ohmidog!

Credit a family dog in Virginia with finding the evidence that would lead to the arrest of a 20-year-old man on charges of robbery after he lured a car buyer to meet him through an ad on Craigslist.

Derek Shifflett, 20, of Verona, became a suspect in the case after a friend’s dog found the money — $12,000 — hidden under a bed.

Sgt. David Lotts, of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, said Shifflett posted a Honda Civic for sale on Craigslist, and made arrangements to meet an interested buyer.

The victim, from a car dealership in Hendersonville, N.C., traveled to Verona Monday afternoon and met with Shifflett, who told him the vehicle was being cleaned and filled with gas.

At one point, authorities say, Shifflett pushed the prospective buyer, a 64-year-old man, snatched an envelope containing $12,000 from his coat pocket, and ran off.

A few hours later, a Verona woman called the sheriff’s office after her dog pulled an envelope full of cash from beneath a bed in her home and began playing with it.

“The dog drug it out,” Lotts told Newsleader.com. “I guess he thought it was a new toy.”

Lotts said the woman’s son is friends with Shifflett. Shifflett turned himself in at the sheriff’s office late Monday night.

Lotts said the ad was fictitious and that Shifflett ” just took a random picture with a cell phone.”

“I figured that money was long gone,” he said.

Chevy, the dog that survived a 110-mile journey last week in the engine compartment of a Chevrolet Silverado, is up for adoption at the San Clemente/Dana Point Animal Shelter in California.

And the contractor who pulled him out of the car engine is among those interested in taking him home.

No owner has come forward to claim the 25-pound mixed breed, said Kim Cholodenko, the shelter’s general manager.

Adoption applications are available at petprojectfoundation.org or at the shelter, which plans to review all of them before making a decision.

Applicants will be asked to visit the shelter, and bring any dog they have, to ensure that Chevy’s new home is a better fit than the last place he was found hanging out — under the hood of a pick-up truck.

Jaime Magaña, a building-restoration supervisor from Chino, found the dog under his hood after driving from Chino to Orange to Camp Pendleton to San Clemente on Oct. 1. When he parked at McDonald’s and turned off the engine, he could feel movement. Stepping outside, he saw some fur and opened his hood.

Chevy, as he’s been named, was uninjured, just a little scared and thirsty.

“He’s doing great,” Cholodenko told the Orange County Register. “He’s just such a good-natured dog.”

Magaña, 52, voiced interest in adopting Chevy, but the shelter says it plans to review multiple applicants before picking a new home for Chevy, who they say is a Keeshond-Tibetan spaniel mix.

To contact the San Clemente/Dana Point Animal Shelter, call 949-492-1617.

 
Reports are circulating that a small dog swimming in a lake at a Bucks County, Pa., park was pulled under by a snapping turtle and eaten.

Whether that’s what really happened or not, the dog was never seen again, and its owner was reportedly so distraught that an ambulance had to be sent to the park to sedate her, according to the Bucks County Courier-Times.

The paper quotes a township employee, who didn’t want to be identified, as saying a dog was killed by a snapping turtle about three weeks ago in Falls Township Community Park.

The employee said the dog was off its leash, against park policy, and a ball was thrown into the lake so the dog could retrieve it. The dog supposedly never came back.

Park security supervisor Ralph Connor said he’s heard the story, but hasn’t been able to confirm that it happened.  ”There are plenty of snapping turtles in that lake and some pretty big ones,” he said, holding his arms about a foot apart to indicate the size.

Falls police said they did not respond, or receive a report about the incident, which reportedly took place about three weeks ago. Falls Manager Peter Gray said he is looking into the alleged attack: “We will be talking to staff members to try and get to the bottom of it,” he said.

On July 19, the newspaper reported, a member of its staff was on the banks of the lake near the dog park and was warned by a park ranger not to let the dogs venture to far out into the lake. The ranger said there had been reports that a woman had her toe bitten off by a snapping turtle and another woman lost her dog to one.

In the absence of official confirmation or denial, the story — suburban myth or not — seems to be taking on ”Loch Ness monster proportions,” the newspaper said. The owner of the dog has not come forward.

Large signs at the park say swimming and wading are forbidden, and dogs are only permitted in the water along the shore, and while on a leash.

A cat named Bella was shaken up, but survived a 2 1/2-hour trip on a spare tire under her owner’s truck.

Gil Smith recently drove 70 miles from his home in Gilbert, Ariz., to a business meeting in Kearny. When he got out of the truck, he heard a cat in distress and realized it was his, according to an Associated Press report.

Smith said Bella apparently was smart enough to know not to jump off the tire as the truck was moving.

Smith, who has three indoor cats, three goats and three chickens, skipped the meeting and took Bella — this time in the truck’s cab — straight back home.