I just learned that this Friday is “Take your Dog to Work Day” - who knew? 

I can’t imagine that any of my previous employers would have allowed me to participate in this little-known holiday, but fortunately, in my current job every day is “Take your Dog to Work Day”! 

If you’re lucky enough to have an employer who lets you bring your dog to work this Friday (or every day), here is a great list of tips to help you make sure that the experience is positive for you, your dog and your co-workers.  Who knows, if it goes well, maybe your employer will permanently embrace the positive effects of having a dog in the office!

Here’s a picture of a very scruffy Oscar putting in a hard day at the office by helping to evaluate the packaging for our new product…

Oscar approved!!

On Sunday, we decided to take a family trip up to Harriman State Park for a day of hiking.  I never realized that there was this HUGE park just 30 miles north of NYC.  With more than 225 miles of marked hiking trails, you could go a ton of times without ever having to repeat a trail.  We invested $10.75 in a park map, which we would highly recommend - the trails are well marked, but there are lots of them and we would definitely have gotten lost without our trusty map.

Oscar loves city living - the dog parks, the sidewalk butt-sniffing social scene, etc, but he’s also a big fan of the great outdoors.  He loves going for walks in the woods, but this was our first official “hike”.  Even though he’s technically a Toy dog, he’s a pretty sturdy 20 lbs, so we were hoping that this could become a regular family activity that is fun for everyone.

When we first started out on our hike, Oscar was beside himself with excitement.  Some of the trails were pretty strenuous for the little guy, but O was a trooper - he scrambled up the rocks like a tiny billy goat!!  We did have to create a Brussels Griffon fire-brigade to pass him down some of the steep rock areas. 

Poor Oscar got a bunch of nasty looking bug bites on his belly and apparently he is also a little tick magnet.  The good news for other hikers is that I don’t think he left any ticks behind!!  So, we got to spend a good hour or so after the hike inspecting the O-dog and removing ticks.  We use Frontline, which will kill the ticks within 48 hrs, but since he sleeps in bed with us we do a full tick check whenever we go in the woods.

So, I was starting to feel a little bad towards the end of the hike because I wasn’t sure whether the crazy grin on his face was happiness or panic!  The temp was only in the low 70s, but he was panting pretty hard (even with frequent water breaks).  We finally soaked him down with some stream water which seemed to help, although he HATES getting wet.

Here’s a picture of Oscar, mid-hike…

What do you think?  Is he thinking, “This is the greatest day ever!!” or “Get me the h$@^ out of here!!”? 

 Here he is again, taking a break on a nice rock next to a lake…all hail King Oscar!!

The great thing about living in the West Village is that there are numerous dog friendly dining options - weather permitting, of course.

We frequently take Oscar to Cowgirl on Hudson & West 10th to enjoy some kitchy tex-mex bbq outside.  If you’re in the mood for some Far Eastern treats, Chow Bar on W10th & W4th serves up Asian Fusion and welcomes dogs in their outside area.  Another favorite is Phillipe Marie on Hudson & 11th - serving up traditional American cuisine.

When you’re out walking around, don’t miss the water bowls at James Perse on Bleecker & Charles, Doma on Perry just west of 7th Ave or outside the Birdbath Bakery 7th Ave at Waverly.   Mojo Coffee on Charles (between Greenwhich & Washington) also has a hot scene at their water bowl.

 Got a dog friendly business in your neighborhood that you’d like to share?  Tell us!!

Just a reminder…  Milk-Bone^® is celebrating the brand’s 100^th Anniversary tomorrow in Time Square.  Check out our calendar entry for more details.  While you’re at it, don’t forget to review our full NYC Dog Events Calendar for more fun events for you and your dog!

Okay, so maybe you’re like me…not exactly Betty Crocker.  Too risky to subject your spouse or friends to your cooking?  Afraid of being shunned or ridculed?  Here’s a suggestiong…focus your culinary exploits on your canine friends.  I decided to bake meat cupcakes for Oscar…it sounded like a good idea - a fun treat in flavors that he’s crazy about (chicken and beef). 

