It's a ruff world out there for a big dog owner! Cabbies won't stop for you and your best friend, everyone makes the same plus-size dog wisecrack, and most New York apartments aren't equipped with stables. Kidding! But to get through it all, a group of Brooklyn big dog owners have joined together in solidarity. Their pets may be big, but that doesn't mean they should be treated like animals. Here's the manifesto from their website:
Only we know what it is like to have the "Is that a pony" question asked over and over and over and .... This will hopefully be a group where you won't have to hear that question (or hear any mention of saddles). And it is especially rough here in NYC where a large breed dog tops out at 45 pounds.
And yet, as much as the group demands acceptance, they're also quick to exclude: "We are a group for Giant Breed Dogs. A retriever, while not small, probably doesn't fall into this category. Likely candidates are mastiff breeds, danes, mountain dogs and other dogs that often top out over 100 pounds (sometimes 200+)." Also, "Be respectful and not creepy. Nuff said on that front." We do not even want to know how people get "creepy" with giant dogs, thank you.
The Daily News tagged along with some members of the Brooklyn Giant Breeds group the other day, and it's shocking what they're forced to endure. The lonliness: "There's a dog run near us, but only little dogs go to play there," says Greg Whalin, owner of a 181-pound American-Mastiff puppy. And the discrimination: "Too big!" yelled one cabbie who turned down Whalin, his wife, and his dog. Unfortunately, the city's Taxicab Driver Handbook allows hacks to reject any dogs other than service animals if they are not in kennel cases, so if the Whalin's want real change, they're going to need to take this all the way to the T.L.C.
