Results tagged “dog”

The Long Island woman suspected of torturing and killing about 20 dogs before burying them in her backyard forced her children to take part in her animal "concentration camp," according to her son. "It was a concentration camp for the animals," Doug McDonough, the eldest of suspect Sharon McDonough's seven children, told WCBS. "My sisters and me, we got the end of it, too." Doug — who tipped off the animal rescue TV show Rescue Ink, which in turn alerted the Suffolk County SPCA — told the Post that the abuse would begin shortly after his 43-year-old mother brought a pet into her Selden home. "She would buy the dog, treat it like it was the greatest dog in the world for a few days, then they would sit in the cage until she decided to kill them. It was a power trip."

Pet abandoners: please do not leave animals tied to the FDR! Jennie Min of NJ says: "I went to Manhattan today and found somebody tied a small pitbull right on the FDR Drive! She looked so afraid and was crying when I found her." Min waited an hour to see if the owner would show, then tried three non-kill shelters, all of which had no space. Since she can't take on another dog, she left her with Animal Care & Control... which means it doesn't have much time to live. She asked the ACC to contact her if they are forced to put her to sleep, and is hoping someone will save her before that happens. [via GirlieGirlArmy]

Maybe this is just a sign that we need to hit the gym more often, but whaaa? This was the scene earlier today at fashion designer Charlotte Ronson's gym, where bitches were hitting the treadmills hard to fit into their slutty whatever costumes. (Hope they toweled down those machines afterward.) By the way—overheard on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg last night: "Well, I need to find loud panties because I'm going as a slutty bee!" Be careful out there Saturday night, people. [Twitpic via Guest of a Guest]

                            

While the humans get the big Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village on October 31, canines have a series of Halloween Parades to participate in. This past weekend, there dogs were decked out in elaborate costumes in both Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side and Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. Take a look at these awesome costumes—our favorite is the Hulk Dog, if only because she endured getting dyed green! Update: We learned that Hulk Dog is an Olde English Bulldogge named Fanny—she got 2nd place for her costume.

A dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do—and if that means breaking out of a veterinary clinic after undergoing surgery, so be it! Pharaoh, a 9-year-old German Shepherd, managed to get out of his cage at a Hauppauge, Long Island clinic, and then, Newsday reports, "opened the back door"—which had a deadbolt—"unlatched a gate and fled." Here's video of Pharaoh, wearing his surgical cone, working the door:

                     

As we mentioned last week, the first annual Meet the Breed event—featuring 160 purebred breeds of dogs and 41 purebred breeds of cats—was held at the Javits Center. And people weren't able to walk a foot without in any direction without saying, "Awwww." Enjoy these photographs by Katie Sokoler.

We can't decide if this trend is more or less inappropriate than the slatternly tween Halloween costume fad. While it's true that only a very sick perv would be aroused by these provocative pooch costumes, isn't that also true of the "Devil Grrrl" costume for eight-year-olds? As we were recently reminded by that New Jersey cow-fucking incident, bestiality is still a thing, and if you're going to go out with your dog dressed like this, you should definitely keep it on a tight leash.

Spotted on Mott between Spring and Prince: a passive-aggressive note to a mysterious anti-pooper scooper! We just can't help but think this note could have been written better, though. It currently reads: "To person whose dog has taken a shit twice this week and you didn't pick it up. I'll be watching. If I catch you it won't go well for you." The threatening tone is there, but it doesn't seem to have that certain... je ne sais quoi. Next time maybe just try to sick the Sanitation Department on the Pooper-trator.

The Jane Street NIMBYs have been pulling out all the stops lately, and their latest stunt brings them offline. Yes, this sign is suggesting dog owners walk their dog right over to The Jane and encourage them to pee on it. To be exact, it says: "Let's face it, every dog needs to do his thing. But when doing it, why not also let him show The Jane Hotel exactly what he thinks about them running an illegal club in a quiet residential neighborhood?"

A beloved member of the NYPD passed away: Taz, a 90-pound German shepherd who was the last of the active K-9 dogs who helped search the World Trade Center site after the September 11 attacks, died from cardiac arrest on Sunday. He was nine years old.

A contributor named Melissa says she was walking across 59th Street between Seventh and Broadway in Midtown today when she spotted an adorable dog, so cute that she decided to snap a picture of it to share with her sister. But Melissa, who does some freelance photography work for magazines, says that as soon as the dog's owner spotted her with her camera out, he began screaming at her. She tells us that he called her "a bitch (among other things)" and writes that his verbal assault was "a maniacal tirade so big that people passing were telling him to shut up."

Canine-owning football fans need not worry about how they'll watch their precious games out-of-the-house anymore! The Daily News reports that a doggy day care center in Greenpoint has a special package this football season, allowing owners to drop off their dogs so they can watch the games gult-free. Rob Maher, the 31-year-old co-owner of Unleash Brooklyn, told the paper, "People may want to go out to a bar, but they feel like they're neglecting [their dogs]. They're happy to drop them off with us so they can play with other dogs."

