ohmidog!

Sometimes, and especially this week, keeping up with dog news can leave one a little depressed — just about always because of the misguided things people do to them.

Whiile we try to  maintain a balance, sometimes the feel-good stories seem to get overwelmed by the feel-bad stories.

At times like that, or sometimes just for the heck of it, we try to lighten things up.

And what could be funnier than a dog eating popcorn?

To this baby, at least, absolutely nothing.

(Source: Facebook)

Every species, I guess, has its geniuses and morons, or at least those who are so perceived.

When it comes to dogs, for example, Afghan hounds have been called the dumb blondes of the dog world, while border collies are often referred to as the genius of the species.

With humans, in what is an equally unfair characterization, TV and radio personalities are often portrayed as something less than razor sharp. (I’m not sure if that is true, but it does seem that  the dumber they are, the louder they are — and the more they interrupt.)

This video, from ABC’s Good Morning America, shows a border collie named Zelda balancing things on her head as the humans on the program, some of them wearing funny hats, seem to compete to see who can be loudest and most annoying.

When Zelda’s owner tries to explain how Zelda came to possess the talent, the host of the show loudly interrupts: “Now we should point out border collies are one of the smartest dogs there are, I mean they’re like real smart.”

At the end of the bit, the camera cuts to a member of the crew, showing he can balance things on his head, too.

Watching this, online, made me reconsider my rankings of  the intelligence of the three smartest species here on earth.

I still think dogs are at the top, but I’m unsure of the order in which to rank the other two – humans and computers, earth’s newest species.

But then I read the computer-created transcript of the video, which we’ll only quote in part:

A dog was shot in the head and left on the doorstep of a worker for Dogs Deserve Better, the animal rescue organization that moved into Michael Vick’s old house in Surry County, Virginia.

Melissa Wischmeier with Dogs Deserve Better said the dog was taken to Roger’s Veterinary Hospital in Smithfield.

WAVY.com reported that the dog had a microchip.  Later, WAVY reported that the dog had been reunited with its owner Monday night.

Wischmeier said the dog, named Leah, was left in front of the home of a Dogs Deserve Better worker.

Dr. Kathryn Bouvier at Roger’s Veterinary Hospital said x-rays showed a trail of bullet fragments from Leah’s snout all the way to her spinal cord.

Bouvier said the the dog was recovering, but concerns remained about shifting bullet fragments and infection.

Troubled country music star Mindy McCready, whose life read like a sad, sometimes X-rated country song, was found dead of an apparent suicide — commited, according to some reports, seconds after fatally shooting her own dog.

TMZ quoted sources close to the 37-year-old singer as saying neighbors heard two gunshots coming from her home in Arkansas, one of which was fired at her dog.

According to CNN, McCready, who rose to stardom in the 1990s, had suffered two drug overdoses, was arrested on drug charges and twice attempted suicide before 2005 ended.

After a drug overdose in 2010, she joined the cast of VH1′s “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” a reality show about celebrities being treated for alcohol and drug addiction.

Also in 2010, Vivid Entertainment released a porn video called “Mindy McCready, Baseball Mistress” that featured McCready having sex with a boyfriend and talking about her exploits, as a teenager, with baseball player Roger Clemens.

McCready had long struggled with addiction, mental illness and man problems — often publicly.

This year, the father of the younger of her two children, record producer David Wilson, was found dead in his home on Jan. 13 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Over the weekend, the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office said McCready’s body was found on her front porch after neighbors reported hearing shots.

McCready’s children had been removed from her home by a judge on Feb. 6, after which she spent two days in a treatment facility for a mental-health and alcohol-abuse evaluation.

Chica is a happy border collie who lives on a farm in Clay County, Indiana.

Her favorite pastime is playing fetch with her owners Martha and Buddy Knox.

That wouldn’t be news — WTHI-TV notes — were it not for this: She does it without any eyes.

They were surgically removed when she was a pup.

Here’s a relatively recent addition to the many videos on YouTube about dogs who have mastered indoor plumbing.

This black lab can use the toilet for both number one and — though it’s a close call, bouncing in off the rim – number two.

And, unlike some of us, he (or she) seems to always remember to flush.

Lilica lives in a junkyard in São Carlos, Brazil, along with another dog, a cat, some chickens, a mule, and a human caretaker named Neile Vania Antonio, who found her abandoned as a pup and took her in.

Every night, Lilica walks two miles to the home of  Professor Lucia Helena de Souza, who takes care of 13 stray dogs and 30 cats.

Lucia prepares a large meal, and Lilica eats some of it. Then she carries the rest two miles back home to share with her fellow junkyard dwellers.

It’s a routine that has been going on every day for three years, according to this report.

