Come cheer on the competitors in the Iams Doggy Duathlon this Sunday!  I hear the swimming portion has been cancelled, due to logistical problems, but those duathletes are going to need some strong encouragement to run a 10K in this nasty July weather!

WHAT:           For far too long, canine athletes have faithfully trained alongside their human counterparts, only to be left on the sidelines on race day. No longer!  The Iams Doggy Du gives man (or woman) and best friend the chance to compete in tandem over a 1500 meter swim and 10 kilometer run course.

WHO:             Meet the canine competitors

WHEN:           July 20, 2008 during the 8^thAnnual NYC Triathlon.  Start time TBD

WHERE:         Swim:   The Hudson River between 99th and 72nd streets.

Run:   Central Park from 72nd and Central Park West, clockwise around the northern loop and finishing on Dead Road just west of the bandshell on the 72nd street transverse. 

Unfortunately, we’re out of town this weekend, but this sounds a lot like the AKC’s Responsible Dog Ownership Day, which is TONS of fun!!

Free Event this Saturday at Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Emphasizes Importance of Making Sure Your Urban Hound is a “Canine Good Citizen”

THIS Saturday, June 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m (rain date Sunday, June 29th).  Events will include:

–> The AKC Canine Good Citizen Test®. CGC is a two-part program that stresses responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for dogs. All dogs that pass the 10-step CGC test will receive a certificate issued by the AKC designating their dog as a “canine good citizen.”

–> Low cost microchipping ($25) with proceeds going to the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.

–> A free handout of tips for urban pet-owners plus magazines, brochures and dog breed information provided by the AKC.

–> A “Doggie Fun Zone” with a pool, toys and an agility demonstration. Pets can try their paw at agility too!

–> Free nail clipping and fun giveaways for your canine companion.

For more information visit stuytown.com, call (212) 598-5296 or email Communications@akc.org

Looking for something to do this Thursday?  Join JASA for Happy Hour and support a great cause at the same time!  Talk about a win-win…

Paws and Party: A Happy Hour to Benefit JASA’s PETS Project

Thursday, June 5^th, 6:30-9pm

The Village Pour House, 64 3^rd Avenue (11^th Street and 3^rd Avenue)

$15 admission fee at the door. 

Open bar from 6:30-7:30pm, free appetizers and a raffle with great prizes! Donations of pet food are welcome and will get you free raffle tickets. 

All proceeds will benefit JASA’s PETS Project.

The PETS Project addresses the needs of elderly pet owners whose capacity to care for their pets has been compromised by frailty, illness and/or inadequate income.  The program coordinates the efforts of volunteers to assist the elderly with routine care of their pets and to connect seniors to emergency care and low-cost pet care resources.

JASA provides social, recreational, health, cultural and educational programs for older persons, regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity to help sustain them in their homes and communities and offer opportunities for a better quality of life. These services are available in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Brett Lowitz at (212) 273-5275 or volunteer@jasa.org.

Check out our NYC Dog Events Calendar for more fun dog-related events!

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!

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

We’d like to draw your attention to two fun events in support of Animal Haven shelter in SOHO that are happening in the next two weekends.  For more details, check out our NYC Dog Events Calendar or visit the Animal Haven website and click on “Events”.

Foot-longs won’t be the only dogs at tonight’s Mets game.  It’s Dog Day at Shea Stadium!! 

The game starts at 7:10pm, but dog owners can show up any time after 6:00pm to hang out in the picnic area and participate in a pre-game dog parade around the outfield.

Tasty ballpark concessions and being able to hang out with the dogs would provide more than adequate entertainment for me, but I’m sure the Mets & Brewers will also delight with some excellent baseball (if that’s the kind of thing that you’re into).

The $5 admission for your dog plus a portion of the $30 human admission will go to support the North Shore Animal League.

I think this is the last Dog Day at Shea Stadium (which is being replaced by Citi Field in ‘09), however the promotional schedule on the Mets homepage lists Dog Day on Sept 5.  They don’t have it listed for today, so I’m assuming the promo calendar is just out of day, but maybe we’ll get another Dog Day in September!  Here’s hoping….

Make sure to check out our Dog Calendar for more fun dog/dog-friendly events throughout NYC.

Finally, we wanted to share some pictures of some of our favorite dogs that we met while we were walking around Westminster.  We have no idea how they officially placed, but we give them our “Top Dog” honors.

First is Baloo, a 230 lb Bullmastiff.  Look at that face…

No need to be intimidated by his size - as you can see, he’s a sucker for a belly rub…

Tied for cutest Chihuahua are Simon (on left) and Tequila wearing sunglasses (on right)…

And finally a Maltese primped to perfection and a regal Rottweiler…

Whatever breeds are your favorites, they were sure to be represented at the Westminster Dog Show.  We highly recommend attending if you ever get the chance.  Even though we couldn’t bring Oscar, we did pick him up some complimentary doggie swag from sponsors (Pedigree & Petco), so everybody was a winner!

Before we get to the main event, we have to give props to the Brussels Griffons at the Westminster Dog Show.  What a fine looking group of Griffs!

I was cheering for the cute little guy in the middle - love those floppy ears!!  He didn’t win, but he came in 2nd - way to go little buddy!

And the 2008 Westminster Dog Show winner of Best In Show is…

The Beagle!!

It was some tough competition between the final breed groups:

Toy - Miniature Poodle

Herding - Australian Shepherd

Sporting - Weimaraner

Non-Sporting - Standard Poodle 

Working - Akita

Terrier - Sealyham Terrier

Hound - Beagle

But the crowd-favorite Beagle brought it home!  This is the 1st time that the Beagle has ever won Best In Show at Westminster.  Congratulations to all of the amazing dogs who qualified to compete in the Westminster Dog Show!!

Tune in tomorrow for one last installment with some more of our favorite pictures from Westminster.

So, Josh and I attended the Westminster Dog Show for the first time today - what an amazing experience!  We saw so many beautiful dogs and took so many pictures that I’m going to have to break this post up into a couple of installments. 

First are some pictures of dogs getting ready for their judging - who knew that hairspray, eyeliner and hair accessories would be involved?!?!? 

But not everyone was working hard…this cute little Pug was taking it easy…

And this beautiful Rottweiler was chillin’ with his person…

As I write this post, we’re watching the Westminster Best In Show judging.  Tune in tomorrow for the winners and lots more pictures!