Two Dogs

When Kathy McSweeney's 2 1/2 -year-old mixed-breed dog Amy became anxious, disoriented and unable to walk last month, she rushed her to the vet while the family scoured the house and garage, searching for something that could have sickened the animal. McSweeney's family found the cause hidden in the bushes between their North Laurel home and their neighbor's property - two bowls filled with chicken bones, bacon grease and antifreeze. The dog died, and their neighbor, Jack Carl Schroeder, 58, of the 10600 block of Rachel Yates Court, was charged Wednesday with aggravated cruelty to animals, poisoning a dog and destruction of property, Howard County police said yesterday.

The troubled Rosa Bonheur pet cemetery in Elkridge has been left adrift -- with no one taking care of the property and dead pets thawing in a freezer without electric power.In the wake of an unsuccessful effort by the cemetery's owner to give the property back to a bank -- which the bank has not accepted -- it remains unclear who is in charge of the 22,000-plot site off U.S. 1 near Route 176.The cemetery's caretaker quit Friday. And after Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. cut off the power at the cemetery, the Howard County Health Department found two dogs -- a Yorkshire terrier and a white, medium-sized dog -- and a pot-bellied pig thawing in a 6-foot by 4-foot freezer yesterday in the cemetery's "preparing room."

After the death of one search and rescue dog and the retirement of another, Baltimore County Fire Chief Paul H. Reincke has tentatively decided to scale back the county's dog rescue unit from three animals to one.Meanwhile, the officer who handled Barney -- the dog whose fatal bout with cancer drew a flood of donations, of which pTC $38,000 remains -- has spent his own money for a puppy he is training privately for search and rescue work."

When Dr. Carl E. Rogge got to Alaska for his first Iditarod race in 1988, he found the rough-and-tumble sled dogs weren't much like the nice little doggies he was treating back home in Severna Park."

The troubled Rosa Bonheur pet cemetery in Elkridge has been left adrift -- with no one taking care of the property and dead pets thawing in a freezer without electric power.In the wake of an unsuccessful effort by the cemetery's owner to give the property back to a bank -- which the bank doesn't accept -- it remains unclear who now is in charge of the 22,000-plot site off U.S. 1 near Route 176.The cemetery's caretaker quit Friday. And after its power was cut off by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., the Howard County Health Department yesterday found two dogs -- a Yorkshire terrier and a white, medium-sized dog -- and a pot-bellied pig thawing in a 6-foot-by-4-foot freezer in the cemetery's "preparing room."

"The Dogs Who Came to Stay," by George Pitcher. New York: Dutton Press. 163 pages. $18.95Published as a memoir, "The Dogs Who Came To Stay" is an oddly fascinating relic of old-fashioned "bachelor" couplehood, and a fitting revenge for all the gushing, sentimental first-child stories ever written.Insipid, annoying, pathetic, and often boring, George Pitcher's book describes an undoubtedly honest affection for two dogs who breached the author's long-held emotional repressions and taught him and his partner how to love more fully.

Hoping to end what a police official called a "cell of violence" in Southeast Baltimore, officers raided 21 houses in O'Donnell Heights yesterday and arrested 21 people.Police also seized suspected crack cocaine, weapons and more than $1,300.Dubbed "Operation O'Donnell Heights," the raids capped a three-month investigation that targeted violence and drug trafficking in a four-square-block area of the public housing complex."This was an open air [drug] market," said Lt. Steven Ossmus of the Southeastern District, one of the raid's coordinators.

...dTC The Greater Odenton Improvement Association will hold its annual cleanup day starting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Odenton Shopping Center.Volunteers are needed for three hours of work.Participants should wear work gloves and work clothes.Two dogs attack Crownsville womanTwo dogs bit a Crownsville woman several times on the arm Sunday morning as she tried to stop them from attacking her dog in the 1100 block of Oakview Drive, county police said.Margaret Bryant, 39, who lives on the block, was walking her collie about 7 a.m. when a year-old German shepherd and a mixed-breed beagle puppy attacked her dog. Ms. Bryant tried to protect the collie by covering it with her body.

You think the Oklahoma City bombing was a tragedy?You think the murder of all those people, all those little children, was sad?Well, it was. But a cartoon dog dying, that's a real tragedy. That's really sad.Allow me to explain:"For Better or for Worse" is a comic strip that runs in about 1,500 newspapers around the world, including The Sun. I like it a lot.It is drawn by Lynn Johnston and portrays the life of an imaginary family, the Pattersons.There's a mother, father, three children and two dogs.

SHE WAS standing on the street in front of a deli in Charles Village holding a string with a puppy on the other end. "Somebody take this dog," she said. "I'm going to give him away today."She seemed short on patience, as if at any moment she might drop the string and walk off. The puppy was shivering as he pawed at a piece of chewing gum frozen into the sidewalk."We can't," my daughter and I told each other. "It's out of the question. Perfectly ridiculous." Then, "Well, maybe, if she's still there after lunch.

