Music to His Ears 

As an abused shelter dog, Otis's musical knowledge was, at best, limited. Despite his upbringing in Jersey City (which I consider to be a Mecca of musical talent and history), he has never expressed the passion that I know is possible for a well laid beat. I have played record after record for dear sweet Otis, hoping to see a tail wag for the salsa infused jazz of Ray Barreto, or a head bob to Toots. He denied funk, punk and walked out of the room when I played Dizzy Rascal. I worried he would never open up. Was it the confines of my basement that deterred him from really listening to the music? Is he partially deaf? Does his large head have some auditory effects i dont know about?

I determined he needed a change of scenery.

But where do you get the chance to mingle music and mutts? Maxwell's sells food, and despite health code violations, I don't see them taking kindly to dogs, Uncle Joes is no more, and the jukeboxes of other dog friendly bars in Jersey City don't deliver the way I know they can. WFMU (located in downtown Jersey City) is a dog friendly establishment, but this courtesy does not reach the mail room volunteer (as I so humbly have been in the past).

Then it happened. I stepped off the Grove Street path train and was greeted with a 5 piece country band standing on the corner, preparing to play directly into my soul. Any Day Parade was setting up, and since this was a street show, sponsored by Grooves on Grove, Otis was, of course, welcome. The Kentucky twang of singer / guitar player Tree Jackson's voice sprawled out in the atmosphere like fog. The sun hung low on the horizon of Newark Avenue, and for a few moments, Jersey City thrilled me. While enveloped by the harmonies of their savagely spirited country music, I saw a large smile walking towards me. It was Otis, and finally, he liked what he heard. He found music he could vibe with. Escorted by Buka and Jay (whose smile and love of Any Day Parade was equal to Otis's) we sat as a pack and let them tell us stories wrapped in bass lines. We are still working on Otis's toe tapping rhythm and harmonica howling, but it was nice to have a chance to share the music I love with the dog I love.

        

"BOILING" has become a staple in the daily descriptive communications that go on betwixt James and me. It is both appropriate, and gross. The thought of a person...boiling...is not really too appetizing. Alas, it is how Jay looks and feels when we have to walk more than 3 blocks (It should be mentioned that he is usually in navy blue and wearing pants...and speed walks), and it is the MOST frequently used word in his vocabulary, and tends to rub off on those around him.

Enter Buka.
Summer, for those with fur, is an unpleasant time. James is only mildly furry, but poor poor Buka. She wears 2 coats of thick long black fur all year, and as we enter the peak of the dog days of summer, she has entered her peak of annoying behavior. She drags behind you on walks, but refuses to go inside. She is barking at everything she sees, especially poor sweet lovable Otis. And she is overall acting like a jerk

Buka is boiling, just like her dad. She and Jay hate summer as much as I hate Sam Champion (he is fingernails on the chalkboard of my heart). They are quite the pair on their afternoon walks. Both overdressed, boiling, and in a terrible mood.

Pray for Otis and me, that we make it through these terrible, boiling dog days of summer.

        

        

Otis is lazy and shouldn't be allowed to sleep in bed any more because it has made him SOFT!

        

Here is a photo of the famed Sampson Coomber that has recently surfaced on the web. Seen with a couple delirious fanatics, Sampson hams it up for the paparazzi on Cape Cod.

        

Thought this was an interesting story on msnbc - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25415938/.

Also check out the slideshow to the right of the story.

A nice feel good story after that horrible natural disaster (as well as that creepy Habacac post.)

        

Otis...

A Haiku in your Honor:

Two broken paw nails
stiches, shots and gross mouth thing
one smiling pitbull

        

"
This is pulled from an email i got today...
"In 2007, the 'artist' Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved him to death.

For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful 'masterpiece' based on the dog's agony, until eventually he died."


"Hello everyone. My name is Guillermo Habacuc Vargas. I am 50 years old and an artist. Recently, I have been criticized for my work titled "Eres lo que lees", which features a dog named Nativity. The purpose of the work was not to cause any type of infliction on the poor, innocent creature, but rather to illustrate a point. In my home city of San Jose, Costa Rica, tens of thousands of stray dogs starve and die of illness each year in the streets and no one pays them a second thought.Now, if you publicly display one of these starving creatures, such as the case with Nativity, it creates a backlash that brings out a big of hypocrisy in all of us. Nativity was a very sick creature and would have died in the streets anyway."


I am an art lover, and a dog lover.  So i am broken hearted to see the desecration of both in one exhibition.  Habacuc is one of the many contemporary sensationalists that incorporates the reactions of the viewer into their art. This is a common trend in contemporary art - and will continue to be. Art is expressive in nature, and truly good art is supposed to elicit something from the viewer. It's supposed to engage.

