New York has gone to the dogs!

[islander]

from Dogs in New York: Cashmere, chauffeurs and television
by Reggie Nadelson, New York
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/


"New York is a wonderful place for dogs, so many services: pools, spas, dog runs," says Beatrice Tosti di Valminuta.

Kiki, her Chihuahua, sometimes pays a little visit to her Italian restaurant and wine bar in lower Manhattan where everybody knows him.

Most of the time, though, Kiki attends doggie day care for small dogs. His real name is Killer Samson Hercules, because Beatrice who is Italian wanted a Chihuahua, and Julio, her Dominican husband, wanted a mastiff.

"We compromised on a Chihuahua with a mastiff name," says Beatrice.

[islander]

the quintessential new yorker

[islander]

The Yorkshire terrier is top dog here, while Labradors and retrievers are high on the list. Me, I'm besotted with a pair of golden wheaten terriers I often meet when I go for coffee. In their curly silkiness, they remind me of my favourite person.

"They adore the city," their owners tell me. "When we lived in the country, they ran wild. In our Soho loft, they are completely contented."

[islander]

Diamonds are a dog's best friend

Let it be said that my friends are not those obsessive New Yorkers who buy diamond-studded dog collars (two million and more), or take them to a shrink. In fact, Justine Haemmerli, my god-daughter, who with her husband, Kevin Rodricks, owns two cavalier king spaniels named Barley and Bruckner, strictly rejects the idea.

"What could a dog shrink possibly do?" she says. "I think that our dogs are incredibly emotionally stable because I run their lives like a Montessori teacher."

[islander]

For the depressed dog, Colleen Noonan thinks it's often simply a question of style. In their chic Brooklyn apartment, she lives with her husband, Steven Wagner, and two delicious dachshunds.

"When my dachsund Jennifer Lopez was a puppy," says Colleen, "I was convinced she was depressed as a result of being left alone all day while we were at work.

"She would mope and I got worried, so we bought a second dog - Leonard Cohen - thinking that this would help her overcome her loneliness. It turned out she wasn't depressed, it was just her personality - melancholy and lazy. She's happy watching TV."

[islander]

i now baptize you... brad pitt.

[islander]

Like all good New York dog people, Colleen and Steven reject the wilder shores of dog fashion, but Colleen does order special sweaters for them.

"I'm having some made with a glass of wine on one and a steak on the other, so I can look at all my favourite things when we go out walking."

To New Yorkers, there is no issue bigger than food so there is no reason dogs should feel otherwise.

Kiki the Chihuahua "follows a strict diet of one-third holistic dry dog food, one-third organic rice, and one-third organic cage-free chicken from the farm's market," says Beatrice Tosti di Valminuta. Naturally Kiki is enough of a gourmand to love "bitter greens".

"Barley and Bruckner are picky eaters," says Justine Haemmerli. "Our vet told us that owning this breed is like having a perennial two-year old, which at once made me question whether I ever wanted to have children.

[islander]

arf, madame, i've had that yesterday, okay?

[islander]

New York dogs adore TV. Justine sometimes catches Barley and Bruckner "following people and shapes like they're watching a tennis match. Incredible, hilarious, slightly terrifying."

On vacation, dachshunds Jennifer Lopez and Leonard Cohen prefer country inns to grander city hotels. Barley and Bruckner go to their aunt Laura and many canine cousins, including Phoebe Jane, in the Pennsylvania countryside.

[islander]

'Just relax and clear your mind'

[Lorenzo]

'Just relax and clear your mind'

da kuyawa ! gi panuhot diay ning iroa?

[islander]

beauty treatment na, morag sideline ug medical doctor tingali...

[islander]

As for Minnie and Goose, they often travel by pet-chauffeur taxi to Charleston where Martha has a second home. (Taking dogs on planes these days is a nightmare, all agree.)

Martha recalls: "On one occasion, a friend of a friend whose cousin is Jewish-turned-Buddhist had to fly to Texas to pick up several Tibetan Lamas who were visiting Austin.

"The pilot said he had to re-fuel somewhere, and said he'd drop me off in Charleston.

"Minnie sat in a leather seat looking out of the window of the plane. She was a rescue dog. From homeless dog on the verge of death to private jet. The change in circumstances did not escape her."

Call it a New York tale.

more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18354078

[islander]

doggone moon over manhattan

                                                                         

[Lorenzo]

beauty treatment na, morag sideline ug medical doctor tingali...

hahahaha! in that case, hilig diay ning iroa sa manicure og pedicure pod eh?

[Lorenzo]

i now baptize you... brad pitt.

he he he, cute bitaw ni siya. lami kusion!