After slaving away for a good part of the afternoon, I ended up with a big mess and two dozen mini meat flavored hockey pucks.  I was pretty disappointed with the results of my experiment, but decided to let Oscar taste test anyway.  Lo and behold…he loved the mini meat pucks!!  He chomped the first one down and looked at me with adoring eyes…success!!

So, I’ll stick to ordering take-out for the two-legged members of the family, but I’m happy to know that I can satisfy my homemaker urges by cooking for O-Dog!  For tips on baking for your pooch, check out this article.  There are also lots of dog recipe books and free dog recipies on the web.  Feel free to experiment or dogify your favorite people recipes.  Just make sure to avoid ingredients that are dangerous for dogs.  Check out our post from February 18 for a refresher about foods that are poisonous to your dog. 

Here’s a picture of the special banana-carob birthday cake that I made for Oscar’s 1st birthday and a video of him eating it!!

Join TIME’S UP for a dog-friendly bike ride starting in Union Square next Saturday, May 17th!

The Doggie Pedal Parade is a bike ride that highlights green transportation with animal companions and animal rescue and adoption.  The ride route features animal rescue shelters and animal friendly locations, as well as several East Village community gardens.

 Check out the TIME’S UP website for more details.

I think we would need more than a week to get Oscar bike-ready…I tried to put him in the special dog-friendly shopping cart basket in Bed, Bath and Beyond and he totally freaked and jumped out.  However, now that Oscar has mastered canoeing, maybe we should tackle biking next!

Does this look like fun, or what???  I’ve somehow managed to not get swept up in the fitness craze that is Yoga, but I may have to jump on the bandwagon, now that I know that I improve my physical fitness and bond with Oscar at the same time!!  To learn more about Doga (pronounced DOE-guh), check out this article from the Baltimore Sun.

Check out our NYC Dog Events Calendar for local Doga classes including classes at Bidawee animal shetler that are held @ 7:00pm on the 2nd Wednesday of every month.

Hi everyone, we just found out about a fun event to celebrate Milk-Bone’s 100th anniversary…

Milk-Bone^® Celebrates 100^th Anniversary by 

Building the World’s Largest Dog

House in Times Square

WHO:             *Milk-Bone^®, America’s favorite dog snack

*Pet Parents and their loveable pooches from the metropolitan area

*Celebrity Pet Photographer, Christopher Ameruoso

WHAT:           Milk-Bone^® is celebrating the brand’s 100^th Anniversary in the doghouse! With the help of more than 100,000 Milk-Bone^® dog biscuits and standing at 18 feet high, the 480 square foot dog house will play host to a paw-ful of activities. Kicking off the festivities will be special celebrity guest who will help present a $1 million donation to the Milk-Bone^® Canine Heroes program.

                        The star studded anniversary celebration will have pet parents and their four-legged friends running in circles as they enjoy entertainment from doggy dancers, paw readers and personalized artwork from professional pet caricature artists. Celebrity Pet Photographer, Christopher Ameruoso will also be in attendance showing off 10 of his favorite celebrity paw-tographs that will be auctioned off following the event to benefit Canine Assistants. To put the icing on the cake, the brand has called on Food Network’s Ace of Cakes to create a one-of-a-kind dessert that will have everyone begging for more!

WHEN:           Wednesday, May 21, 2008

                        11 p.m. – 12 p.m. (VIP & VID [Very Important Dogs] access only)

12 p.m. – 3 p.m. (Open to the public)

WHERE:        Military Island in Times Square

                        (Intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue between 43rd and 44^th)

                        New York, NY

WHY:              To commemorate 100 years (that’s 700 in dog years) of Milk-Bone^® bringing smiles to dogs’ and pet parents’ faces.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Coyne PR 973-316-1665

