Pets

Kristin Chenoweth says she was the victim of a screaming, angry gate agent who bullied her and embarrassed her when she tried to board an American Airlines flight with her emotional support dog ... and now the airline is begging for her forgiveness.

TMZ has learned, the altercation went down this week as Kristin boarded a flight from Dallas to L.A.. We're told Kristin had her emotional support dog in tow -- as she always does -- when she was confronted by a gate agent supervisor who claimed Kristin didn't have the proper paperwork to bring the dog on board.

When Kristin protested, insisting she had done everything correctly, the agent got "verbally abusive" in front of several passengers ... scolding the actress ... and Kristin was so shaken up, she burst into tears.

Eventually airline officials realized a mistake had been made -- and Kristin was allowed to board the flight with her dog. Whoops.

After the flight, Kristin tweeted, "American Airlines: Dallas flight attnt supervisor Ms. Kidwell. Abuse not okay. #tripfromhell."

Seems American Airlines was paying attention to the tweet -- because a rep for AA tells us, "We have been in touch with Ms. Chenoweth to offer our apologies for the misunderstanding. We refunded the [$125] cabin pet charge as soon as we realized the mistake. We hope she will consider flying American again in the future."

Kristin wasn't lying when she said she flies with the dog all the time -- we shot video of her last month with her dog Madeline ... and everything seemed fine.

Dustin Hoffman says the TMZ reports surrounding the deaths of 3 horses on the set of "Luck" last year are to blame for his show getting canceled ... claiming our facts were wrong.

Dustin just gave an interview to FoxNews.com, saying the "real" reason the show was canceled was due to a collaboration between PETA and TMZ ... and NOT because the public was upset that THREE horses died during production.

Hoffman said, "It’s completely distorted. Anyone who raises horses know they break their legs. The accusations they made were distorted."

He also directs people to the horse racing website Paulick Report for the "real reason the show was canceled."

Truth is, the TMZ stories are in sync with what was reported on the Paulick Report.

Here are the facts that we published on TMZ.com:

-- THREE horses died during the production of the show
(Confirmed by Paulick Report)

-- Horse #3 was euthanized on the set ... and production continued a few hours later
(Euthanasia confirmed by Paulick Report)

-- HBO acknowledged the deaths ... and released a statement saying “accidents unfortunately happen."

Who knew ... Mini-Me has a little cowboy in him too.

While filming a segment for some Austrian TV show in L.A. this week, "Austin Powers" star Verne Troyer rode off into the sunset astride his mighty steed ... an adorable little pony.

You can't really tell from the photo, but the pony's only about 4 feet tall. Meanwhile, the 44-year-old actor stands at just 2 feet 8 inches, making him one of the shortest men in the world.

Hugh Hefner or Crystal Harris's dog -- it's a toss up which one's sniffed more ass at the Playboy mansion ... but one of them took last night off, we presume, for the Harris-Hefner wedding.

Ex-Playmate Crystal forced her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, named Charles, to go black tie for the ceremony ... which was attended by a small group of family and friends.

We're not much for wedding pics ... unless there's a damn cute dog involved.

So, there ya go.

Here's one way to become famous ... find "Gone Baby Gone" author Dennis Lehane's lost dog -- because if you do, he'll name a character after you in his next book.

Lehane -- who lives in Brookline, MA -- announced the bizarre award on his Facebook page, claiming his beloved beagle Tessa jumped a fence at his family home and got away ... and he concocted this plan as a way to get Tessa back.

Lehane says Tessa had been microchipped, but she wasn't wearing her tags when she escaped.

According to WCVB.com, Tessa was last seen Monday afternoon near a gas station in Allston.

The reward could be worth substantially more than your usual cash incentive -- Lehane's books are ridiculously popular ... he also wrote "Mystic River" and "Shutter Island" ... both of which were turned into successful movies.

Then again, that's all presuming he writes another book.

Talk about bringin' home the bacon -- "Young and the Restless" star Kevin Schmidt just scored a solid $5,000 payday after his famous pig booked a television gig with HGTV.

TMZ has learned ... the network booked Kevin's micropig Yuma for an upcoming show called "A-List Pets."

Sources close to Kevin tells us ... Yuma spent the day on the set with the host Ian Ziering ... who took a serious liking to the unkosher creature.

Of course, Yuma's blossoming career was almost torpedoed when he appeared on "TMZ Live" ... and FELL OFF THE STAGE!!!

Fortunately, Yuma's tough -- she got right back on her hooves and finished the show like a true champ ... unlike our fearless leader who squealed like a little piggie when NFL star Adrian Peterson squeezed his hand a little too hard a while back.

Justin Bieber issued a DEATH SENTENCE to his pet hamster PAC when he gave it away to a screaming fan (who promised to love and cherish it forever) outside of a concert earlier this month ... this according to the California Hamster Association (yes, there's actually a California Hamster Association).

TMZ spoke to a rep for the group ... who tells us Bieber committed an act of "animal cruelty" when he gifted away the animal ... even if his intentions were good.

The CHA tells us ... hamsters are fragile creatures that "often succumb quickly to illness and death," especially when faced with "sudden environmental change."

In short ... "The moment that hamster was handed off to a screaming girl in a harsh, frenzied environment was likely the moment it gazed at the short path to its doom."

DOOM!!!!!!

So what should Bieber have done instead? The CHA says if Justin no longer wanted the pet, he could have left it in the care of an animal shelter or rescue center ... so they could've handed it off to a responsible new owner in a safer manner.

As for PAC, he's currently alive and well in the care of Bieber's 18-year-old super-fan Tori ... who has vowed to treat the animal like a tiny rodent god.

So far, no comment for Bieber.

