ohmidog!

It’s not a new trick, but this sort of dog-human merging always seems good for a laugh, and it clearly was for the guys who made this video.

A German shepherd named Odin is the star. That’s his head poking through the shirt collar, gobbling up the peanut butter being fed to him by the human hands coming out of the jacket.

The video was posted March 25 and is already nearing half a million views.

Entitled, ”Odin Eating  Like a Person,” it’s a simpler version of “Two Dogs Dining in a Busy Restaurant,” which has 18.3 million views on YouTube. Here it is again:

Five students in a communications class at the University of Texas were hoping to get 1,000 YouTube views when, for an assignment, they put together a video of a chocolate Lab going through a decidedly human morning routine.

As of today, after less than a month online, the video is nearing 1.5 million views.

Entitled “Ruff Dog Day,” the video shows a dog named Dudley waking up, brushing his teeth, putting on a shirt, eating breakfast and heading to work — all with the aid of human hands.

Dudley belongs to Charli Kilpatrick, who made the video along with four fellow students — Jacqueline Hesson, Sally Ngo, Carolyn Volk and Alison Herschap.

“We sat down one night and uploaded it and were fretting over how to get 1,000 views,” Kilpatrick told the Austin American-Statesman.

The assignment – for a communications class on celebrity culture – was to create a video and learn about the value of circulation, said Kilpatrick.

We’ll assume they got an “A.”

A mother dog was photographed rescuing her litter of puppies from a house fire in Chile.

In the photos, a German shepherd mix named “Amanda” carries five of her 10-day old pups in her mouth, dropping each onto a fire truck as flames ravaged her owner’s home Thursday in Santa Rosa de Temuco, Chile.

The fire, at the home of Omar Torres, the father of boxer Tumbaito Jose Torres, was apparently the result of a car bomb explosion.

The puppies were transported to La Clínica Veterinaria Altamira where four are recuperating with their mother. 

One of the puppies died on Thursday night after suffering burns to his abdomen and mouth.

Veterinarian Felipe Lara told the Chilean newspaper Soy Temuco that Amanda defended her puppies when they tried to take them away for treatment.

(Photos: Associated Press /Jose Monsalve, Diario El Austral de La Araucaria)

A thousand words may be the generally accepted exchange rate for a photo, but here’s one that’s worth 2.2 million views, 230,000 likes, 110,000 shares and also just may help an old dog pay his medical bills.

Professional photographer Hannah Stonehouse Hudson took the photo last week. It’s of a friend of her’s named John, and his arthritic 19-year-old dog, Schoep, floating in Lake Superior.

John, who rescued Schoep as a puppy, says that the water is therapeutic for his achy dog.

“He is the kind of person who wants his animals to be comfortable. I wanted to capture their relationship. I told John, ‘I really need to get photos of you and your dog,’” Hannah explains on her Facebook page. “Last Tuesday, we met at the beach for the photo. While John swam with the dog, I got on the dock so I could be at eye level. It took five minutes.”

The result is a shot that captures the serenity dogs bring us, and maybe vice versa.

“My specialty is documenting relationships, whether it’s a wedding or a man and his dog,” the Bayfield, Wis., photographer is quoted as saying in a Pioneer Press article.

On Facebook, the photo has drawn more than 25,000 comments.

“In this photo, people have said they see everything from pure love to hope for the world,” she said. “They see peace, kindness, the relationship between man and dog. Two women, both whose husbands died from cancer, said they never thought they’d see love again, but this photo showed them love.”

“I know this is not about me — it’s about a guy who loves his dog — but I am in complete awe that my photo has had such an impact.”

Prints can be purchased from the photographer, and part of the proceeds will go toward vet bills for Schoep.

(Photo by Hannah Stonehouse Hudson)

Baltimore City Police Officer Dan Waskiewicz will be honored today by the Baltimore Humane Society for the compassion he displayed responding to a call about a “vicious” dog.

When Waskiewicz earlier this year arrived at the location where the vicious dog had been reported, in south Baltimore, he  saw a pit bull being chased by children, who were throwing bottles at the dog.

