Breakfast With Pug! (and A Not Wordless Reminder To Suoport Local Bussinesses)

One of the best parts about living in the city is the plethora of dog friendly outdoor dining options.  Sadly until recently there has been none in our neighborhood, we live in Jersey City a suburb of Manhattan and our section is not the most glamorous or trendy to say the least.  Happily, a restaurant opened about a year ago that is very tasty and dog friendly.  Honey Bakery, its just a few blocks from our house and sells delicious Russian food and some Korean treats as well. Here is a link to an article about the restaurant. We first discovered it during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy when they were one of the few places able to make coffee.  They were so nice about giving us a cup on the house.  I've decided to make a commitment to go more often as its so important to support local businesses.  Who wants all the neighborhood eateries, doggie boutiques, and book stores swallowed up by faceless conglomerate mega-chains not me (and those places are rarely dog friendly!).

Little New Yorkers-Dog Vacay Post

Thanks to the author of the adorable blog Simply Shaye I heard about  a very cool pet blogging campaign put together by Dog Vacay.  The campaign allows pet owners to show photos illustrating how their pets represent their city.  By using Dog Vacay if you choose to travel without you can locate a network of pet sitters in your area to watch them while you are away.

If you read our blog then you know that we live in the big city

In these pictures you can see the NYC skyline  across the Hudson River.

in the New York area to be exact.  We don't actually live in New York though, we live in Jersey City which is just 25 minutes from the mega metropolis of Manhattan.  Jersey City has a lot of nice things artists, parks, restaurants, a cool old movie theatre but what it has more of then anything else is commuters.   Jersey City is the second city, right after New York, on the list of US cities with high public transit use.   That is because Jersey City Residents are constantly taking trains and buses into Manhattan for work and fun and it is also number 17 on the list of US cities with the most pedestrian commuters because so many Jersey cityites walk and bike to their jobs and entertainment.

If you read our blog you know we are commuters too.  We have taken trips to Central Park

 

  Prospect Park

  the village

 Nelson Rockefeller Park

we have been to Brooklyn for Pie

 

and to Chelsea for Donuts

 

These are just a few of the trips into Manhattan and Brooklyn we have taken so you can see like all Jersey Residents we are big time commuters.  Sometimes we take the car, its a must when big guys Norbert and Bob come along, but often when its the pugs we take public transportation or ride our bikes.

Baby Weasley on the path train on the way to Manhattan.

Ping and her dad on the Brooklyn Bridge.

 So you can see like other Jersey City and New York residents we are avid supporters of public transport and we love how it helps keep our city green.   Too many cars anywhere is not a good thing, but particularly not in the big city.   Recently mom bought the pugs a new stroller, we will be reviewing it on the blog soon, to make it even easier for us to take the train into Manhattan.   Lots of new adventures await us!

 If your human is thinking of taking a trip to Manhattan, or maybe Jersey City remember its minutes from the big apple and hotels are a lot less expensive, tell them to check out Dog Vacay.  They can find a reliable pet sitter to watch you while they explore the metropolis and of course buy something nice to bring home to you.

See Beautiful-Prospect Park Dogs

Over our end of summer break we went to Brooklyn's Prospect Park to check out their famous dog beach and dog friendly green spaces.  Even though we lived in Brooklyn years ago and the hounds Grand Dad still lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn we had never been to the park.   It is not a traditional "dog park" in fact their is a leash law in effect from 9 am to 9 pm but it seems that it is not enforced.  The result, since this is a large green space transformed into a doggie paradise.  I didn't see a single unpicked up poo or dog fight.  We brought only our three pugs since Bob and Norbert can be somewhat unpredictable with off leash dogs.  I also kept Weasley leashed since I'm not 100% confident of his recall.  I think its the fact that ever single dog guardian I saw in the park seemed to know the dog and respectful of other people's dogs that keeps this place so wonderful.  Of course I can only speak from one visit but the idyllic sight of all those happy dogs and happy humans  was definitely one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, unfortunately my phone pictures don't do it justice, and I can't wait to course back.  Of course Tubby, Ping, and Weasley loved it too.

After we we played in the park we visited the delicious Pie Shop Four and Twenty Black Birds. 

 They have the best pie and I love this sign they have hanging outside their shop.
 
 If like me you are a fan of the TV show Twin Peaks, you may remember this is a reference to a famous line from that show.  

Monday Mischief Sweet Treats!

On Sunday, we decided to take a morning stroll with Bob and Weasley went in the town of Rutherford, New Jersey, about 20 minutes from Jersey City where we live.  It has some nice houses and a cute little park that we walked through and took some pictures in.

 We even saw a cute little bunny during our walk.

The best part of Rutherford is they have some really good sweet treats.   We visited the Sweet Avenue Bake Shop, a cute little Vegan bakery with some really delicious cupcakes. 

 While we are not Vegans these cupcakes are very tasty and we have bought them before for Vegan friends who strongly approved.  They have a wide selection including peanut butter and red velvet which we tried.

Of course we had to get something special for Bob and Weasley too and luckily Rutherford has a Dairy Queen.

 So they were able to enjoy a Vanilla Cone

 They sure enjoyed every lick.  Hope your Sunday was as sweet as ours!