La Toya Jackson wants nothing but the BEST for her two dogs -- telling TMZ, her little flea bags drink ONLY Fiji-brand water.

La Toya was out in Beverly Hills Sunday night when we asked her all about her two pups -- named Prince and Paris ... after La Toya's famous niece and nephew.

And that's when she dropped the bombshell -- telling our camera guy, her furry friends ONLY drink that ridiculously expensive Fiji-brand artesian water in those clear plastic bottles.

Justin Bieber isn't gonna win pet owner of the year any time soon, because we found out he just dumped his pet hamster on an unsuspecting fan.

We got grainy footage shot Wednesday night after Jingle Ball at the Philips Arena -- showing Bieber walking up to a group of screaming fans and signing autographs. Then, suddenly, he handed his hamster cage to a girl in the crowd, declaring, "That's all you."

It's hard to make out much more because of all the screaming, but you can clearly hear Justin tell the girl, "You gotta take care of PAC."

The girl screams back, "I WILL TAKE CARE OF HIM!"

Funny ... PAC the hamster has his own Twitter account -- with over 40,000 followers -- and his last tweet was on Wednesday ... "ATL this is gonna be fun."

Poor guy never saw it comin' ...

If you love dogs and you love "American Idol" ... then you just missed the opportunity of a lifetime, because David Cook unloaded his Hollywood mansion -- and it came with it's own customized DOG YARD!!!!

The Season 7 "Idol" champ recently sold off his Beachwood Canyon pad -- which has a killer view of the Hollywood sign -- for a cool $1,365,0000.

The 3,000-sqaure-foot house is pretty amazing too ... it's rockin' 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, wrap-around decks, and a FULL recording studio.

But best of all, it features a specially-designed dog yard -- which non-dog owners would call ... a yard.

UPDATE: We realized you might need a refresher on who David Cook is ...

Miley Cyrus is having a really ruff day ... because her super cute pooch Lila has officially checked in to the big dog park in the sky.

Miley took to Twitter moments ago to break the tragic news to her fans, tweeting ... "My heart has never been so broken. Lila my sweet baby girl has passed away."

She added, "Can't think of one good reason to get out of bed today."

It's unclear how Lila kicked the can, but she was only two years old.

The economy is rough, even for famous people, so former "Young and the Restless" star Kevin Schmidt found himself a good old fashioned cash cow -- or in this case ... pig.

Sources close to Kevin -- who's also the bro of "Big Time Rush" star Kendall Schmidt -- tell TMZ the actor bought a micro pig (named Yuma) back in February for a cool $10,000.

The tiny pig became a sensation online and has amassed over 5,000 Twitter followers and copious YouTube videos dedicated to its very adorable existence.

Our sources say Kevin decided to capitalize on the pig's fame and started dropping $1,000/month to train Yuma. It's paid off and now the little guy rakes in $15,000 for public appearances (which Kevin attends) and $5,000 for movie and TV gigs.

All in all, we're told Yuma has made around $30,000 and now he's dropping a clothing line at the end of the month (below).

Elijah Wood -- who plays Frodo in the new "Hobbit" movie -- is convinced ... the wranglers who claimed 27 animals died during the production of the film are just out for a payday ... but their diabolical plot will fail.

Elijah was at the airport in L.A. when we asked about the story -- that the production's animal handlers claim the living conditions for the film's horses, chickens, sheep, and goats were so bad ... as many as 27 animals died horrific preventable deaths.

Elijah called the story "heartbreaking" -- but said the complaints were grossly exaggerated, telling us, "I never saw any of those conditions when I was down there."

He added, "All of the technicians who worked on the film take the utmost care of the animals."

Elijah believes the timing of the complaints -- a week before the film premieres -- is extremely suspicious ... and tells us, the people behind them are just out for a quick buck.

It's a Thanksgiving conspiracy -- one of the turkeys pardoned by President Barack Obama last year was euthanized this week ... just days before Turkey Day ... and so far, no one's saying why.

A rep for the Mt. Vernon Estate -- where the pardoned turkeys are SUPPOSED to live out the remainder of their days in pastured leisure -- said the turkey (named Peace) was euthanized Monday following an illness over the weekend.

But the rep didn't know what kind of illness it was, how it was subsequently killed, or what the plans were for the turkey's delicious remains.

The rep says the decision to exterminate the fowl was made by a local veterinarian.

Coincidentally, the Mt. Vernon Estate DOES serve turkey on Thanksgiving.

As many as 27 animals -- from horses to chickens -- died horrific (and preventable) deaths during the production of "The Hobbit" ... this according to people who handled the animals ... though producers say the number has been grossly exaggerated.

Several wranglers who worked on location in New Zealand have come forward -- claiming horses, sheep, goats and chickens died unnecessarily from 2010 to 2011 because the Wellington farm where they were housed was full of dangerous sinkholes, shoddy fencing, and other "death traps."

According to the wranglers, some of the animals -- mostly horses -- would fall into the sink holes and break their backs. At least one horse had to be euthanized.

The wranglers claim several chickens were unprotected and were mauled to death by dogs ... some of the goats froze to death ... and a horse gashed its leg open on an unsafe fence. Other animals allegedly died from eating bad feed, contracting worms or other forms of negligence.

Two wranglers say conditions for the animals were so bad ... they quit in 2011 and complained to the production company about the situation.

A rep for Peter Jackson admitted two of the horse deaths were avoidable -- but says producers "completely reject" accusations that 27 animals died due to mistreatment.

As soon as producers became aware of the animals' living conditions in early 2011, the rep says they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve them.

The American Humane Association investigated the situation later that year and gave the production a passing grade ... noting that no animals died on the set.

But the AHA admits their grade only reflected on-set conditions -- and not the animals' housing facilities, which the group admits was subpar.