Pets

Michael Vick's new dog is the WORST possible breed for a convicted dog killer ... and that's from the official organization that breeds the dog.

The American Belgian Malinois Club and Rescue tells TMZ, the group is very concerned that Vick is allowed to own ANY dog, but the Belgian Malinois is especially problematic. The breed is highly trainable and they could easily become dangerous if they land in the wrong hands.

Vick, as you know, ended up training pit bulls to fight and kill.

Belgian Malinois -- which are frequently used by the military and police -- have the same fighting potential as pit bulls.

Although the organization thinks dogs should be off-limits in the Vick household, they believe a more docile pooch -- like a lab -- would be way more appropriate.

NeNe Leakes flagged down a Beverly Hills cop today ... after accidentally locking her dog in her car ... TMZ has learned.

The "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star left her keys in the vehicle and couldn't figure out how to get the door open. The resourceful cop did the trick, and fido was free!

The dog was never in real danger ... it's pretty cold in Bev Hills today.

In case you're interested, it appears the dog in distress was a yorkie named Playa.

Your key, Miss Leakes.

Michael Vick made a bizarre choice when he picked out his new puppy ... 'cause the convicted dog fighter's new poochie is one of the TOUGHEST breeds around ... one that's used by the Navy SEALS.

Vick was spotted out at a dog training class at a PetSmart in New Jersey recently ... where he's been working with his new pet ... a Belgian Malinois.

FYI -- the Belgian Malinois have a great reputation as a military working dog ... and according to reports, the Navy SEALS who killed Bin Laden had a BM with them at the time of the raid.

According to CrossingBroad.com, the dog is a female named "Angel."

"Destiny's Child" singer Kelly Rowland's never faced a more difficult choice! Babies or puppies -- which takes the crown of cuteness??? It's about to get all adorable up in this piece.

An award-winning TV and film director was killed in a gruesome shark attack off the coast of New Zealand today ... as authorities grabbed guns and opened fire on the animals.

46-year-old Adam Strange -- who's directed a whole bunch of international commercials for companies like Pepsi and Firestone -- was swimming at a popular NZ beach when a Great White pulled him underwater. According to local reports, at least 3 other sharks were drawn to the attack.

Local police jumped in a small boat and raced over to the scene ... joined by a helicopter. The cops fired at least 20 shots at the sharks, but it was too late.

One shark was reportedly killed in the gunfire ... and its body -- measuring 14-feet long -- washed up on shore a short time later.

As for Strange -- authorities were able to recover his body after the attack.

It's clear from the photos ... Paisley couldn't be happier with Bun Bun's undying presence.

Why does this sound so familiar?

Tareq Salahi is finally moving on ... dog-wise, at least. Dog sources tell TMZ ... the famed White House crasher has replaced his beloved Doberman Pinscher with ... another Dobie.

You'll recall ... Tareq formerly shared a Doberman named Rio with ex-wife Michaele ... that is, before she turned into a Journey-banging groupie and left him. Rio got super depressed soon after ... and later died of a broken heart ... at least that's Tareq's story.

And get this -- we're told the first thing the 1-year-old doggie replacement did was run over to Rio's grave and pay tribute to the fallen pooch.

As for a name ... it's between either Bruno or Bravo.

It was Melanie Griffith to the rescue in L.A. ... when the actress and her husband rolled into an animal rescue center a few weeks ago and adopted 2 puppies that had been abandoned and abused ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us ... Melanie and Antonio Banderas stopped by the Ace of Hearts organization roughly 3 weeks ago, after two of their dogs passed away ... and wanted to bring a couple of new puppies into their homes.

We're told Mel and Antonio had worked with Ace of Hearts in the past ... and are strong supporters of adopting rescues.

According to our sources, Melanie and Antonio fell in love with 2 shepherd lab mixes -- who happened to be brother and sister ... and immediately took them into their family.

Gotta love a story with a happy ending.

73-year-old Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell was arrested this morning at the University of Wisconsin -- after bursting into a board meeting ... claiming the school tortures cats in the name of science.

Cromwell was arrested with PETA spokesman Jeremy Beckham, who accompanied Cromwell on the protest ambush.

PETA posted video of the protest ... in which Cromwell and Beckham burst into a UW System Board of Regents meeting, shouting and holding signs showing a cat with metal implanted in its head at a UW-Madison lab.

PETA has claimed 30 cats a year at UW-Madison are starved, deafened, and decapitated for brain research that hasn't accomplished its goals of improving human hearing. The university denies the accusations.

During the protest, Cromwell shouted, "This is not science. This is cruel!" Beckham then went limp and dropped to the floor in front of the regents, holding the cat torture sign over his head.

The regents were obviously taken aback by the sudden distraction, but no one responded to Cromwell or Beckham.

A University spokesperson said police showed up shortly after and dragged Beckham out of the room. Cromwell was escorted out in handcuffs. The meeting immediately resumed.

The UW spokesperson said both men were taken to a nearby jail and are expected to be charged with disorderly conduct.

The director of the UW–Madison Research Animal Resources Center released a statement following the protest, saying, "Today's events are just another attempt by outside activists to draw attention to a cause. They have attacked and distorted this research -- which has very real benefits for people who are deaf -- from every angle imaginable."

The director added, "Exhaustive independent investigation by the USDA, which regulates the use of animals in research, concluded that PETA's allegations are baseless."

Baltimore Ravens stars Joe Flacco and Ed Reed dominated on the field to win the Super Bowl -- but somehow they got upstaged by livestock! In Harvey's mind, anyway.

Justin Bieber decided to give his bad luck Ferarri a rest yesterday afternoon and went horseback riding with a few friends in North Hollywood.

Just in 2013 alone, Bieber's white Ferrari was at the center of a paparazzo's death, bottomed out at the Four Seasons parking lot and got pulled over for tinted windows ... all while people other than Bieber were driving.

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.