Thoughtful Thursday-The Problem With Dog's Tied Outside of Stores

 Note: I already posted about this issue on my face book page and got some great responses but I wanted to write a bit more about and hear from the larger blog community, if its a repeat for your my apologies.

I don't deny that I'm a fairly opinionated person and when it comes to dogs in what I perceive to be situations of distress I don't shy away from expressing my opinions (sometimes loudly and often without completely thinking it through.) One thing that bothers me a great deal is dogs tied outside stores.  

Image Source

 Now I know this is a somewhat controversial issue, there is even an older blog Dogs Tied Up NYC, about the problem and you can see from the comments that NYC pet owners are very divided on the issue.  If you can see your dog through the store window for the entire time you are inside and if your dog is very well trained and exceptionally calm and friendly then I think it might be OK.  I also know it may be less of an issue in parts of  Europe where it is a common practice and in small towns where everyone knows each other, but in my opinion you are taking a big risk when you tie your dog outside a store, particularly in a large urban area.  

For one thing, urban streets are a parade of ever changing sights and sounds. Can you really be sure that your dog will remain calm when approached by bicyclists, baby carriages, shopping carts, pedestrians of all shapes and sizes and a assaulted by a barrage of honking horns, shouting people, and squeaking tires?  What about the many people who are afraid of dogs?  It seems very disrespectful to force them to walk past your unattended dog in order to enter a public store.  Then there are the dog walkers who may be walking their own potentially leash aggressive dogs, which is my situation.   I often have to alter my walking route to avoid unattended dogs since I know my dogs may bark at them and I am unsure how the unattended dogs will react.   Worst of all there is the risk of your dog being stolen or harmed in someway while you are not their to protect them.

All of these problems where the reason I was really surprised and upset by this article on the XO Jane site, admittedly a fairly tabloidy website.  The article is written by a women who lives in Albuquerque New Mexico with Lola her German Short Haired pointer mix.  Apparently while leaving her dog tied outside a supermarket she was accosted  by a woman wearing pajama pants (the pajama pants seem to really bother the author) who yelled at her for leaving her dog unattended without water or shelter.   

Now, I instantly totally identified with pajama pant lady (as the author of the article calls her), for one thing I often walk my dogs in pajama pants, although I've never grocery shopped in them, and I don't quite see the egregious social offense inherant in this article of clothing.  I tend to only have two modes of dress, dressed up vintage and sloppy casual, and I don't see pajama pants as being all that different from the sweats and yoga pants that many people wear for any and all occasions.  What really troubles me though is that the author of the article makes it clear that her dog Lola does not have excellent behavior.  She details how Lola often barks and jumps on walks attracting comments from passers by and declares that the behavior makes her look "super crazy." Despite these problems she makes no mention of any training methods she has tried to correct or manage this behavior.  Now my own dogs are far from perfect, I sometimes wonder if they are not the worst behaved dogs in blogville, but I always endeavor to train and or manage their behavior and I never leave then alone in a situation where they could get  in trouble.  

 The author also states that Lola is under exercised.   I know how hard it can be to exercise an active breed, my husband and I used to take Norbert

 to the dog park for an hour  twice a day when he was younger plus a 90 minute walk. Thankfully as he has gotten older his exercise needs are much less.  The fact that this type of intense exercise really does not fit into our life style is one reason I may choose to not get another active breed dog.  If I did choose to get a very active dog, or wound up with one, I'd do what ever was necessary to provide the exercise it needed, no excuses.  That is the commitment you make when you get a dog. This whole exercise issue is why people need to do breed research BEFORE getting a dog.  Plenty of dogs, like my own beloved pugs and bulldog, have relatively low exercise requirements and are an excellent choice for people who are not super active by nature. Plus there are thousands of low activity senior dogs in needs of home. Still all dogs need exercise and according to the author of the article the exercise she provided Lola, her energetic and "crazy" dog, with before tying her outside the grocery store was a walk around the block, a distance that would not exhaust even my senior pugs.


As I sympathize with pajama pant lady, yelling at people in public is really not the best way to deal with any issue, but I wish the author of this article had listened to what was being said and had considered that perhaps her behavior was irresponsible and rude.   If you have errands to run consider that it may be better to take two trips and leave your dog at home.  While it is tempting to take an eager canine everywhere with you it really is not always the best option.   
I do wonder though what other dog bloggers think, it seems most commenters on the articles website thought that the author was in the right and I wonder if feelings will be the same, or different, among dog bloggers, so I am eager to read your comments.

 On another note, we would appreciate some good vibes from all our blogger friends.  Eleven year old Norbert is having his senior blood work and wellness exam tomorrow and even though he seems to be very healthy that always makes me a little nervous.  We have our paws crossed for good news.

Piermont New York

On Sunday we took a little trip to Piermont, New York I had read it was one of the nicest places to dogs just outside New York City, and I was not disappointed.  Its a picturesque town with a lovely pier front path along the Hudson river.  It also seems to be a haven for cyclists, I've never seen so many bicycles.  Since we are a large dog family we like to give all of the dogs a little one on one time with solo trips.   We decided to take Weasley this time as he is the youngest and bursting with energy for long walks.  We went very early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day, even so it got warm towards the end.  Luckily we  walked past some sprinklers that Weasley had a great time cooling in.   I'm sure we will be back in the future.  Here are some of pictures we took on the walk.