ohmidog!

The University of Connecticut is insisting a high school in Clinton that uses a husky for a mascot come up with one that doesn’t look so much like the college’s trademarked dog head.

The college, though it’s reportedly handling the matter in an “amicable” manner, says its husky is  ”intellectual property,” and that the Connecticut high school is, in effect, trespassing.

College officials apparently fear that, with other similar hand-drawn husky heads lurking out there, they might rake in less money from all the products to which the UConn husky logo is affixed.

We, though no one asked us, have to go with the underdog in this mild and not-too-controversial controversy.

We think the high school’s logo — that’s it at top left, as it appears in the middle of the school’s basketball court — is different enough.

UConn’s husky — that’s it at the bottom – looks far more well-fed, more protective, and has its tongue hanging out.

We — and that’s the editorial we, meaning I — think all hand-drawn husky heads, like all huskies, are going to look at least somewhat similar, and we’d submit that the university is maybe being a little overly possessive of what it considers its turf.

Officials at the Morgan School, a public school, say they were informed last spring that their husky too closely resembled the university’s, according to the Hartford Courant.

“We’re trying to work with them. We’re not looking to shut them down or anything like that,”  Michael Enright, UConn’s associate athletic director for communications, is quoted as saying. “We are protecting the state’s intellectual property.”

Clinton Superintendent of Schools John F. Cross said Morgan School has had a husky as its mascot for at least 25 years.

In a letter from James D. Aronowitz, associate general counsel for the Atlanta-based Collegiate Licensing Company, which represents UConn, Clinton educators were asked to stop using the logo. The letter said use of the similar dog could interfere with UConn’s ability to “effectively market and license” the use of the logo.

Cross said the university isn’t being nasty about it, and isn’t insisting the high school change its logo right away, only that it eventually do away with it.

“It really is a practical matter that we are trying to work out with our big brother at Storrs. It’s not adversarial,” Cross said.

Cross said the logo has been removed from the school’s website. The school district will also use a different husky on the gymnasium floor when it opens a new high school.

The old husky head at the new school football field, just recently completed, will be a more difficult matter, he said. Changing it, he estimated, would cost $20,000.

Cross said students are at work developing a new husky dog logo that will be sufficiently different from UConn’s, and we wish them the best on the project.

But what if they both just dropped the whole thing, and that $20,000, and all the money UConn spends on lawyers to ensure its husky drawing isn’t too closely replicated by anyone, was given instead to, say, a husky rescue group, or some other cause that benefits huskies, by which we mean the animals?

Of course, that — paying back the breed whose image they have seized and profited from — will never happen in the real world.

But “intellectual property” aside,  it was their head first.

Tech XX, the English bulldog that served as mascot at Louisiana Tech University, died of heat stroke after being left out in the heat Sunday.

Though initially reported missing, the four-year-old English bulldog was left outside by an employee, who has since been fired, according to the veterinarian that cared for the dog.

The employee, according to news reports, tried to cover up the dog’s death.

“Tech XX was a member of our immediate family and a daily part of our lives for the past four years,” Patrick Sexton said in a statement. “We are devastated over the circumstances of his passing, and there will be a large void in our hearts for some time to come. As with any family member, we will spend considerable time grieving his passing.”

In a statement, the university said that since becoming the mascot in 2008, Tech XX got superior care from Sexton’s team.

Tech XX’s predecessor, Tech XIX, was retired in 2007 because of health concerns after suffering heatstroke, the university said on its website.

Originally, a worker said he let the dog out to go to the bathroom and the dog went missing, said Sexton, who kept Tech XX at his home. Dozens of students and residents searched for the dog, and rewards were posted.

For four days, the employee kept Tech XX’s death, and location, a secret, according to the Shreveport Times.

“That employee unfortunately chose to handle it the wrong way and attempted to cover it up,” Sexton said. “Due to this negligence, the employee is no longer employed by Sexton Animal Health Center.”

Tech XX was owned by the school’s Student Government Association, the president of which, Will Dearmon, said, ”It’s extremely disappointing and sad news this happened to our beloved Tech XX.”

“We’ll work through that in the coming days and there will be a Tech XXI, but right now our hearts are broken,” he added.

Every boxer — and we’re speaking here of the human kind who puts on gloves and climbs into a ring — needs a trainer.

Manny Pacquiao needs a  terrier.

“He’s part of my team,”  the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion told the Wall Street Journal. “He’s a special dog.”

Pacquiao’s Jack Russell terrier, who goes by Pacman (the boxer’s nickname), is helping him train for Saturday’s welterweight bout against Timothy Bradley. The dog normally runs off leash, setting a speedy pace for Pacquiao on streets and trails around Los Angeles.

Pacquiao hasn’t lost a fight since Pacman came into his life.

