London in New York

 

Above:  Gregg R. Oehler, Publisher of The New York Dog Magazine, VIP Guest and her dog and R Couri Hay. Click here to see more photos. 

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I want a dog, a Chihuahua
When I get back to my small flat
I want to hear somebody bark
Oh, you can get lonely
I want a dog

Don’t want a cat
scratching its claws all over my habitat
giving no love and getting fat
Oh, you can get lonely
and a cat’s no help with that………

-The Pet Shop Boys

On Monday night I head downtown to the Spike Gallery in Chelsea (547 West 20th Street at the edge of west side highway) for the Scouts Black Tie *For Dogs* Spring Art Gala to benefit Animal Haven Shelter and the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals. The evening was sponsored by Scout (Dog Boutique and Pawtiserie), The New York Dog Magazine and Spike Gallery.  The door to the gallery was open to a green (grass colored) carpet for the dogs at the end of which was a camera crew and journalist from Animal Planet greeting and interviewing the dog owners. The gallery was tastefully adorned with paintings of dogs. 

It was a spectacle not to be believed. One by one New York Socialite women and their dogs entered the gallery with their pets nearly as well styled, and in some cases even more so than their owners. I noticed a table with delectable looking pastries and cupcakes. I was about to dig in when I was advised that they were “doggie treats” and not for people. The cupcakes were miniature replicas of my favorites from Billy’s Bakery. I was envious of those little pooches. It was clear that this was their Gala and I was merely a spectator.

In plain view at the bar, however, was the friendly orange label with those magical French words, Veuve Clicquot,which if you do not know, means excellent champagne. I am always in the mood for The Bubbly. Better yet the "VC" was being served by a buff blonde girl with arms and a stomach that would shame Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Her face was not exactly difficult to look at either. I said something about wanting to get some photos of her pouring the sponsored champagne from Veuve Clicquot. She had no issues with that and thus gave me license to gawk at her with my Canon G6 Camera and drink another glass of champagne. Anywhere else she might have been considered one of the most beautiful creatures in the room. But here nearly everyone was preoccupied with the dogs. Lest they not know that I was also a dog, albeit one on two legs prowling the room for something a tad different.

I was bewildered by the abundance of major media covering this event. Every where I turned there was a Canon or Nikon SLR in my face. I intended to make it an early evening having actually brought my gym bag to go to CLAYon 14^th Street. But, then it happened. The women, extremely attractive, well mannered and stylish started to pack the gallery, first Christine Cachot Williams, then Mona Wyatt. The parade did not end, so I finished my glass of champagne and did what I normally do, which is take pictures of beautiful people, in this case, with their dogs.  Also in attendance were my friends (Roger Webster, Linda Mansfield, Shawna Enright & R Couri Hay ) from the Office of R Couri Hay, Creative Public Relations, the remier society publicity firm. Linda Mansfield personally introduced me to Gregg R. Oehler, Publisher of The New York Dog Magazine which is in essence the Gotham Magazine of the Doggie Industry. Before leaving I made the acquaintance of many in the Pet Industry. Most notably Kathy Santo, dog behaviorist and author of “Dog Sense”; Heather & Peter Caraballo of The Pink Hotdog.com;and Julia Szabo, Pet Columnist and Author and dog trainer Rikke Brogaard, who recommended that I check out a worthwhile organization that she is affiliated with, the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League. Also networking and mixing in the crowd were the ladies from Leashes and Lovers a singles networking group for dog lovers, who were passing out flyers to their events.

On some level, I was blindsided by the emergence of this urban dog culture. While this constituency, and it is one when politicians and luxury marketers begin taking notice, developed I was clueless and late to comprehend the growing obsession with Dogs in Manhattan in particular. At the end of last year, I attended a benefit for the ASPCA at JCREW and have even had the chance to visit the Woof Spa in Chelsea on several occassions to pick up a pooch for a friend.

I am reminded of the Pet Shop Boys anthem “I want a Dog”, a simple song that symbolizes life in urban society; single, married without children or divorced and returning to an empty home. This is not something that many of us generally look forward to. There are times when I return home wondering what it would be like to be greeted by "Dukie" (my childhood family dog, so much a member of the family that he dined simulataneously with us and we often fed him healthy people food. This was in the 1970’s before the proliferation of services and businesses catering to the pampered pet). We just loved him. He slept in my bed and when he passed away while I was in my first year at college I was depressed for a week. To this day, I still miss him. Not a week goes by, especially now that I do not think of him.

So, when Sara Schaffer of www.dogsarepeopletoo.com asked me to snap a photo of her with “her babies”, how could I say no? They are her family and whom she chooses to pamper. Maybe I should have advised the bartender that men are dogs too, although not necessarily as well pampered. I could learn a thing or two from one of those dogs. Life might be better with four legs and a tail, at least in some households in Manhattan. Just an observation but perhaps it is not too far fetched to suggest that the growing Dog Industry has sprouted to cater to an affluent clientele of lonely New Yorkers (urban dwellers) who have reached the nesting age and replaced animals with the children that they no longer seem to be having for one reason or another. The reasons? Well that is a subject for another day.

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