The Place To Be in the Dog Days
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“The unleashed dog has a special spirit about it,” said author Frances Sheridan on Friday. “There’s an indefinable quality” when dogs freely interact with their environment. An audience of dog lovers and their pets gathered at Barnes & Noble Chelsea to hear Ms. Sheridan discuss her book “Unleashed: The Dog Runs of New York City” (Prestel).
Outside the bookstore, several volunteers from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals held leashes of dogs waiting to be adopted.
In the front row, a woman named Karina S. sat with her Boston terrier, Lucy, and a mother and daughter sat with their Shih Tzus, Sophie and Jolie. Gary and Nancy Mahon sat with Jack, the German shorthaired pointer who graces the book cover in a photo taken during a run on his first birthday.
Dog runs, where canines can frolic outdoors without their leashes, appeared relatively recently in the city’s history, but their presence has grown over the past 15 years. This book examines 30 dog runs in Manhattan, six in the Bronx, nine in Brooklyn, eight in Queens, and two in Staten Island, rating them on a one to four “paw” scale. Each has an accompanying map and key that tells what amenities the dog run has, such as benches, dog wash hoses, pools, separate areas for little dogs, lights, and so on.
One audience member asked about Union Square Dog Run. “Union Square is definitely a four-paw dog run,” she said, noting that it was friendly and busy, “like a spontaneous zoo.” Asked about the criteria she used in rating the dog runs, the author said it was subjective but involved factors such as shade, water, comfort, and space. The ratings, she said, came from “a rottweiler’s point of view” – namely her late pet, Indy, who died of cancer in 2003.
In the book’s introduction, Ms. Sheridan tells how she and Indy “joined that pack that frequents the city’s dog runs and discovered how active urban canine communities meet, greet, romp, roll, run, exercise, and socialize on a daily basis.”
In an opening essay in the book, dog expert Stephen Zawistowski describes how dog runs have evolved into “a new type of urban cultural center.” Since they are “no longer needed to pursue game, herd sheep, or guard flocks,” he writes, “dogs are too often left to a home life that has them hunting sunbeams, herding furniture, and waiting for mom and dad to come home.” Dog runs can help the dogs express their full selves as they “communicate in fluent canine” with their peers.
According to the book, the presence of dogs in a park can deter crime, and dog runs provide a place for dog-owner interaction that reaches “beyond economic and social barriers.” Dog runs are a microcosm of the city, Ms. Sheridan said. They help build community: “a lot of people say they got to know each other through their dogs.”
Attending the event was Samantha Schmidt, who edits a quarterly newsletter for the dog run in Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side. The area is called “Carl’s Dog Run,” as many of the dog runs take their first name from the name of the park in which they are located. Ms. Schmidt, who has two Labrador retrievers named Liberty and Jackson, mentioned that this dog run holds an annual Halloween party in October called “Halloween Howl.” Seven prizes are given away in categories including “dog owner look-alike.” Judges dress as witches.
The book also mentions various events in the boroughs, such as an Easter bonnet contest and the Dog Olympics in Queens; and an annual dog potluck picnic and a caroling event called “Bark the Herald Angels Sing” in Brooklyn.
For those neighborhoods planning to build a dog run, the book offers technical information such as which surfaces work best: Crushed granite is “durable, well draining and soft on paws”; quarter-inch pearl gravel mixed with rice gravel also is praised. Pea gravel “hurts some dogs’ paws and provides spaces for bugs and fleas to hide”; cement is “hard on joints and ligaments”; and black asphalt “gets too hot in the sun to walk on and can tear the pads of paws.”
The Knickerbocker telephoned Garrett Rosso, manager of First Run, located in Tompkins Square Park, since it is known as the first off-leash dog run in Manhattan, opened officially in 1990. In May, Dog Fancy magazine named it one of the five top dog parks in America.
Mr. Rosso, who has two Rhodesian ridgebacks and a Jack Russell terrier/corgi mix, conducted research last year by staying at the dog run for 48 hours. He estimated that the dog run had more than 450 unique users per week. He and others are currently raising money to renovate the dog run.
Mr. Rosso said he has heard some complain, “It’s not fair to have a dog in New York City.” But he said that suburban dogs often stay in their back yard and don’t get to see their own kind, as a city dog who has a good owner does. Dog runs, he said, “make for a more well-mannered city pet.” Ms. Sheridan said, “A well-socialized dog is much happier and healthier and easier to live with.” She added, “The benefits extend to people as well.”