The fall is a great time of year to be out and about in the New York City area. The weather is crisp; the foliage is lovely, the temperature is just right. With many New Yorkers taking advantage of these next few weeks before the cold truly sets it, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of dogs out for walks, in the park, and at the dog run.

In New York, a dog’s owner is financially (and personally) responsible for any damages his/her dog causes another person, animal or property so now is a good time to brush up on safety tips when you and your pooch are out socializing.

Unless you are in a park, run, or enclosure with specified off-leash policy, ALWAYS leash your dog. Not only is it illegal (and punishable in fines up to 2,000 dollars!) to walk your dog without a leash in New York City, it is very unsafe. Leashing your pet ensures that it can’t dart into traffic, take off down the sidewalk after a squirrel, or furtively eat discarded food scraps from the ground. Plus, no matter how well behaved or friendly your dog may be, others’ might not be so nice. Leashing prevents your mild mannered pup from running, literally, into an aggressive dog.

Beyond leasing, the single most effective safety precaution you can take is to BE ATTENTIVE. When entering a gated park or run, make sure only one gate is open at one time, that the doors are fully closed before unleashing your dog, and that no one else’s dog escapes while your enter or exit the park.

STAY AWARE of your dog and the environment. Watch out for safety risks and signs of aggression. Dogs at play will bark, nip, mouth and wrestle, but will do so with inhibition and will often play bow (putting their weight on their front forearms, dipping their head and shoulders while keeping their hind quarters up and wagging their tail). If you notice your dog or another dog becoming over-stimulated, stop it before it escalates. If you notice your dog or another dog harassing, intimidating, shoving, or mounting, please correct the behavior and leave the park if it cannot be controlled.

Many people carry whistles or horns as an aversion device to stop a fight if it breaks out. If a fight does break out the most important thing to remember is that you must do your best to break it up, but NEVER PUT A BODY PART BETWEEN FIGHTING DOGS. The experienced guardian might try to step in by grabbing the dog’s hind legs just below the rump and lifting up (like you would a wheelbarrow). SDO NOT ATTEMPT this unless you’re a skilled dog handler. You might try whistles, loud sounds, or other aversion techniques. Stay calm. Once the fight has ended, separate the dogs and check them out for cuts, punctures etc… and exchange information if anyone feels a veterinary examination will be needed.

Here are some other basic DOs & DON’Ts that will help keep you and your dog safe and healthy while playing:

1.)      No pronged or spiky collars. They can easily turn inside out and cause injury, even during light play

2.)      Don’t bring toys, treats or rawhides to the park. Some dogs are very possessive of toys and/or food which can easily lead to a dispute.

3.)      Avoid drinking beverages from glass bottles because one broken bottle can cause injury for several dogs.

4.)      If you suspect your dog is sick, don’t bring them to the run.

5.)      Bring a water bowl for your dog. Communal bowls are helpful, but they can spread giardia and kennel cough if they’re not cleaned and changed regularly.

Employing these tips and paying attention to your dog at play is the best way to ensure that all the dogs and dog owners socializing will have a safe happy play time.  And for more information check out dog park etiquette post here.

a distant view of McLaughlin Park which holds one of the proposed sites.

Downtown Brooklyn will be waiting a little while longer for a new Dog Run, as the Business Improvement District’s (BID) campaign to get a local dog run in the rapidly developing area of downtown Brooklyn near Gold st and Flatbush avenues was essentially rejected by Community Board 2.

The Metro Tech Business Improvement District had been pushing for a dog run in Downtown Brooklyn, claiming that the once industrial and business district has seen an a staggering rise in residents and families and, consequently, dogs that need a place for walks and exercise.

Michael Weiss, the BID’s executive director said. “We’re finding that people are looking for places to walk their dogs because some buildings have restrictions.”

Many of the Luxury condo towers popping up in the area — the Brooklyner, Avalon Bay, and Toren among them— don’t have quarters to let a dog roam.

The BID went before Brooklyn Community Board 2 for a brainstorming session, to make its case for the dog run. Possible sites include an unused 3,000-square-foot section of McLaughlin Park on Jay and Tillary streets and a 2,000-square-foot triangular plot at Myrtle and Flatbush avenues.

The board members had few good things to say about the BID’s suggestions, and although the Members didn’t reject the tiny patch of land at Myrtle and Flatbush avenues. Ultimately, board members claimed they didn’t want the new dogs encroaching on existing, highly sought after, park space.

