Thoughts on Pet Ownership, Bushwick Style
One of the reasons my boyfriend and I chose to move to Bushwick (besides the affordability factor) was that so many apartments seemed to be pet-friendly. While I was not naive enough to imagine a bucolic neighborhood of friendly pooches and mini-societies based around the local dog run, I did assume that it would mean Bushwick would be a great place for me to acclimate my dog to New York City life. She is young (7 months), was born in Arizona, and then lived with us in a resort-style apartment complex complete with dog runs, Olympic-size pools, and miles of walking paths. I feared for her sanity upon our arrival in Brooklyn.
Well, Bushwick has certainly acclimated her to city life, but I’m not sure if it is the kind of city life I want her to get used to. I live right next to Maria Hernandez Park, so I often take her there for short walks, but other than that I have nowhere for her to run and get used to other people and dogs. Most children are terrified of her (because they have been taught to be wary of the neighborhood dogs, rightly so in many cases) and I don’t trust most of the dogs around here enough to let her get anywhere near them. The sidewalk is always littered with trash and, most disturbingly, chicken bones, which I am constantly pulling from her mouth so she won’t choke.
I would love to have a dog run in Maria Hernandez Park, but then again, do I want my dog to be set loose with the dozens of untrained (and un-neutered) neighborhood “tough-guy-status” dogs? Don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against pit bulls (I used to have one, they are wonderful dogs), but I know that these local dogs aren’t getting the kind of training and socialization that their breed requires, which makes me nervous. Just the other day I had to walk quickly away from a man who’s pit was chomping at the bits to get at my dog.
While I love many aspects of the neighborhood, I would like to see it become more pet-friendly in the future.
Any thoughts from fellow Bushwick pet owners?
August 1st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
ack, i never thought of the chicken bones in terms of a dog hazard, that does suck. but this kind of litter isn’t unusual in most of the city. i dunno how far away a dog run at the park might be, but i would venture to guess that the bad dog owners wouldn’t be going anyway. i’ve seen some open vacant lots and unused basketball courts dog owners use to let their pets run around free. i’m not familiar with how dogs get around the city, can you get over to prospect park? lotsa space there for dogs.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Well that picture of my dog was when she was about 2 months old, she’s a lot bigger now, so we have a hard time getting anywhere that isn’t within walking distance. I’ve heard that some subway operators can be lenient if you are traveling at odd hours, and there are specific pet taxis, but I’m not sure how many of them operate out here. Short of renting a car I don’t see a way for me to get her to Prospect Park or McCarren Park.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Armstrong loves MH Park so maybe he can walk your dog for you!
I hear you with the chicken bones. I hate finding them, and worse yet spare rib bones on the sidewalk. they attract so many ants also.
that is a cute dog, and sounds like he had a fun time living in arizona. Judging from the resort it sounds like you did too!
The tough guy dogs are absolutely something that’s around. However in bushwick does anyone notice people having those small little short haired dogs.
August 1st, 2007 at 6:40 pm
I think he’s talking about those Chiwawa’s - small little dogs - Spanish people have them sometimes. Adorable though!
August 1st, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I don’t have a dog currently but I grew up with dogs in a Manhattan where dog runs didn’t exist– except at your local parking lot and the then illegal one on west Houston. Yes, our dogs could have had a better quality of life but, this is the beauty part: they didn’t know it. They were just happy to be out and about with their loved ones.
If you want a dog run in Maria Hernandez Park you’ll have to create one, perhaps you can have some input for rules that would make it safer for your dog. Did I mention how adorable your dog is? Remember there wasn’t a legal dog run in Thompkins Square Park twenty years ago, or on west Houston thirty years ago. Just think of yourself as a pioneer of sorts– and buy in neighborhood now, if you can.
August 1st, 2007 at 9:46 pm
such a cutie.. german shepard? hey, start a letter writing campaign to whoever to get a dog-run built. with the internet, it should be easy to figure out. I’d sign a petition.
“be a demonstration of the change you want to see in the world..”
August 1st, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Are we thought of as pioneers, coming to an area and looking to make change. Didn’t Jimmy say he wanted to move to an area where people made changes the way they say fit and screw everyone else?
Isn’t an illegal dog run like this what you propose?
Armstrong do you have a dog to walk there? The problem with that would be the park closes at night, and locked.
I’ve never felt like such an outside as I do coming to Bushwick. Does anyone else feel that way?
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:13 am
I am fairly certain a dog run must be initiated (and built!) by the Parks Dept. I’m simply saying that it feels much better to take actions around the things you want rather than just getting on a blog and bitching about them. or wait a minute.. is that the purpose of blogs in the first place - bitching? I’m confused.. LOL
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:08 am
One of the reasons why i recently left Bushwick was because i wanted my dog (pug, 4 years old) to have a more pleasant life. got tired of hood youth saying he looked “strange” or “is that the Men In Black dog?”….or having to walk him through garbage and oil spills. He was also very freaked out by our block (which as i have mentioned wasn’t even that bad) and hated walking.