The officer called the dog, who ran over with tail between legs and sat down next to him.

Waskiewicz, a rookie and recent graduate of the police academy, put the dog in his squad car and took it to Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS). He returned to BARCS during the next few days to visit. Three days after receiving the call, with no owners coming forward, Waskiewicz adopted the dog, who’s now named Bo.

Officer Waskiewicz passed the story and photo along back in May to a pit bull rescue group in northeast Pennsylvania,  which blogged about it. The photo went viral, turning Waskiewicz into something of an Internet folk hero.

“So often we hear stories where law enforcement officers rush to judgment with violent action,” said Jen Swanson, Baltimore Humane Society executive director. Waskiewicz, she said, observed the situation calmly before he acted. “He saved the life of an innocent animal and avoided what could have been a situation with a tragic ending.”

The ceremony will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the Adoption Center at the Baltimore Humane Society on 1601 Nicodemus Road in Reisterstown. The public is invited.

There may be nothing new under the sun. Under the water, though? That’s another matter.

Photographer Seth Casteel got intrigued with the idea of photographing dogs under water just a few months ago. He splurged and brought a special waterproof camera case, shot some photos and posted some of them on his Facebook page.

Last week, the Los Angeles photographer learned they’d gone viral after being reposted to Reddit and Google+.

In just a matter of days, money was pouring into his bank account and he was getting so many orders for prints that his newly established online store was experiencing stability issues.

Photographing dogs under water, he says, shows a side of dogs that people may have never seen before. (To see a full slideshow, click on the photo above.)

“Over the course of several thousands of years, we’ve taken wolves and made them Boston terriers,” Casteel told the Huffington Post. “But still, at the heart of it, dogs have wild instincts. For me, it’s all about seeing those wild instincts come through underwater. They’re getting back to being wild. They really love being wild. And under water, they have the best chance of doing that.”

His photos of underwater dogs posted to Facebook have gotten nearly 30,000 “likes” and been shared almost 22,000 times. His website, which typically handles around 200 visitors a day, is now drawing more than 100,000 a day.

He says, since the underwater dogs went viral, he’s received nearly a thousand inquiries for private client shoots from all over the world.

He’s getting deluged with good press, too.

Business Insider called his photos “astonishing … The near-weightless conditions, coupled with the drag of the water, do odd things to a dog. Lips go flying. Fur and ears lie flat. Eyelids are peeled back … Most of all, they reveal the intense determination that dogs bring to having fun.”

Casteel has two dogs of his own — a mini Labradoodle and a Norwich terrier, and he volunteers his time to take photos of shelter pets in the area to help increase their chances of being adopted.

Casteel has a calendar, “Ruff,” coming out soon and is in talks with publishers and agents for a book.

Whether you’re Catholic, Presbyterian or just plain gullible, you might have seen and fallen for this series of photos that seems to capture two neighboring churches having a theological debate, via their church signs, on whether dogs go to heaven.

But nay, my friend. Do not be decieved. See the light, which, you might notice, is exactly the same in each shot, as is the cropping, as is the background — including one car that is parked in the same place the whole time the alleged sign debate is going on.

Fall not for nefarious pranksters, for they are evil. Either that or they have idle time on their hands, and we know what that leads to, because we read it on a real church sign once.

Yea, verily, the devil’s workshop (now available online).

This particular one — the place where these false images are fashioned — is called Church Sign Generator. You can find it on the Internet, should you care to venture into that sinful rat’s nest of temptation, deception and pop-up ads. (May God strike me down if I ever resort to them.)

There, sheep-like, we (by which I mean humans) flock to get the wool pulled over our eyes, failing to recognize false idols, fraud and, sometimes, jest.

We (by which I mean me) are not truly bothered by Internet-generated church signs, though we’d argue that being able to put any words you want on one takes away some of the thrill of spotting real church signs that contain humor, wisdom or interesting typos. (Like seeking kudzu dogs, that’s one of my hobbies.)

Some of the Cumberland Presbyterians — especially since they seem to come out on the losing end of the debate — are less than thrilled with it though, calling the text that appears on the signs “inappropriate.”