But where are the lines? When does an act of art deviate into a crime? And what is more important?
Street dogs in South and Central America have a very different existence than they do in the US. They are not pampered. There is also less attention to their well being because of poverty and poor living conditions for humans. He raises awareness about the conditions of these animals, but like much art, there is a context that it needs to be taken in.

When you view a  triptych, it is in context: when it is seen in single pieces, it loses a portion of its value as a work of art. The same goes for an altarpiece or ornamental frieze. Art has context. A criticism of the Louvre is that the galleries removed too much of the work from its original context which takes away the intended impact (also a criticism of the Salons in 18th and 19th century Paris)

Instillation art is problematic, in that it must, by definition, contextually install the work of art into the space it is being displayed. It can fail miserably, and often does because the artist does not understand the effect the gallery will have on their work. The factor of context is over looked or miscalculated.
  
The "art" that Habacuc was trying to portray was out of context. A starving dog on the street and the indifference society felt was the scenario (he claims, although he has made several conflicting statements regarding his intent) that made him feel something, and it is the scenario that he wanted the viewer to engage. He misses the mark by removing the dog from the streets and starving it in front of spectators. His manipulation of the situation devalues it as art, and  makes it cruel. The "reaction" he was attempting to get (assuming it was not malicious) is lost because of his presentation of "art". Because of these factors, his work is no longer a reflection of society.
By maintaining control of the dogs intake of food and water (by starving the dog intentionally) he corrupts the scenario of a dog who starves "naturally" in the streets. He removes nature from the "art" and by doing this makes his work self centered. It does not prove that humans are selfish hypocritical, but rather,  how selfish and hypocritical one man is.  This not only devalues his attempt at enlightenment, but reeks of vanity and self adoration. The fact that humans are cruel is not novel. The hardships of the world are represented in many ways by many artists (including disturbing social commentaries by Goya, Rivera, Kahlo, Dicks, Bacon, Hirst, Ofili...). What Habacuc fails to do is represent his perspective.
Habacuc should have considered the importance of his cause, and his actual motivations when deciding how to express this emotion. The message he was attempting to communicate is lost in this piece of "art" because of its lack of creativity and cruelty at the cost of an innocent street dog. 

Thank God Habacuc was not trying to enlighten the world about starving children. His logic only contributes to the disgusting society that he attempts to comment on.

If you want to sign a petition banning this, click below.

http://www.petitiononline.com/13031953/petition-sign.html

        

He did it. Sampson Coomber has made it to the printed pagein his first modeling gig. He was, perhaps, the most unlikely of the wild pack of family dogs to excel (physically or mentally) but he has showed us that he has the hammy personality and structured facial features to impress the photographers, in addition to the self reservation to not eat an entire bowl of treats.

Not that Sammy is not a cute dog, he is. I just was shocked that had IT. There are tons of dogs out there, but immediately, in my small little sphere, there are just seven. And out of these seven, I am still shocked that Sampson was the one to make it into the glossy Mags.

Let's Review
Livvy the Pug
-no contest, she is quite "homely"and terribly behaved. She would have peed and pooped all over the set whilst barking at all things that moved or remained still

Wheezy the Pug
-She is cute, and strange looking...there is an allure. I will give you that, but wheezy cant keep quiet, sit still or basically do anything that doesn't involve sleeping or barking.
And with the pugs (this means livvy too) any food is fair game, and all who stand in the way are in peril of losing fingers and face.

Bukis
- Buka is cute, and pretty. Its hard to pull off. She seems simple enough to be just a dumb old dog, but she is pretty enough to want to look at her...But Buka cant be photographed. She is like bigfoot: few pictures exists, and their credibility is debatable. She sucks all the light from the place in the photograph she is alluded to being, and leaves you with a picture that has some questionable imagery.
Also, Buka prides herself on doing the exact opposite of what Jay asks her to do...but only when its really important to Jay. So in a situation where Jay wanted Buka to behave (as her performance was financially weighted) it is more than likely, that she would misbehave in a paramount manner. This is the type of scenario where she would be the worst she has ever been (worse than the dead animal jersey turnpike roll of summer 07)
I am scared to predict what such behavior could entail, but a simple indoor turd does not even come close.