The dog lives most of the time in Los Angeles, where Pacquiao trains, and he often travels to the Philippines when his owner works out there.  He’ll also join the boxer for fights in Las Vegas, where he stays at the pet-friendly Mandalay Bay.

Pacquiao, whose childhood dog was reportedly cooked and eaten by his estranged father, slept with Pacman at first, until he realized he was allergic to dog hair.

Pacman has nearly passed out from climbing the hills in Baguio City and scurried after coyotes while sprinting ahead of Pacquiao in their frequent jogs up to the Hollywood sign, the article reports.

Pacquiao, since his last fight in November, has been working to sharpen his focus and eliminate distractions like gambling and drinking. Pacman, while he may or may not help with that, does serve to encourage the boxer — both by setting the pace and through the enthusiasm that, being a Jack Russell terrier, he brings to the job.

“I kind of feel like he’s now the Woody in ‘Toy Story,’” said Brian Livingston, a marathoner who paces Pacquiao. “He’s become part of the menagerie.”

Other fighters have relied on dogs over the years, according the Journal story. Floyd Patterson went on 4 a.m. runs with two German shepherds named Charlie Brown and Whitey. George Foreman brought his  German Shepherd to Africa to help train for the Rumble in the Jungle with Muhammad Ali.

While Pacquiao trains in California, Noel Lautengco serves as Pacman’s dog-sitter. He stays with the dog at a Hollywood motel, where Pacman sleeps on a  bed with a pink spread. As a puppy, Lautengco says, Pacman scratched and clawed through three hotel couches that Pacquiao replaced.

Pacman is more than just a mascot, Pacquiao’s people say. He drove the fighter to train harder than ever by running ahead of the pack. “Nobody could keep up with that dog,” said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer.

In recent months though, the dog has put on some weight.

“He’s getting old. He’s become fat,” Pacquiao said.

(Photos: Top photo from Manny Pacquiao’s official website; photo of Pacman the dog by Dan Krauss, for the Wall Street Journal)

Twins Anna and Kristy Berington were born five minutes apart. Yesterday, again just minutes apart, they started off on the 975-mile Iditarod Trail, the first twins ever to compete in the race.

Kristy is a two-time Iditarod finisher; Anna is competing in her first Iditarod.

“Our mom didn’t even know she was having twins until Anna was born,” Kristy, who is five minutes older than her sister, told the Anchorage Daily News. “She never even got an ultrasound and our heartbeats were completely identical.”

While sled dog racing tends to run in families, Iditarod officials say the twins are the first — and the first sisters — to compete in an Iditarod.

The twins are also known to turn a few heads in a sport where — at least in the Iditarod — three of four racers are men.

“A lot of people kind of get the feeling that she’s just a pretty face — that she doesn’t know what she’s doing, that kind of thing,” Anna said of Kristy. “But she’s definitely proven that she is a dog musher.”

Kristy finished 39th in the 2010 and 29th in 2011. She came in ninth in this year’s Yukon Quest, a 1,000-mile race — and won the Veterinarian’s Choice Award for best dog care among the mushers.

The sisters grew up in northern Wisconsin, where they built dog sleds from downhill skis and a milk crate and used their Great Pyrenees and a border collie as their sled dogs, the Daily News reports.

The Beringtons began the race within minutes of each other at the timed start Sunday in Willow. Kristy drew position No. 31; Anna is No. 33.

(Photo: Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News)

When is a funny Super Bowl ad not very funny?

When it promotes animal cruelty.

While they haven’t seen the ad in question, an organization that works to ban greyhound racing says that ‘s what the athletic shoe company, Skechers – intentionally or not — is doing.

As we reported a couple of days ago, Skechers, having concluded its contract with Kim Kardashian, has turned to a dog to advertise it’s shoes, and its planned Super Bowl ad features a French bulldog — in Skechers, of course – competing against greyhounds in a race.

The ad was filmed at Tucson Greyhound Park, which the anti-dog racing organization GREY2K USA says is notorious for treating greyhounds poorly. Greyhounds are kept in small cages which are barely large enough for them to stand or turn around, fed diseased meat, and get injured at a clip of nearly once a day.  According to the Arizona Department of Racing, nearly 1,000 greyhound injuries occurred at the park between January 2007 and November 2009.

Grey2KUSA says it contacted Skechers after learning the ad had been filmed, aksing that the “misguided promotion” be canceled. It started a petition urging Skechers to pull the ad at Change.org, and it had nearly 80,000 signatures as of the end of this week.

Grey2K is calling for a boycott of Skechers, and is urging its membership and others to write emails to those involved with the ad:

•Skechers President Michael Greenburg at michaelg@skechers.com
•Skechers Vice President of Media Gary Martin at gpmedia@aol.com
•Mark Cuban at mcuban@hd.net (Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is briefly featured in the ad.)
•NBC at nbcuniversalviewerfeedback@nbcuni.com.

