NYC Dog Lovers Hate Leashes, Love Acronyms
Reading up on the city’s current leash-law scuffle, we were bemused to learn that NYC Dog, the group fighting to keep off-leash time for New York’s pooches, pronounces its name not, as you might expect, “N-Y-C Dog” but rather “Nice Dog!” Intrigued, we turned to our friend Google and soon had our answer: Yes, dog-loving New Yorkers are the corniest acronymists ever. The evidence:
• BARC: Brooklyn Animal Rescue, a Williamsburg adoption agency
• FIDO: Fellowship for the Interests of Dogs and their Owners, “serving Brooklyn’s off-leash community”
• FLORAL: Friends & Lovers of Riverside Area Life, a group for dog owners who use the southern end of Riverside Park and the 72nd Street Dog Run
• DOGSI: Dogs’ Owners Group of Staten Island, self-explanatory
• And, finally, Stray From the Heart, a Manhattan adoption agency, which is not an acronym but is ridiculous nonetheless.
— Hope Reeves
The Leash of Their Worries at Hearing [NYDN]
Free-Range Pups [NYM]
in other news
Papers Love Cats, Now and Forever
There’s a rash of stories out there about animal shelters prohibiting or limiting the adoption of black cats until Halloween blows over. The idea is that daft revelers may pick up the cats as party props or novelty gifts only to toss them aside a few days later; there’s also the old Black Mass chestnut — what if someone uses the kitty as the fodder for a Satanic ritual? There’s even a controversy about whether halting adoption is a good idea: The AP quotes Gail Buchwald, vice-president of a New York shelter, to the effect that these particular felines have it hard enough. “Black cats already suffer a stigma because of their color,” she says.
the know-it-all
What’s Up With Pirro’s Pigs?
The Jeanine Pirro–keeps–on–truckin’ piece on the front of today’s Times “Metro” section reports that the GOP candidate for attorney general “rides around in a silver Ford Explorer, teasing her staff, chatting about her pets.” What it doesn’t mention is what those pets are — two potbellied pigs, which the paper of record previously described as “pampered.” It reminded us of something that has long intrigued us: Why would you want pigs as pets? And how do you pamper them?
intel
Jersey Kitten Named Cat Champ, Doesn’t Care
The smell at the fourth annual Iams Cat Championship hits you before the cuteness does. Held in the Expo room in the bowels of Madison Square Garden, the show — sponsored by the century-old Cat Fanciers Association — featured felines representing 41 certified breeds, booths advertising “world’s best kitty litter,” charcoal drawings of cats drinking out of toilets, and presentations like “The Secret Sex Lives of Dogs & Cats.” (Can’t some things stay secret?)
Sunday was time for the Best of the Best awards, the kitty equivalent of Best in Show. (It came after the trained-cat show and the feline agility competition.) The judging took place in the front of the room, before dozens of people on folding chairs, on a stage with a small, pink-beribboned table. The judge, Walter Hutzler, brought out each cat and held it aloft, stretching it out vertically or horizontally into a sort of Superman pose, before setting it down briefly on the table. The crowd oohed and aahed constantly. Two gray-haired announcers — Kent Highhouse, in a tux, and Gail Frew, in a black pantsuit — sat to the left of the stage, keeping up a running commentary.