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A New York man who promised to take a friend’s dog to a farm in the country instead duct taped the dog’s mouth and legs and tossed him in a ditch, state police say.

Shane Morehouse, 52, of Fort Edward, was charged Saturday with animal cruelty and abandoning an animal — both misdemeanors, the Saratogian reported.

Police say the dog belonged to an acquaintance of Morehouse who could no longer care for the dog.

“The dog’s owner said he was going to be released on the farm,” state police Sgt. Chuck Salaway said. “Morehouse apparently changed his mind and left it along the side of the road without any concern over what was going to happen to it.”

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

The dog, a 12-year-old malamute mix named Chubby, was taken to a local SPCA, where he was euthanized after he was found to be suffering from an unrelated illness.

Over the years we’ve shared with you bad pug news, and sad pug news, harsh pug realities, and cute pug head tilts; we’ve covered baseball loving pugs and traveling pugs and baby-carriage pushing pugs; pugs with big friends and pugs at the center of custody battles.

So of course we can make room for a nice, short, simple and happy pug story.

Pugsly, living at the Pennsylvania SPCA, was the featured “Pet of the Week” in Monday’s Philadelphia Daily News. He’s not exactly a puppy. At 12 years old, he’s blind and deaf — not the sort you’d think people would rush out and claim.

But the same day his photo appeared in the newspaper, Pugsly was adopted.

It was love at first sight, Donna Franchetti told the Daily News, which every Monday features a pet from either the PSPCA or the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society

“My husband called me after he saw the picture in the Daily News and said, ‘You have to call now,’ ” said Franchetti, a veterinarian who works mainly with horses and lives in West Chester.

Pugsly headed to his new home Monday, where he joins a family of six other older pugs that the pair has adopted over the years.

Franchetti expects Pugsly will fit in well with their other dogs — one of whom, Wednesday, is also named after a character from The Addams Family.

“They’re great little dogs,” Franchetti said. “They make me laugh every day.”

(Photo: Philadelphia Daily News)

Hershey, a 15-year-old German shepherd mix, is back home after spending 17 days in and around a neighboring nature preserve — at least some of that time with an arrow sticking out of his chest.

Shot either by a hunter or sick thrill seeker, Hershey was found this week with an arrow protruding from both sides of his chest. He has since had it removed and is recovering.

The dog ran out of his house Oct. 20 to chase a squirrel and disappeared into the Princess Ledges Nature Preserve, a 46-acre site in Brunswick Hills, Ohio.

The family had searched for the dog for 17 days. On Sunday though, Hershey wandered into a back yard in Valley City, 15 miles away. The homeowner cut off the ends of the arrow that protruded from both sides of the dog’s body to make him more comfortable, and called the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Akron Beacon-Journal reports.

SPCA officials took Hershey to the Akron Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Copley Township, where the rest of the arrow was removed.

When an animal control officer in Brunswick heard about the dog, he determined it was Hershey, whose family had called him repeatedly during their search. He relayed that information to the SPCA, which contacted Hershey’s owners, Deanne Pennell and her daughter, Mindy Daugherty.

SPCA Director Stephanie Moore said the arrow was probably lodged in the dog’s body at least two days.

The Pennells picked up Hershey on Tuesday afternoon and took him home.

Donations are helping to cover the cost of Hershey’s medical care, including $1,000 from an Olmsted Falls family. Donations can be made through the Medina County SPCA.

(Photo by Karen Schiely / Akron Beacon Journal)

The Wake County SPCA, which received a finger-wagging warning from a wealthy music conglomerate after it had the audacity to use an Abba song to try and save animals’ lives, has managed to get their inspiring lyp-synch video back online.

We showed you the video not long after it was posted on YouTube. And we told you about it when Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music content company, polititely instructed the Wake SPCA, in Raleigh, to take it off.

The SPCA did so, but now it’s taking another chance on “Take a Chance on Me,” the Abba song which staff and volunteers lip synch in the video, all while showing off adoptable pets.

Performing a little magic of its own, the SPCA returned the video online in a silent version, providing instructions on how to link simultaneously to a recording of the Abba song that’s already on YouTube, one that has somehow avoided the wrath of the corporate giant.

If you time your click right, you can hear the song from the other source while watching the SPCA video, which is silent except for a few barking dogs in the background, and the voices of staff and volunteers singing at the end.

