The Social Diary spent the evening with the New York Times for an honest conversation about our Canine BFFs. Moreover, this was an American Express Platinum evening, In Celebration of Dogs.
Doggy images in this story credited to the New York Times and Elias Weiss Friedman.
Modern Love with Illustrations by Brian Rea
The evening opened with a reading from the Modern Love column, beautifully illustrated by Brian Rea. Further, Rea has illustrated the Modern Love columns for over 20 years. In this particular story, a middle aged man finds himself at a crossroad, when his wife tells him that she wants a divorce.
Additionally the man has to fend for himself and his dogs, Glasgow and Seismic, after the wife exits his life. The St. Bernards showed him humanity and comforted him with empathy and unconditional love. Unfortunately, due to circumstance, he ends up surrendering the dogs to a family who were more equipped to take care of them. He eventually leaves the state of Vermont, after finalising his divorce.
In Celebration of Dogs with Dr. Evan MacLean
Do dog breeds really determine personality traits? Not necessarily says Dr. Evan MacLean, an expert on animal behaviour and cognition. A “lap dog” may enjoy a romp and play. Sporting dogs don’t all act and behave alike. Genetic basis for breed behaviour is not always the case. However, there is some truth to the “love hormone” aka Oxytocin, and the bond between dogs and humans.
Dr. MacLean’s Dog Aging Project “aims to understand the genetic and environmental factors that influence healthy ageing in dogs.” He accomplishes this by developing new evaluation tools to “assess cognitive ageing in dogs and identify early signs of cognitive decline and improve interventions for canine health.”
The dogs initiated “problem-solving” games, and safely returned to their person at the end of the session. Moreover, his “lab” does not consist of cages and locking up animals. He prefers to “borrow” his subjects and let them return home at the end of the study period.
In Celebration of Dogs with Wirecutter
This panel discussion was all about “luxury” products for dogs. Sarah Lyall annually covers the Westminster Dog Show and Mel Plaut covers pet products for Wirecutter. Moreover and shockingly revealed the luxury dog market rakes in between $250B and $300B world-wide. Additionally, designers such as Gucci and Hermès are lining up to make luxury products for dogs.
Lyall said that court judges are treating dogs “like family members” and people are winning cases for emotional distress. Additionally, Lyall has witnessed interesting behaviour during the Westminster Dog Show, including handlers hand feeding steak to the dog! She equated this type of behaviour and obsession to the movie, Best in Show.
Mel Plaut receives pitches for products all the time for Wirecutter. Some of the wildest include products with Artificial Intelligence (AI), including a dog food app that will analyse your dog’s poop. Or a collar that knows what your dog is thinking, using Youtube influencer voices to speak to you. Even Vet visits are luxury now, so “bring your credit card…bring your Platinum card.”
Plaut advocates for “training” not luxury products to extend the life of your dog.
In Celebration of Dogs with The Dogist
Elias Wise Friedman aka The Dogist has photographed over 50,000 dogs in the last 11 years. He said, “before you get your dog, know your neighbour. After you get your dog, know your neighbourhood.”
Friedman is a proponent of shelter and rescue dogs, however in the American South more dogs end up needing rescuing. In Texas, Georgia and South Carolina, for instance, people line up to surrender their dogs. One of these shelters included Hearts and Bones in Texas.
Dogs are also emotional translators for their humans, including “Eddie” assigned to a Military Vet who used to be nonverbal with bad shakes due to stress. Now, Vet Sharon is communicative. Dogs celebrate you and love you was the take away. Even resembling their parents in a Doggelganger look-a-like fashion. Friedman revealed that after they adopted their “white” furry dog, his wife started to wear more white. A woman in Philadelphia with one arm, adopted a dog with three legs.
Don’t hit the snooze button just yet. Check out our other doggy tales, including Yappy Hour and LoveBash for Animals, supporting Potter League for Animals.