The misleading series of photos is most often passed along via the forwarded email — forwarded emails being the Internet equivalent of swarming locusts.

“This forwarded e-mail continues to rear its ugly head time after time,” writes editor Pat White in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church newsletter, “so I am resurrecting this message that explains that this is not a theological issue for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.”

“These signs are a prank,”  he adds. “If you receive one of these forwarded e-mails, please respond to the sender to be sure they understand that this is not a true Cumberland Presbyterian church sign.”

Alas, his remarks are too little, too late.

As with with locusts, once forwarded emails go viral, the damage is done, and the Presbyterian Church, or at least the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, or at least the Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church – if there really is one — is left looking God-fearing but dog-hating.

White does not address whether all dogs go to heaven, but we are quite certain they do.

We read it on a church sign once.

Sure, we frown upon the humanization of dogs, and the new heights it keeps reaching.

On the other hand, we do have a funny bone, and this — moreso than the many others of its ilk on the Internet — hits it.

So, if you haven’t already seen it — and it has gone way viral — here’s “”Two Dogs Dining in a Crowded Restaurant.”

The video, starring NoNo, the yellow lab, and Sia, a Danish Broholmer, was posted in January and is nearing 8 million views.

The video’s makers say they’ve received mostly good comments, but a few from people expressing worries that the dogs were “forced” to take part, or might have hurt themselves on the forks and knives.

“Firstly the dogs loved it – they are best friends and really like getting all the attention,” they say on YouTube. “We practiced with the cutlery in advance, and both dogs very quickly figured it out. Besides the ‘waitress’ kept on talking to them and encouraging them. They are very well behaved, and know when to sit still, take it slow and wait.

“Enjoy and don´t be worried – both dogs love it, and we love them.”

I am not a big fan of Abba, or lip-synching, or effervescent, highly animated people.

When it comes to contagious enthusiasm, I have a pretty strong immune system, especially on a Monday morning.

But darned if I didn’t find myself bopping right along to this promotional/fund-raising video made by the Wake County SPCA — to the point I watched it twice.

My first thought: I want the kind of coffee they’re drinking.

My second thought: What an uplifiting change of pace from the heartstring-tugging public service announcements that usually emanate from animal welfare organizations and shelters seeking adoptive homes and donations.

My third thought: Marketers are catching on to how much a viral video — and this one was made with that intent — can accomplish, and, not counting the cost of making it, for free no less.

My fourth thought: How much the staff and volunteers at the SPCA shelter in Raleigh seem to love their work, presumably even when there’s not catchy background music — like Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” — playing.

Even though it reminds me of “Glee” — and even though “Glee” has no place in my life on Tuesday night, much less Monday morning — the video is seamless, infectious and, given the all-too-often depressing aura of animal shelters, wonderfully uplifting.

Lest you be concerned the shelter is spending money to make videos instead of caring for dogs, the production services were donated by POV Productions.

(All of our “Woof in Advertising” selections can be found archived here.)

Between a YouTube video gone viral, the Oprah Winfrey Show, the National Geographic Channel and Animal Planet, the playful antics of Cassie the cat and Moses the crow have been viewed my millions.

Now, the special friendship between members of two species that are normally mortal enemies is the subject of a childrens book, coming out next month.

“Cat and Crow: An Amazing Friendship” tells story of the four-year relationship between a stray kitten and the crow who befriended her in the yard of Ann and Wally Collito in Attleboro, Mass.

Conveying a hopeful message of love and peace, the book was written by Lisa Fleming and pubished by Collage Books, Inc. It is aimed at ages 3 and up.

Fleming, a former newspaper columnist and freelance writer, first saw Cassie and Moses on YouTube. She contacted the Collitos. They encouraged her to tell the story, and gave her access to their collection of photos and videos.

The book is illustrated by Anna Marie Domink-Harris, and includes contributions from naturalist Bernd Heinrich and Nancy Peterson, cat programs manager for the Humane Society of the United States.

It is scheduled for release on Oct. 16 — National Feral Cat Day.

To learn more about “Cat and Crow,” visit the book’s Facebook page