It's My Dog's World: I Just Live In It

As seen in Jersey City: 2 ladies, 2 pooches

Just another day in beautiful Jersey City. These colorful ladies, left to right, are Liz and Venus.  The dignifed gentleman dog on the left is Remington (10), and the golden/color bombed lady dog on the left is Duchess. She is SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. 

 

Boyd the pirate beagle needs a home

I wandered across this beautiful one-eyed boy at an adoption fair in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. He's a healthy little guy who's survived major surgery, and he's ready for you to take him home.  

There is no crying in (vintage) baseball...but there are dogs...

Buddy the dog watches the Whately Pioneers, originally uploaded by Empress M.

A few days ago, when we were in the Berkshires, Jeff and I stumbled on a lovely game of vintage baseball, a game played with 19th century rules and courtesy (the umpire wears a bowler and a SUIT). No padding anywhere--not on the limbs, and sure as heck not on the gloves. Wooden bats. And at the end of the game, both teams gave the crowd a tip of the hat, and a hearty "Huzzah!"

One member of the crowd was the dog Buddy, who belongs to Buck, captain of the Whately Pioneers. Bats cracked, balls whizzed near...but Buck kept his cool. We should all follow his lead.

The East Village is..Dog Country? Yup.

Some proof.

Actual cafe on St. Mark's Place...what would the Ramones think of this?

This is one of two very well-worn bulldogs that adorn the front of a building on E. 7th Street. There were two women who were painting the railings.  They told me that the building was erected in the early 1890s.  I wonder if these bulldogs were someone's pet once?

This is Bondi, a lovely four-year-old girl Staffordshire terrier.  She is ubiquitous in the East Village--her picture even appears, multiple times, on the wall of cupcake central Sugar Sweet Sunshine.  She is a treat maven.

 

This is Molly. She is an 11-year-old rescue pug.  Her owner, who is very involved in small dog and cat rescue in the East Village, told me that when she and her husband adopted a badly abused Molly at nine years, they were told to "make her comfortable," because she wasn't expected to survive six months. Two years later, she's become an ambassadress for older pet rescue!

Great Dog Names of the Weekend; Princess Chunk Update

In the morning, we met a hound named...

Ringo!

His brother (not with him) is named Lennon.

Could it get any better?  Yes.  As I walked by the Church Square Park Dog Run, I heard a couple praising their little puggle...BUTTERS.  Be still, my South Park-loving heart.

In other news, the shelter that is Princess Chunk's home will be getting two copies of "My Fat Cat."  And Princess Chunk--born Powder, and that's Prince Powder to you--will be up for adoption soon.   And guess what--there are still lots of cats and dogs (300!)at the Camden Shelter who need adopting.  So get on it...and NJ.com, if you're eavesdropping today, maybe you could put in an extra plug for some fat cat adopting, hey?

My Dog is a Cougar

Faith is having a grand old time in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C. It has stayed reasonably cool (for D.C.), reasonably unmuggy (except for the torrential thunderstorm yesterday). D.C. is green, green, green, and Faith is having a sniff-tastic time.

She is also, oddly, more interested in other dogs than when she is on her home turf.  As in, not freaking out. As in...maybe even being an uberhussy of a certain age, a la Samantha in Sex and the City, or the soon to be ex-Mrs. Hulk Hogan.

Because I am in vacation-head, I walked out of the hotel today with Faith, but without poop bags.  Fortunately, this lovely neighborhood had a pretty little dog run, and so I swung by, and asked a young guy if he could give me a couple of bags.  He did, and as he did, his GIGANTOR black Newfoundland puppy bounded up to the fence to greet Faith.  Neptune, 11 months. A dancer, you could tell. 

I thought Faith would have her usual meltdown around a big shaggy dog, but before I could warn the owner, Faith and Neptune began making out through the fence.  I mean, totally.  Slobbery Newfie kisses were met with ardent pit mix smooches.  Neptune, man.  He had the stuff. 

It did my heart glad, even though Faith is old enough to be Neptune's grandma.

So, the scientific question remains:  can Faith be a dog...and a cougar, too?

My Dog's Boyfriend Has A Girlfriend

My dog Faith likes her dog boyfriends big, short-haired, and aloof as possible.  The more Faith's masculine ideal ignores her, the more she trembles with...anticipation.

Tonight in the park, I met Sammy Girl, a sweet, ball-obsessed Lab/Shiba Inu, whose owner told me that her dog, very alpha, like Faith, loves the "standoffish boys."

I told her I knew exactly what she meant.  Then, Sammy Girl's owner looked at me out of the corner of her eye and said, "Have you met Shumbai?"

Have I.  Every time Faith sees him--a long, loping drink of Rhodesian Ridgeback--she lurches toward him, longing only for a head to tail sniff, punctuated by a long snort of his inner ear.

"Oh, don't tell Sammy Girl," the owner begged me. "Shumbai is HER boyfriend.  She even likes to whisper in his ear when they walk together."

I swore secrecy, but now I've got to know:  just what kind of man musk is Shumbai wearing in his ear?

Almost home....

eureka_bliss_1, originally uploaded by Empress M.

Eureka is still at the shelter--Jersey City's Liberty Humane Society in Liberty State Park, to be exact, where, if you look in one direction, you can see the Statue of Liberty's bodacious backside.  We got in one last good play session yesterday, because soon Ms. Eureka will have a home in suburban New Jersey, quite near where Tony Soprano used to live.  Or still lives, depending on your "Sopranos" meta-theory.

You can feel her joy from here.

Eureka! Eureka is adopted

More later.  Whew.  That was a close one.

Eureka Still Needs a Home

I don't like to repeat posts, but since I seem to have some Modernly Fabulous visitors, I figure it's a good time to re-plug the fabulous dog Eureka, a lovely, mid-sized pit bull we have now walked TWICE at the Liberty Humane Society in Jersey City. 

She is the Barbara Stanwyck of dogs--lively and just a bit unpredictable, and with a beautiful smile.  That grin in the picture? She does that all the time.  She knows sit, down, and she jumps in the air like a combo of early Mary Tyler Moore and vintage Michael Jordan.

So adopt her, already. She's housebroken!