And the organization is also running a contest for the best protest photos (such as the one of the greyhound atop this post). The top three entries will win a Grey2KUSA cap.

Protests have been planned at Skechers outlets, and, on Jan. 28, at Tucson Greyhound Park.

Skechers marketing chief Leonard Armato says there are no plans to pull the ad — scheduled to be shown during the Super Bowl Feb. 5. He said the ad doesn’t condone animal cruelty, and pointed out that it has not been seen by any of those who are protesting.

“That the ad is running during the most heavily watched sporting event of the year suggests that greyhound racing is a sport. It is not,” said Grey2K President Christine Dorchak. “It is greyhound cruelty.”

There’s cycling with your dog, and then there’s cycling with your dog.

Above is Abby, who commutes to work via bicycle with her human. She calmly lays, sits or stands there on a nice padded surface as her human does all the work. Lazy dog? Or smart dog?

In any case, she seems, in this video anyway, a low energy dog.

Cycling with a high energy dog? That’s another story, or at least another video.

Check out Lily, the official mascot for MtnRanks.com, a purveyor of outdoor gear in Park City, Utah:

The city of Baltimore has released the fourth ad in its continuing campaign urging young people to “Show Your Soft Side,” and treat animals with kindness.

It features Dizzy Grant, one of the world famous Harlem Globetrotters, and his dog, Saber.

Aimed at combating animal abuse, the “Show Your Soft Side” campaign began earlier this year and has also featured Baltimore Raven Jarret Johnson, Baltimore Oriole Adam Jones, and MMA fighter John Rallo, all posing with their pets.

Grant’s dog, Saber, is a two-and-a-half year old purebred boxer. He’ll be showing up, along with Grant, on billboards, print ads, and posters that make the point, “Only a punk would hurt a cat or a dog.”

The “Show Your Soft Side” campaign grew out of the work of the Mayor’s Anti-Animal Abuse Advisory Commission, which was originally created as a task force to study the issue after a pit bull named Phoenix was discovered to have been set on fire. She later died.

Given the alarming incidence of animal abuse in Baltimore, and given that many of the more horrific cases have been perpetrated by teens, the commission looked for ways to change the mindset of young people who often view the maiming and torturing of defenseless dogs and cats as a sign of “toughness” or “manhood.”

The campaign puts forth a very different message – that “being a man” includes having a “soft side” when it comes to animals.

The goal of the campaign is to influence children early — for the sake of animals, and humans. Research shows that kids who abuse animals often graduate to even more violent crimes. 

The campaign is made possible by support from Eddie’s of Roland Park, Fullmoon Marketing & Events, Kirk Designs, Inc. and Media Works, Ltd.

For more information about the campaign, you can visit its Facebook page.

Earlier this week, we gave the scantest of mentions to Abbie G., an Australian kelpie who rode a surfboard 65 yards, setting a certified Guinness World Record.

Turns out, surfing is just one of the sports in which the five-year-old dog excels.

Abbie G. (The “G” stands for Girl) is also accomplished at paragliding, snowboarding, tree and rock climbing, sheepherding, and mountain biking.

Her owner, Michael Uy, adopted Abbie from the Humane Society Silicon Valley.

“She was the only dog in the shelter that didn’t go crazy barking when I walked in. She just stood there, studying me, and picked me right away. She was very traumatized, and classified as a ‘special needs’ dog.”

Michael told ohmidog! that, as he was leaving the shelter with Abbie, a staff member yelled out some final advice to him:  “Get her out – take her with you to different places so she sees the world.”

“And that’s what I did,” Michael said.

They walked, they ran, they roller bladed, they mountain biked – and then they hit the ocean.

“One day she just got on a board. It went crazy from there.”

Michael is 41 and lives in San Diego, where he works in business planning and marketing. He describes himself as “a bit of an extreme sports guy.”

But he also has a refreshingly non-traditional philosophy about working with dogs, believing that the heights they can achieve have much more to do with trust than training.

“My work with Abbie has been all about teaching people to bond with their dog through sports … Dogs are naturally athletic animals. I teach that the secret to getting them to excel and enjoy spending time with their owner is to build trust, NOT training.”

“Unfortunately, most of dog ownership these days is all about training methods,” he said. “People ask me what kind of treats I use to get Abbie to surf, and I always respond, ‘Surfing IS the treat!’”

I like that so much I think I’ll repeat it: “Surfing IS the treat.”

You can find more information about Michael and Abbie at abbiesurfs.com, and at Abby’s Facebook page.

Abbie’s high-flying achievements are also featured in new tourism campaign for the city of San Diego:

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake tomorrow will kick off a campaign urging young people to “Show Your Soft Side” when it comes to cats and dogs.