If you're pregnant, and your baby daddy is being deployed to Afghanistan, and besides, you were totally going to pick up your dog's poop in a minute... should you still be fined $250 for not doing so quickly enough? The Daily News reports that 19-year-old, 9-days-overdue Alicia Fernbacker of Maspeth was slapped with such a fine last week by a sanitation department agent.

Who doesn't love a good old dog story on a gloomy Friday? We may have just lost 21-year-old Chanel (the world's oldest dog), but this past week New York City's oldest canine turned 20, with a cake-filled celebration in midtown. NY1 reports that the dachshund is named Paco Sosa, and his master is Bernadine Santistevan—who credits his longevity to a combination of exercise and diet (he eats organic and takes holistic remedies). His favorite hobbies include eating (!) and walking around Central Park (though we'd guess any park would do). Daily Intel is suspect of Paco's sudden press, saying "Chanel was barely in the grave ten days before Paco seized the opportunity to start hogging the limelight."

Check out this cute K-9 dog who helped cops find a man who was brandishing a gun on a city bus! According to the Daily News, Blaze, a 7-year-old "gun-loving" German shepherd, took a gun that was left under a car at 225th and White Plains Road in the Bronx. While carrying the gun in his mouth, the pup matched "the scent on the weapon to the scent on the pavement" and "tracked the suspect more than a block and a half. With his handler, Officer Benny Colecchia, at his side, Blaze zeroed in on a backyard on E. 227th St., where identical twins were playing dominos." The fun with dominos ended, because Rahsheim Francis, 17, was charged with weapon possession. And the gun turned out to be a BB gun.

Back in May the New York dog who was believed to be the oldest living dog in the world, named Chanel, turned 21-years-old. She had a birthday celebration at the New York Dog Spa, and even stopped by the Today Show; and at a fundraiser at Tavern on the Green, her owner, Denice Shaughnessy said, "she looked up from her stroller and seemed to say, 'Is all this for me?'" But now sad news: Chanel has moved on to that big farm upstate. Newsday reports that the dog, who wore sunglasses for her cataracts and rode in a stroller, has died after living 147 full dog years. Shaughnessy tells them, "She just inhaled and took her last breath. [She] had been telling me it's time."

Who doesn't love a good heroic dog story? Word is that a concerned canine named Max saved an 89-year-old woman in Little Neck last Friday. The pup, who is a neighbor's dog, made a ruckus after finding Tina DiLuca face-first in her garden on a 90-degree-day. His barking caused Maria DiLuca, her daughter, to rush outside. She said, “We live next door to Max and we’re used to hearing him bark. But he didn’t sound right. I looked out the window and I saw my mother laying there. She’s lucky she fell in the dirt and not the concrete.” Currently the 89-year-old woman is recovering from four fractured ribs and a few abrasions in the hospital, and is expected to stay there for a few weeks. Hopefully Max is getting some extra treats and belly scratches at home.

It's hard to win when you are accused by a 60-something-year-old couple of abusing their dog. But alas, that is the situation actor Gerard Butler is currently in. Yesterday news came out that a greyhound belonging to the couple encountered Butler and his pug on the street. The pug was unleashed, and the greyhound was leashed.

Jennifer Aniston's co-star (and maybe-beau), Gerard Butler, is back in the news. Last we heard Butler's bodyguard attacked a photographer's car, and now the NY Post reports that the actor allegedly hit a couple's dog late Monday afternoon in LIC. While walking his own pug, Lolita (unleashed!), Butler encountered Fred and Maria Varecka and their greyhound, Mayfly (leashed). When Mayfly went for Lolita (Butler claims taking two bites at her neck), the couple says the actor "slammed Mayfly's head against a fence, screaming, 'That dog should be put down!'" The couple, in their 60s, said the encounter left them shaking, and when they told him he should put a leash on his dog, "he kept on going and going, ranting and raving... He was being verbally abusive." A police report was filed, but no citations have been handed out. Butler's PR spinderella says that he spent the evening at the vet's office, and even shelled out $3,000 for the visit of another family's pet he met there. Meanwhile, Fred Varecka tells the paper, "I thought a lot of him as an actor. And he might still be a good actor. But I don't respect him as a person." No word on whether there will be a ceremonial trashing of their Butler DVDS (Phantom of the Opera and 300).

Good grief, people suck: A Staten Island man named Frank Coppola was arrested yesterday on charges he beat his girlfriend's chihuahua to death. A necropsy performed on the three-year-old dog, named Bella, showed severe trauma to its chest, internal bleeding, several broken ribs, a ruptured jugular vein and bruised lungs. Coppola, 28, is accused of killing Bella in the apartment he shared with his girlfriend, Melissa DePietro, after the dog bit him.

According to a poster on the Brooklynian message board, around 7 a.m. today, "during the off leash dog hours, a music group was doing a photo shoot in the Long Meadow of Prospect Park. A golden retriever puppy, being naturally curious, wandered over and interrupted their photo shoot. One of the band members grabbed the puppy by its collar and kicked it." While there's no photographic evidence of the vague incident on the board, if this is true, it is our duty to find out who this band, and photographer, are. Anyone know anyone who wears vests and goes four buttons deep unbuttoning their shirt?