We moved to a nicer area recently and he is back to his old self.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:15 am
Anthony, please produce the actual quote where i sneered, possibly while opening a beer bottle with my teeth: “I wanna move to an area where people make changes as they see fit, and SCREWWWWWW everybody else!!!!! YARRRGH!”
huh, that just doesn’t sound like me.
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:12 am
As a newly-minted adult in Miami Beach, I, along with the immediate neighborhood, trespassed on an empty lot and used it as our dog run. It was conveniently fenced-in, too, and you could just bend part of the fence back to let the doggies in and out. Even when the city built a proper dog park, we bristled at all the rules, turned up our noses at the fancy plastic fixtures, and stayed at our scruffier homemade park — we even contacted the owner who gave us his blessing, because we kept the lot clean.
That might be something we could do here.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Anthony - they don’t actually lock the park at night. In the 3+ weeks I’ve been living near the park I’ve only seen it locked once. I regularly walk Addison there at night, and I’ve never had a problem (except for the one drunk lady who wanted to have sex with me)
I actually went last night to see if I could use one of the handball courts to get some of her energy out (so she would be calmer when we introduced her to the new kitten, Jimmy!!) but they were all being used.
I’m totally up for starting a petition if anyone else wants to participate. Let me check on a few of the regulations, and then I’ll start a new thread in discussion board on the topic.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Hello all,
I don’t live in Bushwick, but am thinking about moving there. As the owner of two dogs (one beagle, one German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix), this discussion caught my eye. By the way, your pup looks like our shepherd mix might have looked when he was a pup - too cute.
You may know this already, but Urbanhound has some resources about starting a dog park: http://www.urbanhound.com/houndPlay/startingADogRun.asp
I hear you on the concern, though, that “tough guy” dogs might make a dog run difficult. I was recently visiting a dog walker/trainer who runs his facility out of Spanish Harlem (http://www.theactiveanimal.com/ - he helped train our shepherd/rottie mix after he was rescued from the streets). We swung by a dog run where there were some SERIOUS “tough guy” dogs. These dogs were no joke, and I say that as a former volunteer for the New Orleans SPCA where we regularly got rescued fighting pit bulls.
This dog run seemed to have an honor system of sorts - if there were dogs already in the run, their owners would let incoming owners and dogs know if their dogs were aggressive. There were actually only two dogs in there at the time and a bit of a “line” of sorts - not a real line because most of the dogs couldn’t be near each other - but clearly people waiting for their turn in the run. It’s not an ideal situation … but at least it’s somewhere for the dogs to run around and at least lays the foundations for dog owners to interact and see the impact of their dog’s behavior on other people.
Anyway, good luck - hope you find a solution!
August 2nd, 2007 at 3:36 pm
JimmyLegs:
Is your dog Jewish, even in part?
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Do you know of a good vet near the 11237 zip code?
Thanks
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Okay, who here is Jewish?
David that is awful about your dog not liking bushwick. what streets did you live on?
pretty sad when a dog get chased out of bushwick.
does everyone agree this is a tough neighborhood, tough people, dogs, atomsphere?
I live here, and they talk about change, but does anyone see it?
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 am
Lisa - We lived on Bushwick Ave about 5 blocks form the Montrose L stop for 4 years. In that time our formerly adventurous pug absolutely would do the minimum amount of walking required and then turn back to go home…he hated the streets around us. I mean who wouldn’t hate walking over garbage?
We moved this week to Cobble Hill and he is walking like his old self again. In Otto’s case, his environment really did make a difference to his quality of life. The last year or so in Bushwick I felt largely the same way..just tired of it all.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Megusmaximus -
Thanks! Yeah I pretty much stalk the Urbanhound site, and I’m working on setting up a Bushwick dog-owners association sometime soon (the first step to getting a dog run implemented). I’m actually going to start a thread in the discussion board and will be holding an open meeting sometime in the near future to gauge interest and whatnot.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
The thread is up!
August 10th, 2007 at 11:10 am
I know it’s probably a trek, but until you get a dog run at Maria Hernandez (great idea by the way), why don’t you try Cooper Park? I go there all the time, and I’m sure it’s great socializing place. You probably couldn’t go every day, but maybe if you had a few spare hours on the weekends.
http://www.gothamunleashed.com/2007/07/cooper-park-bro.html
September 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I live near Flushing and Irving Ave., I need a vet within walking distance. A mile or so is fine. Any ideas?
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Hey,
Used to bring our dog to the ball field across from the housing authority police precinct between Central and Evergreen, just off Flushing, big fenced in area, and largely unused except when there was a game going on, and most of the dogs that would go there were very friendly (along with their owners). However they have since put up a bunch of no dogs allowed signs (making it a very unused park now), and a few people I know have gotten ticketed for having their dog in there, though I believe the official city law is dogs are allowed off leash in a city park between 9pm and 9am. I think some people do still bring their dogs there, you could check it out, but we haven’t cause we didn’t want to get ticketed…maybe they have calmed down now and I’ll try it again.
I take my dog to the North Shore Animal League cause that is where we got her, but I have heard that Dr. Felton over in Williamsburg is very good, and reasonable and does a lot of work with rescued dogs. Her number is 7183881172