Anne Arundel County authorities removed 21 malnourished and flea-infested dogs Friday morning from an Orchard Beach home filled with animal feces and deemed uninhabitable. County police, Animal Control and a representative from the office of County Executive John R. Leopold went to the home in the 7900 block of Sea Breeze Drive about 11:30 a.m. and found the dogs after a neighbor complained about an odor emanating from the home and the presence of howling dogs. Nineteen dogs were found inside the home and two dogs were taken from a trailer on the property; they all were transported to Animal Control in Millersville for assessment.

Jackie McGee hadn't exactly put the for-sale sign outside her Federal Hill house, but she was that upset - as were the other dog owners who joined her Tuesday at City Hall. These people might tolerate Baltimore's high crime and struggling schools but they drew the line at the recent jump in fines for dogs caught off-leash - from $100 to $1,000. When McGee was socked with a $1,000 ticket, that fit her definition of too much. "I really wanted to pack my bags and move," she told members of the City Council.

Rex Cox and a neighbor were on the front steps of their Remington rowhouses yesterday when they noticed thick black smoke billowing from a home a block away. As they ran toward the fire, one of them called the owner, Charles Krout, and told him his house was burning. Krout, who was at work, said he asked them to do only one thing: Save his pets. "All I was worrying about was the animals," Krout said about the two dogs and two cats in his Hampden Avenue house. Cox ran to the alley behind the burning house as firetrucks roared up the street about 11 a.m. Firefighters put ladders to the second-story window, broke the glass and burst in through the front door, while Cox - unaware that firefighters had entered through the front - was forcing his way in through the back.

Daisy and Lili gingerly padded around the fenced-in backyard yesterday afternoon, still a little nervous at their new surroundings. The sweet-tempered pit bulls rescued from the stable of fighting dogs once overseen by former NFL standout Michael Vick are still shaking off their traumatic experience, said Catalina Stirling, a longtime advocate for ill-treated animals and the dogs' new foster "mom." "I've worked with a lot of abused dogs," Stirling said. "But these dogs had really shut down."

The whole thing began early one morning when I stumbled downstairs in search of a cup of coffee and discovered a new dog in the kitchen. The old dog was there, too. The old dog was staring at me as he usually does, sending concentrated thought waves that said: "You! Get me food!" or "How 'bout one of those beef-and-chicken treats, sport?" Now the new dog was staring at me, too and putting out the same vibe. "There's a new dog in the kitchen," I shouted to my wife. "You don't miss much," she shouted back.

When veterinarian Carl E. Rogge takes his March vacation, he goes north. Far, far north, to where the temperatures might climb to 10 degrees, glaciers loom over the landscape and the dogs look nothing like the suburban canines he leaves behind. He likes to golf, fly-fish and sail, but this is his other hobby: He is part of an army of volunteers at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the grueling 1,200-mile race through the Arctic wilderness, checking the physical condition of the 45-pound racers.

When Kathy McSweeney's 2 1/2 -year-old mixed-breed dog Amy became anxious, disoriented and unable to walk last month, she rushed her to the vet while the family scoured the house and garage, searching for something that could have sickened the animal. McSweeney's family found the cause hidden in the bushes between their North Laurel home and their neighbor's property - two bowls filled with chicken bones, bacon grease and antifreeze. The dog died, and their neighbor, Jack Carl Schroeder, 58, of the 10600 block of Rachel Yates Court, was charged Wednesday with aggravated cruelty to animals, poisoning a dog and destruction of property, Howard County police said yesterday.

One dog. That was the plan. Sallyann Jennings would go to the city animal shelter to rescue Jed, a retriever mix whose time was running out, and place him in a foster home until a permanent one could be found. That, after all, is what her organization, Recycled Love, is all about -- finding homes for strays and shelter dogs who, if they don't get adopted, are likely to be euthanized. But then Jennings heard about a stray spaniel mix who had given birth to four pups in the woods near an elementary school on the north side of the city -- all of which had been taken to the shelter as well -- and, after a visit last week, she knew she couldn't let the mother, who had been dubbed Meka, linger there.

Baltimore County officials declared the Police Department's canine facility safe yesterday, saying tests found no environmental links to the deaths of five police dogs that spent time there. Tests on soil and groundwater showed that the site and surrounding area at Southwest Area Park pose no health risks to officers or dogs, county officials said. They vowed to reopen all portions of the park immediately and to try to move the canine unit back to its facility within six weeks. "There is no increased risk for humans and canines at this site," county environmental chief David A.C. Carroll told reporters at police headquarters in Towson.

Two years ago, Baltimore County police marked the opening of their canine facility with an open house and a demonstration of police dogs' skills. Now, bright orange fencing and a "No Trespassing" sign keep visitors from the building. Police and union officials say two dogs are dead from cancer. Tests are being conducted to determine the cause of a third animal's death, while a fourth is believed to have brain cancer. And the union says its members worry that the dogs might be more like coal-mine canaries - signaling the potential for serious health problems among the humans who have worked at the facility, built on parkland on top of a former landfill.