The Second Big Snow

Again the park was covered in a muffling blanket of snow which the dogs proceeded to tear apart. Complete crazy joy!

Ben Steals Saul's Giant ScooterSnack

I make outsized ScooterSnacks for Saul, my favorite mastiff at Ft. Greene Park. They're the size of a baseball. Usually Saul can gobble it in 5 seconds, as opposed to the half second it takes him to gulp a regular-sized snack.

Anyway I made him one this morning which I forgot to bring to the park. So I put it on the chair beside the door so I'd remember to take it to him tomorrow.

Well my little gentle Ben, who never steals food, decided enough was enough and quietly purloined the giant snack. I turned around and there he was happily sitting on the couch contemplating the uber snack he was about to attack. It took him longer than 5 seconds to eat, but not by much.

Stormaggedon or a SNOWalicious Day

How beautiful it's been today. I love snow, snow, snow. And so do the dogs.

This is sassy Izzy with a bit of Jack's ass on the side.

And here's Izzy, Jack, Tenzin, Ben and Machiavelli waiting for a ScooterSnack this morning.

Ben and His Buddy Oola

Ben has the most wonderful dog walker, Paul, through PawPaw Pet Care -- fabulous service in Brooklyn run by Melissa and Adam, two animal-loving artists. (See more about PawPaw: http://zoomnyc.org/2009/11/10/business_dogs/.)

Paul comes to pick up Ben in the afternoons for a romp at the park. Usually Oola is his walking buddy. Oola is the sweetest, sleekest, blackest, just-out-of-puppyhood lab mix. She and Ben play like fiends.

Here they are fooling around in my apartment.

The Amazing Shanti

Not a magician, just an extraordinary Frenchie.

Normally I only have pictures of dogs at the park but this one of Shanti was so spiritual I had to make an exception.

This is how she sits. She wasn't posed.

Think of her when you're meditating.

ScooterSnacks Movie

ScooterSnacks Movie made with love by a fantastic bunch of women and their dogs at Ft. Greene Park in Brooklyn. Thanks especially to Stefanie Dworkin who filmed and edited, Clare Piaget who also filmed and did some of the animation, and Joan Albert who art directed and did animation. There's strength in community!

The Park on a Saturday

The park on a Saturday in fall is glorious! After off-leash ends a parade of eager shoppers and their dogs parade over to the market for fresh vegetables, fish , delicious milk, etc. Those puppies who don't do so well walking around the stalls are hitched up at the park entrance.

What a Great Clinton Hill Weekend

This has been a pretty special weekend. Halloween brought the Pupkin and the amazing 313 Clinton Ave Halloween Night (this year Carnival of Carnage). Sunday was the marathon (still going on right outside my window.)

This neighborhood is an incredible community.

Here are a few of the amazing costumes from the PUPKIN. You can see more at http://www.fortgreenepups.org

The Pous Chef

One more close-up of Ben as my Pous-Chef.

(come on...he's cute as hell...with a lot of resentment in his eyes...but it only lasted 2 minutes)

Halloween 2009 -- The Pupkin

What a fabulous day! Halloween on a Saturday should be mandated by law. OK, maybe not. The year that it does fall on a Saturday makes it SO SPECTACULAR!

Here's Ben suffering as the Pous Chef to my Chef of Death.

More on the Great Pupkin to follow.

Beautiful Ben on the Beach

Ben's shadow in mid run

New Day at the Beach

So we, Rachel and I, made it to Jacob Riis Park again this morning. An incredibly beautiful day that started out cold and got a lot warmer during our walk.

There were five of us. Three anxious dogs and 2 dozy humans. Plus a lot of sandpipers and a few fishermen.

Here are the dogs, Izzy, Mr. Smith and Ben, stuffed into the back seat of Rachel's car and behaving very well, on the way down to the beach.

The Beach Video

This is a little late but here's a short video of Ben and Izzy frolicking on the beach.

We'll probably be going back this weekend. This time Mr. Smith is joining us. (God I hope there's no poop on the beach.)

Wrangling the Pack

So I've had the help of some amazingly talented women in making a video about the popularity of ScooterSnacks. Here they are wrangling the dogs for one of the shots.

Hopefully the video will be available soon.

Ben at the Beach

Pure joy...mine watching Ben zoom around on the huge expanse of Jacob Riis beach, his first beach experience. His having such a huge, wide-open space to run in, new smells to investigate and a lot of diggable sand!

It was also a little scary--the crashing of the surf was totally new. Intriguing but not completely inviting. So Ben dipped his toes in but didn't swim. Maybe with a few more visits?

The Most Beautiful Saul

OK finally I caught Saul on camera. Video as it happens. Every time I walk into the park when Saul is there, if he sees me, he'll run right at me across the field hoping for some ScooterSnacks.

I can't resist him. He's two hundred pounds of dog coming straight at me but the biggest threat is his drool (copious strings of it as soon as he sniffs the snacks). Other than that his teeth are tiny and he truly is gentle.

Saul is one of my favorites.

Ben is in Love

Ben has suddenly developed a lovey-dovey attachment to Izzy. The other day we spent the morning with Izzy and Mr. Smith. Nothing unusual. But when it came time to leave Ben kept trying to follow them home. First time he wouldn't listen to me. Finally I gave in and walked with Rachel and Lisa.

At Clinton Ave. we had to leave them. Ben made a high-pitched bark that turned into a wine and then a howl most of the way home. He was so distressed and I had no idea what to do.

Anyway he was happy to meet up with her again that evening and share a moment of fluffy tails waving in the wind.

A Night Tail

Beautiful cool September nights have started. And the park is a peaceful, relaxing place to be. especially after 9pm when the dogs can go off leash again.

Ben is hard to see at night but usually doesn't stray too far. However one of his favorite spots is right in the middle of a bank of bushes. I think he forages for the tenderest greens. I love how his tail looks like an exotic flower in this photo.

Ben is a Swimmer!

Wow! What a great thing to learn about my dog. Ben is like a four-legged porpoise.

Izzy and Rachel, Lisa and Mr. Smith, & Ben and I went to Prospect Park this morning. It was Ben's first time. He was unreasonably happy in that park, running here and there, occasionally running loops. But when he got to the water, well, that's when it got really fun.

First we came up on a waterfall with a manageable shelf which both he and Izzy explored, just getting their paws wet. Then he navigated himself down to the lakeside. All I heard was a large "SPLOOSH". He was in before I had a chance to blink.

Paddle , paddle, paddle then hauled himself out. He did this twice more - all in not permitted areas (there was little I could do to stop him) - then turned his nose up at the dog beach. I think it's just too crowded and rowdy for him.

I wonder why Ben being a water dog makes me so happy. Maybe because I love the water so much too.

No More "Day XX"

Izzy is 11 pounds lighter (total since beginning of year and not all from the last few months) so this blog is changing.

Now it's going to be about Izzy and her friends at Ft. Greene Park. We hope other dog people will write stories about their dogs. If they don't, we will!

Here's Mr. Smith getting hauled out of the water earlier today.