A black and tan female dog got herself in a rather precarious predicament on Tuesday morning.  She was stranded on the median on I-80 in Reno, NV, during peak morning rush hour.  Too afraid to move, which was a good thing for her with the traffic, she stayed near the center of the freeway between the two cement jersey wall barriers.

Concerned motorists called the NHP and it wasn’t long before Trooper Brett Tierney arrived and rescued the scared girl. He just picked her up and popped her in his vehicle, then transported her to the Regional Animal Services Center.

She wasn’t wearing tags or a collar but Trooper Tierney hopes the dog’s owner comes forward to claim her and if not, there will still be a happy ending for this little girl.

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I guess McCune, KS, Mayor, Don Call, initially thought he was probably going to be able to just walk away after shooting and killing 2 of Duane Wahl’s dogs in February.  He had threatened to shoot them if they were ever running loose and a child said they were chasing him so the father, instead of calling the police or animal control, called the Mayor.  Mayor Don Call grabbed a 9mm semi-automatic rifle, drove to the area and while driving around the block 3 times, firing each of the 3 times he drove by the home, killing the two dogs who were safely chained up in the owners yard at the time.

“I told him that if he did not want to take care of the dogs, that I was going to shoot them the next time,” Call said regarding Wahl’s dogs. “I said that I was through playing this game and he was going to take care of them and that was back in January.”

“A witness says he drove around the block, shot a few more rounds, drove around a third time, came back and shot a few more times,” said Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton.

On Monday in Crawford County District Court, after a preliminary hearing at which Call pleaded not guilty, District Judge Don Nolan said there was enough evidence and bound him over for trial.

“That was an act that took some degree of time,” Nolan said. “If you acted with maliciousness, that is to be determined by trial.”

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An 8-12-week-old mixed breed puppy is recovering today at the Buncombe County Animal Shelter from wounds to its paws, legs, stomach and face after two men dragged it by a leash on Sunday.

At least two called were logged into the police, the first at 7:10 pm and the second about 25 minutes later reporting two men dragging a puppy, its paws bloodied. At first, police couldn’t locate the men but the second caller, Troy Leeper, followed on his bike and was able to lead the police to them.

Two Asheville men, Richard Darnell Brent, 49, whose address was listed as the Buncombe County jail and James Lewis Drew, 58, have both been charged with misdemeanor cruelty to animals.

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A Salinas, KS, woman, Teresa Grover, is mourning the loss of her sweet little rat terrier, Bug, who was brutally killed over the weekend and authorities want to find out who committed the cruel crime. On Sunday morning, Teresa found the body of her little dog laying atop a roll of TV cable, some bolts and the wrench that has been used to beat her to death.

“She was pretty sweet, she loved everybody, and she, everybody that came in she knew they were here to see here, and play with her,” Teresa says.

“She meant quite a bit to us. That’s why they were shocked to find the dog dead in the backyard Sunday morning. I was just freaked out, I was so scared, I couldn’t believe anybody had done anything like that.”

“There was a big hole in her thigh that the wrench fit perfectly into, her belly had been ripped, her back leg had been broke, I mean the bone, it was a compound fracture, the bone was just ripped up and out.”

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I’m sure we’ve all heard the cliche’, “The dog ate my homework” and there’ve been many stories about dogs eating many other things from money to golf balls, from clothes to Super Bowl tickets, but a pooch munching a passport, I think this is a first.  This is also especially funny for me because it’s a local story.  It happened in Eau Claire, WI, which is all of about 5 minutes from me.

An Eau Claire High School student, Jon Meier, was on his way to Peru with his Spanish class when a problem popped up in Miami 20 minutes before his flight was scheduled to leave.  Seems Miami officials rejected his passport because Jon’s year-old golden retriever, Sunshine, chomped a corner.  Airline officials in Chicago had told him it would be fine but Miami officials said “no go” and all the scrambling around he could do, couldn’t get him a replacement in time.

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Looks like Corpus Christi, TX and the sentencing Judge, Judge Martinez, don’t give a damn about dogs or animals and don’t take animal abuse very seriously.  Wastes of human life, 44-year-old Daniel Luna and 45-year-old Norma Luna, who abandoned this once beautiful German Shepherd, Shepp, to suffer a cruel and painful fate, were charged with 4 counts of animal cruelty; not feeding Shepp properly, not providing sufficient water, providing no medical attention for the dog’s injuries, and allowing Shepp to be tied up at an unoccupied property, misdemeanor charges.

They could have faced jail time but good ole Judge Martinez, in a plea deal, sentenced them to one year probation and $900 in fines!!!

