Our Four-Legged Friends

Photo by myself at Broadway and Prince Street in Soho.

In this town, dogs are people, too.

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Pets are children-substitutes in a city short on space. We dress them, pamper them, talk to them and give them people names.

Pets, dogs especially, since they're so visible, are status symbols. They're badges to the outside world on what you can afford - an apartment that can house more than one living thing, the occasional dog walker, stays at the kennel and the dreaded vet bill.

Usually the bigger the dog, the bigger the statement. The same goes for multiple little dogs. You may as well have dollar bill symbols at the end of the leash. At least, that how I see it.

My theory is that bigger dogs need less exercise than smaller dogs, because they're less excitable. So a guy walking down the street with two Great Danes may just live in a studio apartment rather than a three-bedroom. Don't be fooled!

A couple years ago, one of Mark's friends came to visit his ex-girlfriend with his Great Dane, George. Meanwhile, the ex-girlfriend owned a small, very sparsely furnished apartment and an immense Bouvier named Gracie.

We spent the night chatting over drinks, while George kept getting up to nudge Gracie to play. The small group of two-legged animals kept getting pushed around by the four-legged ones. It was beyond claustrophobic, it was downright silly.

After twenty minutes, we just had to leave.