviewed hundreds of entries in its national “Bad to the Bone” contest before deciding on Lucy, an obedience school dropout who chews so much her nickname is “The Destroyer.”

Owned by Eve Memmer, Lucy will receive a full year of services from Camp Bow Wow and formal dog training from a Camp Bow Wow Behavior Buddies certified trainer, according to a press release.

“We’re so excited to have won the ‘Bad to the Bone’ contest,” said Eve Memmer. “Lucy is a close part of our family – we love her dearly. But she’ll chew on anything in sight, she dashes out of doors and lunges at other dogs when she’s on a leash. Lucy is in need of some serious dog training …”

The 60-pound, 11-month old husky mix once used her teeth to bend the bars of her crate and escape. She has tried a training class before, but it produced few results.

“We’re eager to see Lucy’s transformation from naughty pup to star pupil,” said Heidi Ganahl, CEO and founder of Camp Bow Wow. “All dogs need a little direction when it comes to training and behavior and we anticipate that Lucy’s lovable nature will outshine any mischievous conduct.”

Camp Bow Wow’s efforts to reform misbehaving dogs won’t end with Lucy. Fifty of the “Bad Dog” finalists have been entered into the next phase of the contest known as the “Face Off,” whose winners, determined by Facebook voting, will receive a gift certificate for Camp Bow Wow or Home Buddies services.

A South Carolina woman called a county animal control office asking they come pick up a dog she no longer wanted.

Then she left the hound mix in a bag on the curb — for three days.

Veronica Crawford, 29,  of Florence, was arrested by Darlington County Sheriff’s deputies on June 14 and charged with ill treatment of animals, SCNow.com reported.

According to Capt. Andy Locklair of the Darlington County Sheriff Office, Crawford called the county Animal Control office on Monday, June 11, saying she had a dog she no longer wanted.

She asked that the dog be picked up, but was informed that she would have to bring it in and fill out paperwork.

Three days later, according to Locklair, Crawford called Animal Control again requesting that the dog be picked up — and noting that it had been outside her home since Monday, tied up in a bag.

Animal Control contacted the Sheriff’s Office, which sent deputies to the residence. The dehydrated dog was found with only her head protruding from a bag.

Crawford was arrested and taken to the Darlington County Detention Center.

The dog was named Belinda at the shelter, where she was being treated for dehydration and injuries from her collar having becoming embedded in her skin.

(Photo: Darlington County Animal Control)

A 71-year-old South Carolina man who suffered a stroke after dropping his dog off to be groomed returned to the shop a few days later and found his border collie dead.

The police department in Union, S.C., is investigating the death, which occured sometime between May 2 and May 8 at Classy Pet Grooming, WYFF reported

John Johnson, of Whitmire, told police that he had dropped his dog off and, soon after, became ill and was hospitalized and treated for a stroke.

Unable to reach the business on the phone, he dropped by after he was released from the hospital. No one was there, so he peered through a window, spotted his unmoving dog inside and called police.

Officers arrived at the business establishment, where they talked to the owner by phone.

Shelly Vinson told an officer that she had tried to take Johnson’s dog for a walk on a leash, but it got away from her and ran away. She said she later found the dog dead under some bushes.

She told officers she carried the dog back to building and, before leaving, turned the air conditioner down low “so it wouldn’t stink inside the business.”

Police reports referred to the inside of the shop as “unsanitary.”

News Channel 7 reported that Vinson was issued a citation for animal cruelty.

An animal control officer removed four other dogs from the business, two of which have been returned to their owner.

Fourteen people in nine states have been sickened with Salmonella infections linked to a recalled dog food.

At least five have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reported Thursday that multiple brands of Diamond Pet Foods dry dog food are the suspected source of the human illnesses, a result of contact with the contaminated food or handling an animal that has eaten it.

The dog food was all produced at a manufacturing plant in Gaston, South Carolina – the same one that produced mold-contaminated food that killed dozens of dogs nationwide in 2005.

In some recall notices, Diamond Pet Foods has claimed that no dog illnesses have been reported in connection with its three recent voluntary recalls. Those alerts from the company did not reveal that human cases of infection were being investigated, according to Food Safety News.

According to the CDC, state officials in Michigan first detected Salmonella in an unopened bag of Diamond Pet Foods Naturals Lamb Meal & Rice dry dog food on April 2.

PulseNet, a national surveillance system for foodborne illnesses, then found several cases of human Salmonella Infantis infections with a genetic fingerprint identical to that found in the dog food, the CDC said.