Otis
-clearly the cutest in his dumb large headed way, and wildly expressive, Otis would physically please any viewer eyeballs, eliciting "Awws" and "ooohhh"s. He also tugs heart strings because he is such a "hard luck" dog - and i use that term loosely as he is spoiled and babied by myself and wendy. But alas, Otis needs to be within 10 inches of people. His desperation to be hugged and kissed and petted and snuggled would reflect in a ton of failed shots that catch just Otis's huge fleeing butt. I know this from experience, as Otis posed nude for the LHS 2008 Calendar. He did give the photographer (and her quacking camera, no joke) the shot they needed, but it took a lot of struggling. Otis is Bush League. He is not high fashion, Otis has more of a commercial look.

Elston
-Like Buka, Elston is a cute AND pretty dog. Unlike Buka, Elston shows up in pictures. Much like Buka, Elston's wacky dogsonality would smash any dreams of a successful shoot. If Mike were there to keep her well behaved, Elston would have a fighting chance, but her nervous energy could prove to be too overwhelming for parents and photographers alike. In addition to that, she might take one of her famous "vacations" on account of the larger staff neglecting to close a door all the way. And that has proved to not end well.

Ziggy
-Poor Ziggy, she is a sweet old lass...and that's exactly why she isn't a candidate. She looks too old, not to mention that it is very unlikely that Ziggy would have any interest in doing such a thing. She is trying to enjoy her golden years from the passenger seat of her favorite buddy, Will's car, not be annoyed by flashing lites on a set full of strangers.

So considering that Sammy is not the cutest, not the goofiest, nor clever-est dog, and considering that he is not the best behaved, or worst behaved...he is the perfect candidate. He will work the shots and stay put when told to.

So, congrats Sammy, you did it. We are proud, but Otis and Buka still rule.

        

With everything going on in our lives, the dogs have been getting the short end of the stick (figuratively of course).
Since our Sabbaticals in HoHokus, we spend most free time going to Jersey City to work on the house, buy things for the house, or plan the wedding.

And our dogs, because of their huge play pen of a back yard, have totally lost their ability to walk on a leash. This is totally 100% our fault. They do not get walked any more unless its a pleasure stroll for Jay and I, and we just haven't been committing that time to them. I tried taking Otis out the other day, and it was torture. He pulled, sniffed and peed on everything. He is frenzied by nature (on account of his love/hate obsessive relationship with squirrels) and is completely uncontrollable. Buka is no better. She pulls to the point of choking herself making it seem like we are dog abusers.
I thought taking them running would be a bonding solution to the problem, but that was like having trouble with with the two step and remedying it by trying the soulja boy (which is quite hard but i am proud to say i can almost do...)
Oh, and I should mention that as a fan of the dramatic, i decided to take otis running in the rain (to feel more like an underdog i suppose). He tripped me. It was painful on many levels.

So what are two Rescue Dog owners to do with insubordinate pooches? Jay could care less, as Buka is permitted to do what she pleases when she pleases, provided it is not on his side of the bed, but in light of our new move and my new 9-5 job, its important that the dogs walk well on leash for us and their future dog walker (now accepting applications by the way).

After some minor research, I have these 3 suggestions to offer to Myself, Jay, and any other lapsed dog walker out there...

1) Scheduling is important: apparently i cant be so lazy. I need to stick with a time allocated specifically for walking with my dog. It doesn't count if i play with him in the back yard, or let him roam off the leash whilst Jay and I hike. The act of having th dog on the leash by your side is supposed to create a bond. From this, in theory, Otis is supposed to respect me as his pack leader (best pack ever). And this needs to be done with regularity. Part of that "pack leader respect" garbage comes from the dog trusting that there will be consistent time shared with its owner...this would probably also remedy the panic that Otis seems to go through when humans leave. He seems nervous we aren't coming back.

2) Make the walk at least 30 Minutes: In dog-pack-life, they travel upwards of 20 miles a day, so a thirty minute walk (about 2 miles) is the least you can do. An added benefit is that the walk (if on concrete) can file down your dogs toe nails - which, if broken, cost around $250 to remove (Otis taught me that twice) and is not so fun for the pooch. Also, a thirty minute walk gives you time to work on your dogs focus. Dont let them pee whenever, keep them at your side, you pick the pace, keep the collar high on their neck...All these things contribute to the dog taking leads from you, rather than you (meaning me) getting tugged around and tripped in the middle of the street on a rainy day.

3) Be Patient: Apparently this is where I fall short. I want immediate results, but all the dog people say that you need to be consistent, then results will come. Thats really annoying to me, but tis true. I have a short attention span, so I can only imagine how hard it is for a dog with Otis' mental capacity to retain information.
He is pretty dumb. He is cute and great to cuddle with, but he makes very poor life choices.