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Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Lifestyle
- Sydney Morning Herald
Bathrobes and special menus: Yes, that pooch in NYC probably is better off than you
This story is part of the June 28 edition of Good Weekend. See all 21 stories. Jetlagged and hungry on our first morning after arriving in New York City last year, we headed out early in search of breakfast. Taking a seat in a Manhattan cafe, my kids began whispering and pointing at the only other occupied table, where a young woman was hand-feeding pieces of sourdough to her dining companion. She spoke tenderly, as if on a date with a cherished lover, rather than the tan cavoodle sitting on the chair opposite. As a waiter brought a bowl of water for the dog and breakfast for us, my kids pondered how their grandparents' cattle dog, an affectionate black-and-tan kelpie called Digger, would restrain himself with the smell of bacon wafting through the air. Little did we know then just how revered canines are in this concrete jungle. Since then, I've seen a dog lick clean a bowl of hummus at a trendy West Village restaurant. I've watched waiters balancing piles of plates delicately step around a pair of St Bernards sprawled across the floor. I've seen a grey terrier strapped to a guy's back as he whizzed past on a bike, paws poking out like a newborn's tiny feet from a baby carrier. Here, four-legged models strut down footpaths as though they've just stepped out of a Fifth Avenue boutique. There was the golden retriever padding along snow-covered streets with purple Crocs on its paws. The German shepherd wearing a black tutu as he sat on guard beside a man sleeping on the street on a frigid winter's morning. The two tiny terriers wearing matching sunglasses. Dogs are everywhere in New York City – in handbags, prams, shops, hairdressing salons and bars. This metropolis of 8.4 million people is also home to an estimated 600,000 dogs. In Manhattan, where more than half of the apartments are studios or one-bedrooms, it feels like you see more canines than kids, more fenced dog parks than slides and swings. Bowls of dog treats sit on coffee shop counters beside the sugar, and there's a museum dedicated to artwork celebrating man's best friend. They're even in the skies. During a recent flight, a dog in a carry bag, one row in front of me, yapped almost constantly from take-off to landing six hours later. Only one fellow passenger seemed mildly annoyed. I've encountered more animosity when flying with a crying baby. Disclaimer: I'm a dog lover. I'm also a farm girl who grew up in country NSW with cattle dogs who were fed dinner scraps and canned dog food, slept outside, and their grooming routine consisted of a swim in the dam. For my parents' current dog, Digger, a sausage from the Sunday barbecue is what passes as a treat. Only when there's a storm, or when winter nights are especially chilly, does he come inside to warm up in front of the fire. He'll bravely stand his ground in front of an 800-kilogram bull, but Digger is petrified of thunder. Our dogs have always been much-loved family members but they have little in common with my canine neighbours, who catch the lift in our building, and those in New York where you need to step around yellow puddles on the pavement. To get a better sense of how the city's relationship with dogs has evolved over the years, I headed to the New York Historical Society, to check out the Pets and the City exhibition. It charts a radical revolution in how dogs went from being feared, disease-carrying animals to the elevated standing they now enjoy. The exhibit describes how in the 19th century, dogs – along with pigs and cows – roamed the streets of New York, eating scraps, until a cholera epidemic hit in the late 1840s, prompting the city to offer bounties for stray dogs. This, along with fear of rabies, led to dog killers, then dog catchers, plucking canines off the streets. Flash forward to today and there are cafes with special menus for dogs, where you can host a birthday party for your furry friend, and the New York City Council is considering legislation that will allow people to use their paid sick leave to take care of sick pets. Daycare centres are spread across the city so that owners don't need to leave their dogs home alone. Walking up the stairs to the second floor of a building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, you hear the barking before you reach the front counter of Dog Days of NY. As light streams through windows overlooking Broadway on a recent Thursday afternoon, about 30 dogs are playing, from a fluffy white samoyed to golden retrievers, an Australian shepherd and a pint-sized havapoo. As we chat over the barking, Dean Vogel, one of the owners, tells me there are no restrictions on the size of dogs who can come here but they first undergo a temperament assessment. Staff take the dogs for a walk (and bathroom break) morning and afternoon, but there are two buckets with mops in the room, just in case. 