When she first started feeding Lilica, Lucia said, ”I realized that she ate and then stared at what was in the bag.” When a neighbor suggested that Lilica might want to take the rest home, Lucia tied up the bag and Lilica carried it home.

“From that day on we do it,” said Lucia.

Lucia meets Lilica every night at 9:30 pm. Lilica eats some of the meal and then carries the rest back down the highway and delivers it to her family.

Lilica’s caretaker, Neile, said the dog’s spirit of sharing is more than she sees in some people.

“People don’t do that. Some people hide and do not want to share what they have with others. She did not. Lilica is an exceptional animal.”

Subaru plans to eschew the Super Bowl again this year, running its new “Dog Tested, Dog Approved” commercials during the Puppy Bowl instead.

It’s the same approach the car company took last year, aiming its marketing at dog owners, as opposed to football fans. That’s a teaser from one of the new ads above.

According to the manufacturer, Subaru drivers are two times more likely than the average car owner to have a pet.

In addition to showing its ad during Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl IX, Subaru is unveiling a new Facebook application that, among other things, pairs a dog’s breed with the appropriate model of Subaru. Dog owners can enter their dogs breed, weight, and lifestyle and the “Matchmaker” will identify a fitting car model for the dog.

(To see all our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here.)

One of the latest sensations sweeping the Internet is a YouTube video that most everybody is reporting shows two dogs Skyping with each other.

“Watch these dogs have a heated Skype convo,” reads the headline on Mashable, accompanied by a video of two wirehaired fox terriers seeming to converse on Skype.

Mashable reports that the dogs have learned to “use technology to stay connected and maintain their long distance relationship.”

“Two Dogs Skype Each Other,” says the Huffpost headline in a piece that also features the video.

Even organizations that often report original news have seized on the alleged Skyping dogs video and presented it as fact.

“Emotional dog friends Skype across the miles” WAFB reports in a story that, like most of the others, first assumes that the dogs are actually Skyping, then goes on to venture guesses on what they might be talking about.

Says KITV: “Skype helps reconnect anyone with distant friends, even dog friends hoping to catch up with each other.”

We’re quite sure dogs do, with help from their owners, Skype each other. And maybe it’s even newsworthy. But the point is these two — despite how numerous media sources are portraying it — aren’t.

We all know the Internet is not a place that lets facts get in the way, but we’d hope that news outlets, at least, would slow down enough to check things out — whether its Skyping dogs, conspiracy theories or celebrity couplings.

What the video actually shows is not two dogs Skyping, but one dog watching a video of another dog.

What makes the snowballing mischaracterization even more amazing is that the owner of Gaytor, in posting the video on YouTube, admits as much. Under the headline “My Dog Can Skype,” she explains that Gaytor enjoys Skyping with other dogs, but admits that, in this particular video, he’s merely watching another dog on a YouTube video.

The video Gaytor is watching and responding to features a wire haired terrier named Basil, also from the UK. Basil’s howls are in reaction to ringtone alerts on his owner’s Blackberry.

As fate, and the Internet, would have it, Basil’s owner saw the video of Gaytor reacting to Basil, and showed it to Basil, who reacted to Gaytor reacting to him.

“Thanks for featuring my Basil video, glad your dog likes to watch it. Basil would love to meet Gaytor someday. I played your movie to him this morning and he sung along to it,” Basil’s owner said in a comment posted to the Gaytor video.

All of which is fun — and perhaps worthy of another video showing Gaytor’s reaction to Basil’s reaction to Gaytor’s reaction to him –  but it’s not Skyping.

Here’s the original Basil video:

A pit bull mix who was kicked and slapped by her owner on an apartment house elevator — that’s the surveillance video above — has been adopted by a young New York couple.

Richard Palacios, a 33-year-old SoHo waiter, and his fiance, Natalya Prokenpenko, 24, adopted the dog Friday, according to the New York Post.

“We didn’t know her story … When we saw the video, my fiancée started crying,” Prokopenko said.

The dog, who appears pretty happy with the new developments, is now known as Hazel.

Prokenpenko said as soon as they entered their Queens home with Hazel she “started kissing me, kissing my fiancé.”

Hazel’s beating on the elevator at East Harlem’s Wagner Houses, was recorded by police department surveillance cameras last August, and led to the arrest of  Brian Freeman, 28. Hazel was taken from him and placed in a shelter then.

She had a cracked rib and bruises, but vets said she didn’t seem to have been subjected to prior abuse.

Freeman, who worked in a security job at a homeless shelter and was in college, entered a guilty plea last week to a reduced charge of misdemeanor trespassing. A  judge indicated he would sentence Freeman to term of 25 days community service at his sentencing on Feb. 5.

 (Photo: Brigitte Stelzer / New York Post)