Neighborhood dogs and 'The Wire': the adventure continues

, and about how

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That news elicited an email from Susan Rome, a Baltimore actress who played an assistant state's attorney on the show.

"There is another 'Wire' shaggy dog story," she wrote. "I played ASA Ilene Nathan in seasons 1-4. The first time I was on-set, someone brought a sweet little yellow dog into the hair and makeup trailer. I asked whose puppy it was, and was told that it was a dog rescued from a crack-house/shooting gallery in West Baltimore that had been scouted as a possible location.

"She was tiny, having never had a reliable meal. She had been found in a pack of male pit-mixes. She looks to be a yellow-lab/corgi mix, and was mangy and pregnant before cinematographer Uta Briesewitz and script supervisor Chris took her to the vet. The dog, dubbed "Schatzie" by Uta, had been taken home and then rejected by a number of cast and crew members. She was just too neurotic and unsocialized.

"My husband and I had a border collie mix who was easily bored and needed a pal. We had a play date with Lila and Schatzie (whom we renamed Dobby, after the big-eyed/big-eared grateful house elf in the Harry Potter series). The little yellow dog had no idea how to play. We took her home and she has been a (still-neurotic) wonderful member of our family ever since!

"We call her our 'crack dog.'"