Jennifer Lilly, jlilly@coynepr.com  or Joyce Essig, jessig@coynepr.com

So Oscar and I have decided that it’s time for us to weigh in on the debate about NY as the Pet-Friendliest Destination.  Earlier this month Animal Fair announced the winners of 2008 Cesar Five Dog Bone Awards, and recognized our very own NYC as the best Pet-Friendly Destination:

Pet-Friendly Destination: New York City, New York. The Big Apple is not just a tourist attraction for people anymore, but is inviting for their traveling pets too! Animal Fair is proud to present New York City the Pet-Friendliest Destination Award of 2008! Offering scores of hotels that provide pet accommodations in almost every neighborhood, Lady Liberty welcomes your pets with open arms. Enjoy shopping at the Time Warner Center, pampering at the many hound-hospitable hotels, dining at canine-cuisine restaurants, celebrating the nightlife at dog-friendly bars, and strolling outdoors with your four-legged friend. With more than two-dozen off leash dog parks alone, including the famous Central Park, Pug Hill, and Washington Square Park, your dog will never want to leave “the city that never sleeps”. Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs are jam-packed with exciting pet-friendly activities and events for you and your pet to indulge in. It’s no wonder that Animal Fair’s readers voted New York Citythe Pet-Friendliest Destination of 2008. So nice to pets - they named it twice! For more information visit: nycvisit.com.

The timing of this announcement is particularly amusing to me because I JUST made an acquaintance who basically accused me of being a cruel person for keeping a dog in NY!! I spent the better part of an hour educating this poor misguided soul about all of the wonderful benefits of being a dog or a dog owner in NY.

Oscar chillin’ in the city… 

So clearly, I must agree wholeheartedly with the “pet-related experts” at Animal Fair who made the final decision on winners for each category, right?

Well…not exactly. While I would agree that NY is a terrific place to own a dog (in fact, I might go as far to say that it is the best CITY in the US to live in if you are a dog owner), I have a hard time believing that it could possibly be the most pet-friendly travel destination.

Yes, if I had to come to NY and couldn’t bear to be separated from Oscar, I could stay in a pet-friendly hotel near a dog run and utilize excellent services like dog walkers, doggy daycares and groomers to make sure he was well cared for while I attended to business or visited local tourist attractions (which are primarily NOT dog-friendly – try taking your dog to a museum or the Statue of Liberty, I dare you! Even if you could take your dog to the MOMA, how would you get him there considering the facts that he’s not allowed on public transportation and cabs aren’t required to pick up passengers with dogs?). But if I was planning a “family trip” that included Oscar, NYC would not be the first destination that popped into my head.

There are a lot of dogs/dog owners in NY so it’s probably a good PR move to name it the best Pet-Friendly Destination, but I would imagine the most dog friendly destination would be somewhere like the Catskills or the Berkshires or some small obscure town in Montana where well-behaved dogs are allowed roam freely off-leash by the side of their owner.

I don’t know, maybe my rural dog utopia doesn’t exist and maybe NYC is the best pet-friendly travel destination. What do you think?

Just out of curiosity, I checked to see who won this category last year and it was Las Vegas. Las Vegas?!?!  Sorry, I don’t think so…

My sister sent me this link for SkiJoring at Gunstock Mountain in NH.  Cross-country skiing with your dog, sounds great!!  It may be a little late in the season for this winter, but I was already mentally planning our trip up the NH for next year!

Since I’d never heard of SkiJoring and the Gunstock Mountain page didn’t really explain exactly what it was, I looked it up on wikipedia.  Apparently SkiJoring is being pulled on skis by 1-3 dogs (or a horse)!!  Can you imagine me showing up to Gunstock Mountain with my Brussels Griffon for SkiJoring??  Oscar is big for his breed, but I don’t think he could pull me very far, even on skis!

Gunstock doesn’t mention the whole being pulled by your dog thing, so hopefully they would just let you free ski with your dog.  It is pretty cool that they have designated trails for you and your dog.

Has anyone out there ever cross country skied with their dog at a commercial  ski place?  I would love to hear about it.