'We have accidents all day,' Vogel says. Most of the dogs have done obedience training, but there have been occasions when Vogel has had to tell an owner that it's just not working out (a conversation that must be akin to that dreaded phone call from childcare after your toddler bites another kid). Some dogs come five days a week. 'They have owners who are doctors or lawyers, who are working every day,' says Vogel, a 62-year-old former publishing executive who opened the centre in 2011 with other local pet owners. 'I think for a lot of people, it would not be possible to have a dog in the city if they didn't have daycare.' Loading Like Australia, New York saw a boom in 'pandemic puppies'. Now that more companies are asking people to return to the office, Vogel says there's been more demand for daycare. 'We get a lot of dogs who have separation anxiety,' he says, 'and some are high-energy puppies who need a lot of interaction with people and other dogs.' The centre charges $US75 ($115) a day, or $US60 for members. When he introduces me to his dog, Daphne, I come face to face with a 54-kilogram French mastiff, whose front paws are as high as my shoulders when she rears up on her back legs. Vogel says when he got his first dog, another French mastiff named Daisy, he gained entry to a new community in a city that can be quite isolating. 'I live alone; I tell people I could die in my apartment and be there for a week if not for the fact I have a dog,' says Vogel, who has got to know countless local dog owners. 'If they don't see me every day, they would be the first to check what's going on. That's a really nice thing.' He says while outsiders often assume New York is not suitable for dogs, there are actually plenty of opportunities for them to socialise, such as in places like Central Park, where they can roam off-leash during certain hours. 'A lot of dogs have weekend houses,' he says, meaning their owners have properties outside the city. 'They have the perfect balance. They come back to the city, they see their friends.' One upmarket hotel advertises 'Ruff Service' with a menu crafted by the executive chef. But Vogel likes to remind owners that their dogs' needs differ from their own. All the pampering people think they would like for themselves isn't what dogs want, he says. 'They're not really interested in getting a pedicure.' For those who do like to indulge their pets, there's no shortage of options. Some of the city's most iconic hotels don't just allow dogs to stay – they offer services to ensure their trip to the Big Apple is one to remember. At The Plaza Hotel, dogs of all sizes can live it up, just like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 2. The hotel provides 'scrumptious macarons and [a] refreshing bowl of Evian' and matching bathrobes for dogs and their owners as part of its 'Pampered Pup Package'. Prices start at $US1200 per night (including the room). Meanwhile, The Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown advertises 'Ruff Service', which features a menu crafted by the executive chef – and includes a choice of protein, vegetables, rice, house-made peanut-butter cookies and, again, macarons. In a city where almost every outing means walking past people sleeping on the streets, and where people ride the subway throughout the night to escape the cold, the reverence shown to dogs is perhaps one of the most glaring illustrations of the vast gulf between the well-off and those struggling to get by. The case of Rosie, a mini goldendoodle who went missing in Central Park in 2023, demonstrates the lengths some New Yorkers will go to for their dogs, and the empathy they can invoke in a city often derided as cut-throat. After a pet-sitter lost Rosie, her owner didn't just stick up a few flyers, she launched an intensive search effort, offering a $US6000 reward, enlisting volunteers, and setting up a website to report possible sightings. Then a GoFundMe page raised $US20,000 to help pay for a dog tracker, who came 'highly recommended and can employ advanced techniques to track down Rosie'. The page, set up by a friend, said the owner had had to 'take time off work to focus on finding Rosie, and the mounting expenses are becoming overwhelming'. Loading The love many New Yorkers have for their dogs is undeniable. And admiring the countless dogs we see daily has been an unexpected joy of life here, opening the door to conversations with people we'd never normally meet. But we'll be waiting until we move back home before getting our own. For now, we'll make do with patting Ginger, the cavoodle who lives down the street, and visiting Digger the kelpie when we head back to the farm. Digger will never play in a park specially designed for him, never taste a morsel of chef-prepared food or don a bathrobe, never board a plane or be immortalised in the hallowed halls of a museum. But somehow, I think he's happy jumping in muddy dams, barking at sparrows and woofing down sausages that little hands feed him under the table.