Salmonella has also been detected in Diamond Brand Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Adult Light Formula dry dog food, found in the household of an ill person in Ohio.

And a sample of Diamond Puppy Formula dry dog food collected by the Food and Drug Administration during an inspection at the South Carolina production plant also yielded Salmonella, the CDC said.

Seven of ten outbreak victims interviewed said they had contact with a dog during the week before they became ill. Of five people who could remember the type of dog food they had handled, four said it was a Diamond Pet Foods brand.

The human illness has been reported in Missouri and North Carolina, each with three cases; Ohio, with two cases, and one each in Alabama, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Diamond Pet Foods recalled batches of its Naturals Lamb Meal & Rice dry dog food on April 6 in what it said was a “precautionary measure… No illnesses have been reported and no other Diamond manufactured products are affected,” the company said.

According to Food Safety News, the announcement came four days after the Michigan test results, confirming the presence of Salmonella in one of Diamond’s brands.

A second recall was announced April 26 for certain batches of Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Adult Light formula dry dog food, also made by Diamond. After that, a company press release stated “no dog illnesses” had been reported.

On April 30, the company expanded the recall to include Diamond Puppy Formula dry dog food.

According to the CDC, dogs and cats infected with Salmonella usually have diarrhea and may seem lethargic, but yhey can carry the infection and not appear to be sick. Humans can become infected by touching the animals, their food, or their environments such as food bowls, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands afterwards.

The CDC said consumers should check their homes for recalled dog food products and discard them promptly. Consumers with questions about recalled dog food may contact Diamond Pet Foods at telephone number 800-442-0402 or visit www.diamondpetrecall.com.

Diamond Pet Foods is voluntarily recalling a third type of dry dog food due to salmonella concerns.

All three products were made at a Gaston, S.C., plant —  the same one that made mold-contaminated food that killed dozens of dogs nationwide in 2005.

Production at the plant was halted April 8.

In a statement Monday, the Missouri-based company said the latest recall involves its Diamond Puppy Formula dry dog food. No canine illnesses have been reported.

The product was distributed to customers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The company announced in April that it was recalling batches of its Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Adult Light Formula and Diamond Naturals Lamb Meal & Rice.

It’s not the first place you might look for a missing dachshund, but 12 feet up a tree is where his owner found him Monday.

Owner Mimi Austin and her friends had spent hours searching for Cappy, a long-haired rescued dachshund who disappeared from her South Carolina home about 6 p.m.

It was after midnight when Austin, along with her neighbor, Kim Bonturi, and Bonturi’s golden retriever, heard barking while searching nearby Beaufort National Cemetery.

The barking stopped when they approached a big oak tree, surrounded by brush, which they began searching through.

But they didn’t find the dog until they decided to look in a new direction — up.

Seeing the dog on a limb, Bonturi returned home and came back with an eight-foot ladder, but it wasn’t quite tall  enough to reach the dog.

Police arrived, and eventually firefighters, with a bigger ladder.

“They got there, and this was a little dachshund. In a tree. Just sitting up there on a branch,” Beaufort/Port Royal Fire Department spokesman John Robinson told the Beaufort Gazette. “So Ross Vezin got a ladder and leaned it up the tree, and the dog started licking him in the face and came on down.”

Bonturi, who works with Chain Free Beaufort, a nonprofit dedicated to helping animals, said Cappy appeared fine.

“She was just happy to be in her mom’s arms,” she said.

Oreo, the South Carolina shih tzu whose owner put him out with the trash, has a new home.

Kevin and C.J. Miller, of Greenville, adopted Oreo Friday at the Greenville County animal shelter.

Last month, sanitation workers found Oreo in a trash bin waiting to be picked up at the curb. They returned the dog to his owner and called animal control officers who, when they arrived, found he had been put in the trash again.

Oreo’s former owner, Nancy Smythe, 58, of Spartanburg, has been fined $470 for ill treatment of animals, and another $80 because Oreo was not vaccinated against rabies.

“I just couldn’t believe someone would throw a dog in the trash, much less a dog this sweet,” said Kevin Miller, who picked the dog up Friday.

The Millers have a shih tzu at home, named Bam Bam, and had another who, partially blind and battling cancer, had to be put down in December, according to the Spartanburg Herald Journal.

They had visited several shelters before hearing of Oreo’s story.

“When I saw his picture on the Internet, I thought that’s him — that’s the dog,” C.J. Miller said.

(Photo: Michael Justus / Spartanburg Herald Journal)