The SPCA explains on its website that it came up with the solution after trying to convince UMG that its video was not a commercial, that it was similar to hundreds of other user-created YouTube videos using the same song, and that, as a charity, it was using the song for noble purposes.

“So we begged, we pleaded, we promised to single-handedly bring Abba back to the U.S. pop charts, and finally we tried to purchase the license. The animal loving music rep in Calilfornia reported that the songwriters actually watched the video, and the answer was still, ‘no, it’s a commercial.’ But like we said, we don’t blame them. After all, homeless pets and animal shelters aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.”

Because of its popularity during its short life — 65,000 viewed it on YouTube in six days — the SPCA came up with the alternative viewing method, which, though it requires a little more work, is still worth the effort.

The SPCA says it holds no ill will toward the production company:

“We don’t blame them really. Who could believe that our total budget was only $32? Who could believe that an incredible production company would be so committed to helping animals that they would work for hours and hours without pay? Who could believe that more than 50 volunteers and staff would be so dedicated to helping homeless animals that they would come together and pretend to sing and dance and be silly for the animals? Well, we all can believe this, but lawyers in Sweden can’t.”

The Maryland SPCA has launched a new television and radio campaign to promote pet adoptions and encourage support of its work on behalf of animals.

The campaign will run for a month on local television stations, and a radio version will be broadcast on WLIF-FM.

Everyone who signs up to make a monthly gift during the campaign will receive a ”Feel the warmth of a cold nose” bumper sticker and will be enrolled in the SPCA’s Faithful Friends group.

As a monthly donor, you choose the amount to have automatically withdrawn from your account or charged to your credit card. There is no transaction charge, and you can cancel at any time. To learn more about being a monthly donor, visit this page.

Supporters can also enroll by email, or make a one-time donation.

UPDATE: The Wake County SPCA video is back — in a fashion. Find details here.

Wouldn’t you just know it: The Wake County SPCA’s inspiring music video — lip-synched to Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” — has been taken down, apparently after threats by the giant music company that holds the rights to the song.

The video, in which staff and volunteers dance around the shelter encouraging the adoption of homeless pets, is now a blank spot, both here at ohmidog! and on YouTube.

The following message is displayed where the video once was.

“This video contains content from UMG, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”

UMG stands for Universal Music Group, a global corporate giant and the world’s largest music content company. 

Another message adds, “Sorry folks. We are working to convince them of video’s educational content and promo value.”

We could all boycott Universal Music for being such sticks in the mud, for putting their turf concerns and profits above saving the lives of dogs, but that would mean no:

Akon, Erykah Badu, Justin Bieber, Black Eyed Peas, Mary J. Blige, Bon Jovi,  Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Melissa Etheridge,  Fergie, 50 Cent, Nelly Furtado, Vince Gill, Godsmack, India.Arie, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, Jennifer Lopez, Ludacris, Maroon 5, Nicky Minaj, Rihanna,  Gwen Stefani, Sting, George Strait, Shania Twain, Stevie Wonder, and Kanye West — just to name a few.

I could handle that, particularly the Justin Bieber part.

How ridiculously greedy. How uncivically minded. How, in a word, bullying — why else would the company feel the need to flex its muscles at a non-profit organizatiion trying to save the lives of dogs.

We hope the SPCA can work things out and get the video back online.

They seem to be taking the matter in stride, and not calling UMG a bunch of greedy, selfish, joy-smashing pigs — that’s just me that’s doing that.

The Wake County SPCA website offers this explanation:

“Sorry about this folks, we got a very cordial email from the folks in Sweden that we are using this commercially (as opposed to non-commercially). So while we try to convince them of its educational content and value and that we will single-handedly bring ABBA back to the top of the US pop charts, please enjoy another SPCA of Wake County video.”

Visitors to the website are taken instead to another SPCA video featuring scenes from the shelter and songs by Sara McLachlan and The Beatles.

A golf course superintendent in Bucks County, Pa., has been charged with shooting his American bulldog 32 times behind a building at the Doylestown Country Club.

Paul Bevan-Xenelis, 39, of Quakertown, could spend up to five years in jail and pay as much as $10,000 in fines if convicted of charges of cruelty to animals and owning an unlicensed dog, Phillyburbs.com reported.

“To shoot a dog that many times and leave it, to me, that’s just shocking,” said Stephen White, Doylestown Township police chief. “It’s unspeakable cruelty.”