The board argued that there are already off-leash hours and dog runs in and around Downtown, like the cordoned-off section of Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 at the foot of Atlantic Avenue, Hillside Dog Park on Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights, and the off-leash hours at Cadman Plaza Park. However, these are each a fair distance from the new Downtown Gold Coast along Flatbush Avenue Extension.

It seems the main reason board members were compelled to deny the BID’s request was premature timing. The flourishing new district has been rapidly evolving, but only for the past 3-5 years. Neighborhoods like Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill, which have well established dog populations, have been waiting for appropriated dog run space for over two decades.

“Boerum Hill has been waiting for a dog run for more than 20 years,” said Mary Goldman, a member of the Parks Committee.

The issue, at its core, is one that has long plagued New Yorkers and their pets: a little space for a lot of people. Since open land is non existent in the current city zoning climate it seems, for now at least, Dog walking will have to remain a side walk event in Downtown Brooklyn.

photo credit: David Dyte

Many of us look forward the first weeks in October; pumpkins, foliage, sweaters. Unfortunately, this autumn has brought inches of rain along with the cooler temperatures and it appears this downpour will continue into next week. One of the most common place complaints I hear from a Chihuahua owner to a Rottweiler dog-sitter is “my dog will NOT go out in the rain.” The training term is rain reluctance and it effects all dogs of all breeds in urban, suburban and even rural areas. Here are some tips to keep your floors dry during these rainy days.

First, don’t be afraid to get wet yourself. We dog owners don’t enjoy the rain any more than our four legged friends, but a quick dash in and out is not enough time for your dog to do his business. Walking stimulates elimination so try doing a few laps around the block in your rain gear to encourage your dog to go.

This also helps your dog get familiar with the rain. It seems funny to think of our dogs – evolved from wolves- as afraid of a little drizzling but where wolves need to go outside, rain or shine, if they want to eat our domesticated dogs don’t.

Often, what we think is a reluctance to get their fur or skin wet is actually the discomfort of wet paws. If your dog is in a yard try hosing the grass down lightly, and then offer him or her a treat as a reward. Your dog will begin to associate wet grass with positive feelings.

If you’re a city dweller dealing with concrete, you can purchase booties for your dog in varying degrees of water resistance, abrasion protection and toughness depending on your dog’s size, breed and the surface on which the two (or more) of you will be walking. Check out a few here and here.

Lastly, try delaying a walk. Most trainers will tell you that you should always stick to the same routine rain or shine and I agree. But after so many accidents in the house when my dog refused to do his business in the rain I discovered that delaying his night time walk by about a half hour solved the problem. The little bit of added urgency was enough to encourage him to relieve himself, but not enough to cause him any discomfort.

As a fail safe – keep a stack of absorbent puppy pads in the house for days (or weeks like this one) where the rain seems never ending. If you notice that despite all your best efforts your dog refuses to go outside laying a puppy pad out by the door is a good way to protect your floor and keep your stress level down while you’re away. I like these absorbent non-treated training pads. They protect hard wood and carpets, but don’t encourage your dog to keep going there.

At the very least, all this rain is a good excuse to buy yourself and your dog some adorable rain gear.

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I was lucky enough to get an exclusive Q & A with Sarah Gross, the founder of Rescue Chocolate, a non-profit company that sells artisanal vegan hand-made chocolates and donates net proceeds to various animal rescue organizations!  Charitable and delicious, lets see what Sarah had to say.

Petaholics: Hi Sarah, so I’ll get right to it. You’re working with Jean-Francois Bonnet at Tumbador Chocolate on creating this wonderful artisanal chocolate. How did Francois and the Tumbador team initially react to the idea of selling chocolate and donating the profit to animal rescue?

Sarah Gross: They loved the idea. Tumbador is a socially responsible company. For example, they are leaders in hiring and training ex-cons and others in society who often find it difficult to get a job. So they were happy to facilitate Rescue Chocolate’s mission of doing good for the animals.

P:  Not only does your work aid rescue, but you mention raising awareness about over-population. Why did you decide to make over-population education a prime part of your mission at rescue chocolate?

SG: It’s the only way to make things better. The euthanasia of 4-5 million dogs and cats each year in this country is just appalling. Here is a problem that is so preventable! People just need to be made aware of the importance of spaying and neutering. They have to be shown the super-easy tools that exist for correcting a pet’s behavioral transgressions. Education is the key, and a company like Rescue Chocolate can aid in getting the word out.

