tying up your dog outside a store:

I routinely wake up in the morning to the sounds of barking dogs who've been tied up outside a cafe. This seems to be a routine practice for some people in New York City, to take their dogs with them while they shop and leave them tied up outside. I'd never do it myself simply based on safety but on top of this many of these dogs bark for their owners. Also, to make matters worse, many times the owners will sit down in the cafe for 30 to 40 minutes as their dog sits on the street barking wildly. It's not fair to their dogs nor to those trying to catch a few last zzz's. And with all these dogs barking how am I supposed to hear the Fire Truck's blasting by? Or the drug dealers arguing on the street? All the necessary sounds to put a lifetime New Yorker to bed?

enemy to the nyc dog - the nyc bicycle

If there's one thing that consistently worries me about all the dogs I am responsible for it is delivery boys and bike riders themselves. Don't get me wrong, I love bicycles and I've ridden one in New York City since 3rd grade and still do. But the close calls I see daily with overly aggressive bike riders is out of hand. When possible I pull them aside and "calmly" explain to them how just a moment ago they almost ran over an elderly womans ankle. I really think there should be some type of training provided by restaurants and or fines levied against restaurants themselves for out of hand bike riders.

in home nyc dog services vs. daycare / boarding

There is a huge divide between those who use nyc dog walkers and those who drop their dogs off at an nyc daycare facility. I've listed some of the pros and cons I see between the two of them below.

in home nyc dog care:
* pros: your dog gets to stay in it's own environment and maintain it's normal diet, walking routine, etc..
* cons: depending on the service you get, sometimes dogs are not tired out

nyc doggy daycare / boarding:
* pros: dog's get mentally exhausted
* cons: lost of dogs get sick in kennel's; lack of cardio activity

conclusion:
I'm obviously biased because I run an nyc dog walking company but I do believe that if you construct your dog walking visit according to your needs (cardio, play visit, socialization, etc) you can achieve the social benefits of daycare while getting a better cardio workout than daycare. For those who would like to send their dogs to daycare we recommend the wagging tail in tribeca.

should dogs be allowed "off leash" in nyc?

In response to all the discussion about dogs being off leash in new york city I've added this separate post.

There is pending new york city legislation that would make it illegal for dogs to be off leash in city parks. Presently and for the past 20 years there has been an "unwritten" understanding that dogs could be off leash in city parks for a specified time of day. There was a recent city public hearing to discuss the issue and you can read about nycDog.org's petition to keep allowing dogs off leash and see video from the meeting too.

conclusion:
Dogs should be allowed off leash in "city parks" but I think anyone who walks their dogs off leash "on the streets" of new york city is putting their dog and even other dogs in major risk. No matter how trained your dog is there are so many things that you can not prepare for and I have had the misfortune of seeing dogs get injured and even worse who were off leash. I feel dogs off leash on the streets is also unfair to aggressive dog owners. I've been walking aggressive dogs only to have a dog off leash come sprinting towards us - a precarious situation to say the least!