You’re The Man Now, Dog

Trouble, the dog to which Leona Helmsley left $12 million, has had to flee to Florida under an assumed name for its own protection:

The poor little rich bitch has been wintering in Florida after being targeted by death threats up North, The Post has learned.

Trouble turned tail from the 28-room Connecticut estate where she had been staying after her caretakers received approximately two dozen threats against the petite pooch, who became a celebrity earlier this year after Helmsley died and left her a $12 million trust fund.

The dog — under an assumed name — was flown by private plane with her security team to a Helmsley property in the Sarasota area about two months ago, sources said.

. . .

John Codey, the Helmsley executive in charge of the pooch’s trust fund, said Trouble is being well taken care of.

He estimated the cost of her upkeep — including security, medical care and grooming — to be well over $300,000 a year. The Maltese chows down on meals prepared by chefs.

. . .

He said that the 4 1/2-pound pooch has a rotating security team and used an alias when she flew out of Connecticut.

“We’ve had problems keeping her identity confidential, and we had to change her name even to take her on the aircraft. We called her Bauble instead of Trouble,” he said.