Doylestown Country Club president Joseph Paul said in a statement last week that club leaders were “extremely disturbed” by Bevan-Xenelis’ alleged actions, and that he has been fired.

The dog, named Kane, was found tied to a fence near the maintenance shed at the country club on July 24. The dog, about 10 years old, was alive, but “in distress” when police arrived.

Police said Bevan-Xenelis tied the dog to the fence the night of July 23 after it bit a co-worker. The next day, he returned to the country club and shot the dog with a pellet gun, police said.

The dog was taken to the Bucks County SPCA, where he was euthanized, according to Anne Irwin, the agency’s director.

Bevan-Xenelis allegedly told police he shot the dog only once with a .22-caliber pellet gun, but the SPCA removed eight, .22-caliber pellets from Kane’s body.

Police said an SPCA examination of Kane’s remains showed the dog had been shot no fewer than 32 times.

Bevan-Xenelis had Kane for six months and told police he adopted the dog from a rescue in the Philadelphia area. He said he kept the dog at work because he didn’t feel safe keeping him at home.

Due to extreme heat, the Maryland SPCA has postponed this evening’s Wine & Wag Happy Hour, rescheduling the event for next Friday, July 29, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The event, held at the Maryland SPCA on Falls Road in Baltimore, includes paw painting, bobbing for hot dogs, off-leash play, and beverages, of course.

The theme for the rescheduled even will remain the same — “Barkaritaville” — and tropical attire is welcome.

Tickets can be purchased online for $10 per person in advance or at the gate for $15 per person.

Those who purchased tickets for the July 22 event can use them on July 29.

Short-snouted dogs can no longer fly Cathay Pacific.

The airline Monday banned the brachycephalic breeds from air travel because of the risks of breathing problems and overheating.

The ban covers pugs, bulldogs and boxers, and several breeds of cats, including Himalayan, Persian and exotic short-hair cats, CNN’s Business 360 blog reports.

Cathay Pacific’s ban follows similar moves by Singapore Airlines and several American carriers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation released figures last year showing about half of all in flight deaths in the previous five years were short-snouted breeds, with English bulldogs accounting for nearly a quarter of those deaths.

“The ban is to bring Cathay Pacific into line with industry practice because it has been found that there is quite a bit of danger,” said Thomas Lau, Cathay Pacific’s assistant manager of public affairs.

Hong Kong’s Society for the Protection of Animals (SPCA) believes that the ban is an over-reaction.

“… There are cases when air travel is unavoidable, especially when owners need to emigrate,” said Rebecca Ngan, communications manager of SPCA Hong Kong. “If owners cannot send them in the cabin they may have to abandon them or put them to sleep.”

Piercing kittens is cruel, a panel of Pennsylvania judges has affirmed.

Three judges of the Superior Court upheld a conviction for animal cruelty of a dog groomer who had offered “gothic” kittens for sale on eBay.

An investigation into the pierced kittens began in 2008 when a citizen saw the animals being offered for $100 each on eBay, inquired about them and reported it to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Luzerne County, according to the Times Leader in Wilkes Barre.

A citizen tipped off PETA, as well, which conducted an investigation of its own and passed on information to the SPCA.

Accompanied by state police, SPCA officials visited Pawside Parlor, located at the home of Holly Crawford in Sweet Valley, Pa. They removed three kittens and a cat. While at the home, police also found a dog with pierced ears.

A jury found Crawford guilty of animal cruelty, and last year she was sentenced to six months of home detention and electronic monitoring, followed by probation.

In her appeal, Crawford argued that Pennsylvania’s cruelty statutes were too vague, and pointed out that many accepted veterinary procedures like declawing cats and cutting a dog’s vocal cords could fall under the same category she was being prosecuted under.

The law forbids “acts that maim, mutilate, torture or disfigure the animal.”

This week, the Superior Court panel upheld the lower court’s findings, the New York Times reported.

In a 19-page opinion, Judge Kate Ford Elliott wrote that “metal protruded from the kittens’ small bodies, pierced through their ears and necks, and at least one of these kittens also had an elastic band tied around its tail, an attempt at docking …”

Crawford, who was described in the opinion as being “enthusiastic about piercing,” had admitted to piercing the kittens without anesthetic.

“Appellant’s claims center on her premise that a person of normal intelligence would not know whether piercing a kitten’s ears or banding its tail is maiming, mutilating, torturing or disfiguring an animal.” Judge Elliott wrote.  “We disagree.”