The Age
a day ago
- Lifestyle
- The Age
Bathrobes and special menus: Yes, that pooch in NYC probably is better off than you
This story is part of the June 28 edition of Good Weekend. See all 21 stories. Jetlagged and hungry on our first morning after arriving in New York City last year, we headed out early in search of breakfast. Taking a seat in a Manhattan cafe, my kids began whispering and pointing at the only other occupied table, where a young woman was hand-feeding pieces of sourdough to her dining companion. She spoke tenderly, as if on a date with a cherished lover, rather than the tan cavoodle sitting on the chair opposite. As a waiter brought a bowl of water for the dog and breakfast for us, my kids pondered how their grandparents' cattle dog, an affectionate black-and-tan kelpie called Digger, would restrain himself with the smell of bacon wafting through the air. Little did we know then just how revered canines are in this concrete jungle. Since then, I've seen a dog lick clean a bowl of hummus at a trendy West Village restaurant. I've watched waiters balancing piles of plates delicately step around a pair of St Bernards sprawled across the floor. I've seen a grey terrier strapped to a guy's back as he whizzed past on a bike, paws poking out like a newborn's tiny feet from a baby carrier. Here, four-legged models strut down footpaths as though they've just stepped out of a Fifth Avenue boutique. There was the golden retriever padding along snow-covered streets with purple Crocs on its paws. The German shepherd wearing a black tutu as he sat on guard beside a man sleeping on the street on a frigid winter's morning. The two tiny terriers wearing matching sunglasses. Dogs are everywhere in New York City – in handbags, prams, shops, hairdressing salons and bars. This metropolis of 8.4 million people is also home to an estimated 600,000 dogs. In Manhattan, where more than half of the apartments are studios or one-bedrooms, it feels like you see more canines than kids, more fenced dog parks than slides and swings. Bowls of dog treats sit on coffee shop counters beside the sugar, and there's a museum dedicated to artwork celebrating man's best friend. They're even in the skies. During a recent flight, a dog in a carry bag, one row in front of me, yapped almost constantly from take-off to landing six hours later. Only one fellow passenger seemed mildly annoyed. I've encountered more animosity when flying with a crying baby. Disclaimer: I'm a dog lover. I'm also a farm girl who grew up in country NSW with cattle dogs who were fed dinner scraps and canned dog food, slept outside, and their grooming routine consisted of a swim in the dam. For my parents' current dog, Digger, a sausage from the Sunday barbecue is what passes as a treat. Only when there's a storm, or when winter nights are especially chilly, does he come inside to warm up in front of the fire. He'll bravely stand his ground in front of an 800-kilogram bull, but Digger is petrified of thunder. Our dogs have always been much-loved family members but they have little in common with my canine neighbours, who catch the lift in our building, and those in New York where you need to step around yellow puddles on the pavement. To get a better sense of how the city's relationship with dogs has evolved over the years, I headed to the New York Historical Society, to check out the Pets and the City exhibition. It charts a radical revolution in how dogs went from being feared, disease-carrying animals to the elevated standing they now enjoy. The exhibit describes how in the 19th century, dogs – along with pigs and cows – roamed the streets of New York, eating scraps, until a cholera epidemic hit in the late 1840s, prompting the city to offer bounties for stray dogs. This, along with fear of rabies, led to dog killers, then dog catchers, plucking canines off the streets. Flash forward to today and there are cafes with special menus for dogs, where you can host a birthday party for your furry friend, and the New York City Council is considering legislation that will allow people to use their paid sick leave to take care of sick pets. Daycare centres are spread across the city so that owners don't need to leave their dogs home alone. Walking up the stairs to the second floor of a building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, you hear the barking before you reach the front counter of Dog Days of NY. As light streams through windows overlooking Broadway on a recent Thursday afternoon, about 30 dogs are playing, from a fluffy white samoyed to golden retrievers, an Australian shepherd and a pint-sized havapoo. As we chat over the barking, Dean Vogel, one of the owners, tells me there are no restrictions on the size of dogs who can come here but they first undergo a temperament assessment. Staff take the dogs for a walk (and bathroom break) morning and afternoon, but there are two buckets with mops in the room, just in case. 'We have accidents all day,' Vogel says. Most of the dogs have done obedience training, but there have been occasions when Vogel has had to tell an owner that it's just not working out (a conversation that must be akin to that dreaded phone call from childcare after your toddler bites another kid). Some dogs come five days a week. 'They have owners who are doctors or lawyers, who are working every day,' says Vogel, a 62-year-old former publishing executive who opened the centre in 2011 with other local pet owners. 'I think for a lot of people, it would not be possible to have a dog in the city if they didn't have daycare.' Loading Like Australia, New York saw a boom in 'pandemic puppies'. Now that more companies are asking people to return to the office, Vogel says there's been more demand for daycare. 