Man sues ex-girlfriend for $500,000 for allegedly stealing blog devoted to dog

A Manhattan man who turned his cuddly 10-pound Pomeranian into an online sensation worth $500,000 is being forced to start from scratch after his ex-girlfriend stole the growing business, he claims in court papers. Scott Smith and his sister Jessica, along with Smith’s ex, Anna Camara, hatched the site “Sammy and the City” last year, posting pictures and videos of the tiny canine fluffball at assorted city landmarks. The 7-year-old dog’s “view of the city” gained 40,000 visitors a month, and more than 51,000 followers on the photo-sharing app Instagram, 8,500 Facebook fans, and a 3,000-person Twitter fan base.

Fans gleefully gazed at pics of a grinning Sammy with his reading glasses, newspaper and morning coffee, or enjoying the Central Park sunshine in a beach chair with a plastic palm tree attached. But in April, Camara allegedly muzzled the venture without warning or explanation. “This is one of the biggest atrocities that has ever happened to a family,” Smith said. Smith, 43, said it’s a doggone shame he’s been forced to relaunch the project. Last week he slapped Camara with a $500,000 lawsuit for suddenly scuttling their effort.



“This is my dog, this is my project, and not one bit of it is in my name,” said Smith, who plans to post Sammy’s antics on a new site, EverybodyLovesSammy.com. Smith and Camara broke up last year, but still worked on the Sammy project for months. But Camara, who handled the photography, listed herself as sole owner in efforts to trademark the business’s name and register the Web site. “Anna’s a brilliant photographer; what she lacks is business ethics,” Smith said. He was stunned when she changed passwords and online IDs, locking him out of the site and preventing him from adding fresh content, Smith claims in the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit that was filed last week.

Camara, 44, even allegedly stole the iPad that Smith used to add images to the Instagram account — returning it with passwords changed and content deleted, he claims. The discovery enraged the Upper East Sider so much, he admits trying to retrieve the passwords by grabbing her iPhone during an April meeting, getting into a scuffle with Camara that landed him in the doghouse — jail — on a petty-larceny charge. In the meantime, Camara has let Sammy and the City stagnate, while Smith started a new Facebook venture — Sammy and the World.