The campaign was developed to combat the alarming incidence of animal cruelty in Baltimore, with most of the abuse being perpetrated by teens.

“Only a punk would hurt a cat or dog,” is one of its messages.

The campaign is one offshoot of the Mayor’s Anti-Animal Abuse Advisory Commission, which examined ways to change the mindset of young people who often view the maiming and torturing of defenseless dogs and cats as a sign of “toughness” or “manhood.”

The campaign attempts to put forth the message that “being a man,” has  many facets to it, including a “soft side” when it comes to animals.

Because research shows that kids who abuse animals often graduate to even more violent crimes, the campaigns goal is to reach children early.

The campaign will showcase several Baltimore men as role models, when it comes to animals, including Baltimore Oriole Adam Jones, MMA fighter John Rallo, and Baltimore Raven Jarret Johnson (pictured above with his dog, Tucker, in one of the campaign posters).

They will be appearing with their pets on billboards and print ads that make the point that ”only a punk” would hurt a cat or dog.

Pets are invited to the campaign’s launch, at 9:30 a.m. Thursday (Sept. 29) in the plaza outside City Hall, 100 N. Holliday Street.

The campaign is made possible by funding from Eddie’s of Roland Park, Fullmoon Marketing & Events, Kirk Designs, Inc. and Media Works, Ltd.

For more information, visit the campaign’s Facebook page.

The Salem Red Sox beat the Winston-Salem Dash 16-10 last night, and Ace didn’t like that at all.

That’s not because he’s a huge Dash fan, but because — I’ve ascertained after our second dog-friendly minor league baseball outing — he prefers shutouts. The crack of bat striking ball, like thunder and fireworks, seems to unnerve him, if only fleetingly.

Still, slugfest that it was, Ace — and scores of other dogs — seemed to enjoy the first pooch-friendly night at Winston-Salem’s  BB&T Park.

In particular, he seemed most impressed with the kiddie pools, which he could both climb into and drink from at the same time, the treats, the attention from other fans, the treats, the canine fellowship, and the treats.

The Dash threw together its first “Pups in the Park” event in the waning days of the season, but pulled it off, it seemed, without a hitch.

To me, it proved again that, when it comes to baseball, the Minor Leagues — where salaries aren’t pumped up, concessions aren’t too inflated and heads aren’t yet swelled — aren’t just the most dog-friendly, but the most fan-friendly, and perhaps there’s a connection between the two.

I did pay $7 for a beer, but there were $1 hot dogs to be had (I just couldn’t find them). Besides, I don’t mind inflated prices if I get to bring my dog along.

Those who brought their dogs were restricted to the lawn in left field. It’s a pretty steep incline, leading a few dogs and humans to slide downwards, or rollover more often than they intended, but most people seemed to find comfortable spots to lay down their blankets.

A beagle named Darwin — rescued after he lost one of his front legs to gunfire — had no problem cozily settling in:

The Forsyth Humane Society — a sponsor and beneficiary of the event — was there with several adoptable dogs and their mobile unit, which Ace found fascinating, either because of its smells or the animals depicted on its sides:

Ace also got a chance to meet the Humane Society mascot, shown to the left.

Some of the proceeds from the event are also going toward the building of a new dog park in Tanglewood.

You can learn more about that project  here.

We got to see a lot of great dogs — including two we’ve run into before, Stringer, a chocolate Lab, and Gatsby, a Great Dane.

We also got to meet Louis, an English bulldog not quite three months old (left), a massive St. Bernard named Cooper, a charming little pug named Meatball, and dozens more.

Every single one was well behaved, acting as if they’d been going to baseball games all their lives.

Some rested quietly, some sought diversion — but then that could be said of the humans, too, depending on how many $7 beers they’d had. 

There was some mild frolicking, but all of it in moderation.

This one decided he wanted the blanket he was sharing with his owners all to himself:

This one was playing tug of war with his leash, until a home run soared overhead, the ball landing not far away:

As for Ace, he couldn’t seem to get comfortable on the hill, until we figured out that if I lay downhill from him, with my head on his belly, he wouldn’t slide, and I would have a pillow, not to mention a somewhat level spot, my belly, on which to rest my $7 beer.

The photo to the left was taken by Lauren Carroll, a photographer, otherwise off-duty, for the Winston-Salem Journal.

The high point of the game came when the Dash got their 12th hit — thereby entitling every fan to redeem their ticket for a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, ensuring my belly will become even less level.

The highlight for Ace, though, was after the game, when he got to go with his friend Stringer to his favorite bar downtown, Recreation Billiards, a highly dog-friendly establishment.

After getting oodles of attention from customers, he was handed a treat from the bartender, prompting him to stare longingly at her for the next 30 minutes.

Eventually he came out of his trance and joined his friends in the booth, where, though tempted with beer, he abstained.