P: Each of your products is named after a different part of your mission at rescue chocolate, whether it’s educating consumers about feral cat colonies or correcting misinformation about so-called “aggressive breeds” like pit-bulls and Rottweilers. I noticed that, for a limited time, a treat called “the good egg” is out. What is the good egg? What goal does the “good egg” represent?

SG: The good egg is the person who fosters a homeless pet until a permanent home can be found. The good egg is the person who goes down to the local shelter and falls in love with his or her forever friend, instead of supporting a pet store with a puppy mill behind it. The good egg is the neglected, abused, or abandoned dog or cat who still wants to live and love. There are good eggs everywhere.

P: That is wonderful! Why did you decide that Rescue Chocolate should be vegan and certified kosher?

SG: Well, I’m a vegan and have been for more than a decade. The vegan lifestyle is not only kind to animals but to the environment and the pocketbook as well. It would be a little nuts for my product to support animals if at the same time any animals had been harmed or killed in the making of the product! And kosher can be another way of saying the same thing, but in a more ancient way. People have the connotation that kosher means higher quality. There is also a component of animal compassion built into it, but it doesn’t go far enough in that arena for modern sensibilities. Having kosher products just opens up another whole segment of the marketplace that I wished to serve.

P: I never thought of it way, but you’re totally right You have several retailers both online and in store committed to selling Rescue Chocolate. How do you develop relationships with other businesses who are also committed to animal rescue?

SG: I seek them out, emphasizing the marketable aspects of the product. Plenty of stores are willing to help the animals, but their prime motivation is to make a profit for themselves of course. So I sell them on the superior taste, the eco-friendly materials (which captures a lot of consumers), the fact that Rescue Chocolate is an artisan-style food made by hand, the fact that we use very high quality cacao, and simply that consumers rave about it!

P: There are so many animal rescue organizations doing wonderful work. What criteria do you look for in an organization when deciding which agencies you might want to donate to next?

SG: They have to have animal rescue as their primary mission. They also have to have a large enough membership base that the partnership with Rescue Chocolate will have an impact. When I name a beneficiary, I do a lot of publicity for that organization, and I ask it to return the favor for Rescue Chocolate. The publicity drives sales up, which in turn leads to more profits flowing back to the organization. and this summer, I have learned to pick groups close to my home base in Brooklyn, because warm-weather shipping is ridiculously expensive.

P: I hear you! plus, all your chocolate would melt in the California sun!

I hope you all learned something new, and I encourage you to go out and find some local Rescue Chocolate in and around Brooklyn! It’s truly a guilt-free dessert. Thank you so much to Sarah for connecting with me and for all her hard work.

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No one is buying egg nog, noise-makers or party hats just yet, but for the estimated 12% of New Yorkers who are Jewish or of Jewish decent, September the 9th is Rosh Hashanah which marks the Jewish New Year!<p>

Rosh Hashanah is a day of rest and observers usually celebrate with symbolic (and delicious) kosher foods: most commonly, round challa bread to symbolize the cycle of the year and apples with honey to represent a sweet and prosperous new year. While those of us observing the holiday are happy to make a few dietary additions in the name of celebration, rich “human food” and sudden radical dietary changes are rarely a good idea for our four-legged friends. So, what should Rosh Hashanah observers give their dogs to celebrate Rosh Hashanah without a tummy ache?<p>

If you are working to keep your canine kosher check out Evanger’s Dog Food! Run by Joe and Holly Sher of Illinois, Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food produces over 30 products approved by the Chicago Rabbinical Council for use by those who observe Jewish Law!

See the list of kosher products and get more information about
Evanger’s here:

According to rabbinical law dogs don’t need to keep kosher so feel free to share your apples and honey in a well-balanced dog friendly dish if you’d like! Try this sweet “Apple of My Eye” mini muffin dog treat recipe found at Dog Treat Recipe Exchange.

Ring in the Jewish New Year and lend a helping hand to local animals by heading over to rescue chocolate for some truly guilt-free chocolate. Rescue Chocolate crafts delicious certified kosher chocolate in their Brooklyn factory and all the proceeds go to animal rescue. Now that’s a great way to begin a prosperous New Year.<p>

Keeping your pet groomed in these hot summer months will help keep contribute to their overall happiness.
Dogs with extremely long or thick fur she have it trimmed
Making sure your pet has short coat in these hot months will keep the following health problems under control
1. Parasites-
2. Hot Spots-
3. Undercoat-
4. Matting-
5. Shedding-