A year probation and a fine!! You’ve got to be kidding me!!  This poor dog suffered in the sweltering heat for a month, little to no food and water, bone protruding, open sores, maggots and they got a year’s probation!! OMG!! Where the hell is the justice in that??

Look at these faces! These are the faces of heartless monsters who are getting away with killing, with torture. I am so angry and incensed that I can barely write! I am beginning to think they need to take the word “justice” out of the phrase justice system!

Take a moment to read Shepp’s story, to watch the video and if you still have dry eyes, I will be amazed! HERE

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This year’s Sacramento SPCA Doggy Dash World’s Ugliest Dog was not a Chinese Crested, the breed that so often seems to take the title, but a boxer. Meet Pabst, a 4-year-old. 60-lb rescued boxer. Found wandering the streets at 6-months old, with a burn and missing part of a toe, skittish and fearful, Miles Egstad adopted him from a mobile adopted unit and named him for his “bitter beer face.” Egstad said the was the soft, kind eyes that he felt could see right into his heart that got him.

“As soon as I saw him, it was on,” said Egstad. “It was just the uniquest face. And I instantly fell in love with him. All he needed was a little love, and he’s the best dog I’ve ever had.”

“I love the way he greets me when I come home,” Egstad said. “His whole body is shaking, his tail is wagging and his evil-looking grin looks like a big smile.”

After taking a blue ribbon and bag of goodies in the “Best Smile” contest, Egstad decided to enter Pabst into the “World’s Ugliest Dog” contest even though he doesn’t see ugly in beloved canine companion. At the Petaluma competition Friday after taking the ugliest mutt, then the ugliest dog in the mutt-and-pedigree runoff, Pabst finally took the title and is now the reigning World’s Ugliest Dog.

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The POS pictured on the right is David Santuomo, 43, a Columbus, OH, firefighter who last December wanted to go on a cruise with his girlfriend but did want to pay for boarding for his two adopted dogs, Sloopy and Skeeter.  So to save himself some money, he took his dogs into the basement, tie them to a pipe suspending their bodies and shot them both numerous times.  He then dumped their bodies on the plastic he had already laid out, wrapped them up and dumped them in a trash bin behind the fire station where he worked.  What makes this even sadder is that at least two neighbors had offered to watch the dogs while he was away.

This week, as part of a plea deal, Santuomo pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possessing a criminal tool a homemade silencer, all three misdemeanors. Franklin County Municipal Judge Harland H. Hale sentenced him to 90 days, to be served over 2 years, $4,500 in restitution, $150 fine, 200 hours of community service and he cannot possess any pets or firearms for 5 years. He also has to write a letter of apology to a firefighters magazine and to readers of The Dispatch newspaper. He has yet to face an internal disciplinary hearing with Fire Chief Ned Pettus Jr.

Felony charges were not pursued because there is no felony animal cruelty law in Ohio!!

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Unbelievable!! After seizing 28 dogs from a South Dallas home, animal services returns the dogs to the owner even though pictures of the animals show the dogs to be emaciated and covered with sores.

Is this the way an animal shelter is supposed to operate? Look at the pictures of these dogs and if you can come up with one sane, reasonable reason why they would be returned, please, tell me!

They were not treated for their numerous wounds and open sores, they were not spayed and neutered which is supposed to be mandated, they were not microchipped which is supposed to be mandate. No animal cruelty investigation was ever initiated. Two days after 28 dogs, dogs in terrible shape, living in horrendous conditions, all but one were returned to the owner. And no only were 28 emaciated, injured dogs found, there were also the remains of dogs that were left to die, just piles of bones. And they returned dogs!! I just do not even know what to say about such unbelievable incompetence!!

Whoever made the decision to return those poor dogs needs to be charged with animal cruelty because that’s exactly what this was! This shelter needs to be investigated and a serious overhaul undertaken. If dogs found in these conditions, in this shape, is considered acceptable, what does count as abuse? If pile of bones, dogs left to die, is not considered abuse, what is??

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In Seatac, WA, four “kids,” aged 11, 12, 13, 15, were kicking and beating on a dog the 15-year-old girl was walking, trying to get it to fight. When a woman stopped to try to find out what was going on and intervene, the 15-year-old girl and the dog attacked her.

“The 15-year-old girl, who was walking the dog, attacked this woman and then the dog joined in. The woman was bitten fairly severely,” said King County Sgt. John Urquhart.

These “kids” then proceeded into a local park where another woman was following them and calling the police after seeing what happened. They then got the dog to attack her.

A third woman was also attacked.

“She opened my car door, yanked me by the hair and drug me across the passenger seat, got the phone out of my hands, and started hitting me over the head with the phone,” the woman said.

“They were using the dog as a weapon, is what it boils down to,” said Urquhart.

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