This is amazing (and sad): A one-year-old black-and-white terrier mix was apparently thrown off a Brooklyn apartment building—and survived. Neighbors called the ASPCA about the dog, who took her to a vet. The pup, named Oreo for her coloring, then underwent surgery at the ASPCA hospital, where vets repaired all of her limbs "with plates and screws. She also suffered internal bruising and damage to her lungs," according to the Post.

In case you missed the update, the 5-legged puppy that was saved from a life in a freakshow was brought under the knife ahead of schedule to have her extra leg amputated yesterday. Coney Island's John Strong had been threatening legal action to attain the pup, since he had put a down payment on the canine before the current owner Allyson Siegel stepped in. CNN has video of the dog prior to her operation:

Congratulations John Strong, you are giving Ringling some competition in the cold-hearted, animal-hating, soulless human being contest. The Coney Island freakshow proprietor, who recently relocated here from California, is trying to get custody of the 5-legged pup that a North Carolina woman saved from a lifetime in sideshow hell. Strong had handed over a $1,000 down payment when Allyson Siegel convinced the seller (who was told by Strong that the dog would be going to an "amazing animal farm") to sell it to her instead. Her story touched so many that a Manhattan vet even offered to amputate the extra leg at no cost, an operation scheduled for next week. However, now Strong says he's the rightful owner of the dog, and is hinting that he'll take the case to court ("I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!"). Our Hero, Siegel, declared: "over my dead body." UPDATE: The amputation was done early! This morning the pup went under the knife in part because of this threat by Strong.

If you've ever queued up for a spin on Coney Island's landmark Wonder Wheel, you may have noticed that one of the cars is really going to the dogs. Well, one dog, at least: Sunny, a 12-year-old Rottweiler who guards the property by night and rides in car number four by day. Amos Crowley, who has worked at Deno's Wonder Wheel for the past 10 years, tells the Daily News, "Some people think it's funny, some people think it's cruel, but the dog thinks otherwise. We don't do it to be funny; we do it because she likes it. It's tradition. It's been going on for years and years."

There's one thing certain about the future of Coney Island: there will be no 5-legged dog in John Strong's freakshow. A North Carolina woman named Allyson Siegel changed the pup's fate when she outbid Strong and paid $4,000 for the animal.

    

Greenpoint resident Chrissie Brodigan says she was riding on the L train between Bedford and First Avenue when her pug, who has health problems, overheated and began vomiting in the tote bag she was carrying him in. As she was leaving the subway station with the dog in her arms, she says a police officer's attempt to issue her a ticket turned ugly, and when she became upset the cop began saying, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman." [We've updated with photos of Brodigan's arrest. July 1 update: A new post with details about another witness's account is here. ]

Can your canine climb the corporate ladder? Tomorrow is the 10th annual Take Your Dog to Work Day, so get your pups prepared to push some papers (or to get fawned over all day by your co-workers). The event is in celebration of man's best friend, as well as an encouragement for the dog-less amongst us to adopt. While thousands of companies participate, including Disney, be sure to clear your canine cubicle mate with your boss beforehand! The Daily News talked to a Carroll Gardens resident who brings her dog into Johnson & Johnson from time to time—she told them, "It's very therapeutic to come over and pet him, and it's good for the dog. He's the office stress-reliever." If you brings yours to the workplace, be sure to send us a photo or tag your photo with "Gothamist" on Flickr... and remember to take the pup out for happy hour after the 9 to 5! Or at least give him a treat and some extra belly scratches.

WABC 7 has Newscopter 7 footage of two dogs that ran onto the Major Deegan Expressway and reports: "Just before 6:30 a.m., a 9-year-old male yellow lab chow mix ran onto the Major Deegan Expressway and was hit by a car at exit 3. That's when another dog ran to the rescue, right there on the busy highway. Like a protective parent, the dog wouldn't let anyone near. Barking at traffic and police, even as they tried to help." The police eventually managed to get the injured dog into a cruiser and tried to catch the other dog, but the pup took off. The injured dog, who has a broken leg and maybe internal bleeding, was taken to Animal Car & Control in East Harlem. The dogs' owner called AC&C after seeing the pooches on TV and picked up the injured dog and took him to the an animal hospital (he said the other dog was back at home).

This week a dachshund from Long Island who goes by the name Chanel turned 21, making her the oldest living dog (she even holds the Guinness World Record). Her owner Denice Shaughnessy threw her a birthday bash at New York Dog Spa and Hotel in Manhattan on Wednesday, and before that they even stopped by the Today Show! Shaughnessy noted that the pup used to sport red hair, which turned to white "a long time ago," and her cataracts force her to wear specialty glasses ("doggles"). Since her bones feel the cold, the house is kept at 72 degrees, and because there aren't doggie dentures, her diet consists of soft foods like boiled chicken. She's just like a grandparent! So how old is Chanel in people years? Slate disagrees with the Post's assertion that she's 147, declaring the canine to be 113 according to the American Veterinary Medical Association's official formula. Wonder if Willard Scott put her on the side of a Smucker's jar for his centenarian birthday wishes!