'We get a lot of dogs who have separation anxiety,' he says, 'and some are high-energy puppies who need a lot of interaction with people and other dogs.' The centre charges $US75 ($115) a day, or $US60 for members. When he introduces me to his dog, Daphne, I come face to face with a 54-kilogram French mastiff, whose front paws are as high as my shoulders when she rears up on her back legs. Vogel says when he got his first dog, another French mastiff named Daisy, he gained entry to a new community in a city that can be quite isolating. 'I live alone; I tell people I could die in my apartment and be there for a week if not for the fact I have a dog,' says Vogel, who has got to know countless local dog owners. 'If they don't see me every day, they would be the first to check what's going on. That's a really nice thing.' He says while outsiders often assume New York is not suitable for dogs, there are actually plenty of opportunities for them to socialise, such as in places like Central Park, where they can roam off-leash during certain hours. 'A lot of dogs have weekend houses,' he says, meaning their owners have properties outside the city. 'They have the perfect balance. They come back to the city, they see their friends.' One upmarket hotel advertises 'Ruff Service' with a menu crafted by the executive chef. But Vogel likes to remind owners that their dogs' needs differ from their own. All the pampering people think they would like for themselves isn't what dogs want, he says. 'They're not really interested in getting a pedicure.' For those who do like to indulge their pets, there's no shortage of options. Some of the city's most iconic hotels don't just allow dogs to stay – they offer services to ensure their trip to the Big Apple is one to remember. At The Plaza Hotel, dogs of all sizes can live it up, just like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 2. The hotel provides 'scrumptious macarons and [a] refreshing bowl of Evian' and matching bathrobes for dogs and their owners as part of its 'Pampered Pup Package'. Prices start at $US1200 per night (including the room). Meanwhile, The Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown advertises 'Ruff Service', which features a menu crafted by the executive chef – and includes a choice of protein, vegetables, rice, house-made peanut-butter cookies and, again, macarons. In a city where almost every outing means walking past people sleeping on the streets, and where people ride the subway throughout the night to escape the cold, the reverence shown to dogs is perhaps one of the most glaring illustrations of the vast gulf between the well-off and those struggling to get by. The case of Rosie, a mini goldendoodle who went missing in Central Park in 2023, demonstrates the lengths some New Yorkers will go to for their dogs, and the empathy they can invoke in a city often derided as cut-throat. After a pet-sitter lost Rosie, her owner didn't just stick up a few flyers, she launched an intensive search effort, offering a $US6000 reward, enlisting volunteers, and setting up a website to report possible sightings. Then a GoFundMe page raised $US20,000 to help pay for a dog tracker, who came 'highly recommended and can employ advanced techniques to track down Rosie'. The page, set up by a friend, said the owner had had to 'take time off work to focus on finding Rosie, and the mounting expenses are becoming overwhelming'. Loading The love many New Yorkers have for their dogs is undeniable. And admiring the countless dogs we see daily has been an unexpected joy of life here, opening the door to conversations with people we'd never normally meet. But we'll be waiting until we move back home before getting our own. For now, we'll make do with patting Ginger, the cavoodle who lives down the street, and visiting Digger the kelpie when we head back to the farm. Digger will never play in a park specially designed for him, never taste a morsel of chef-prepared food or don a bathrobe, never board a plane or be immortalised in the hallowed halls of a museum. But somehow, I think he's happy jumping in muddy dams, barking at sparrows and woofing down sausages that little hands feed him under the table.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
I've been to 50 Greek islands and know the real hidden gems with great food, quiet beaches and no tourist traps: STEVE BOGGAN
I have an old pal, and every time I see him I thank him for one of his bouts of dreadful seasickness. It was 1994 and we were on a rust bucket of a ferry heading to the Greek island of Amorgos for a rendezvous with a shipwreck. 'Look,' I yelled, sympathetically, as Digger lost his lunch over the side, 'it's all in your mind.'
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
75-year-old Goondiwindi legend Barry Sheppard shooting for glory in Battle Of The Bush Final at Eagle Farm
There's not many 75-year-old trainers who still ride their own trackwork. Meet Barry Sheppard, the veteran Goondiwindi horseman who is hoping to take out the $200,0000 Battle Of The Bush Final at Eagle Farm on Saturday with his galloper Elusive Eagle. Four years ago Sheppard made international headlines when his horse Fitzroy Boy was a victim in a spate of atrocious attacks which saw several racehorses in the area left with unexplained gashes in their necks in separate incidents. Police never arrested anyone over the sickening attacks and security was subsequently upgraded in the Goondiwindi racing precinct. Fast forward to 2025 and Sheppard, who trains almost solely for family members, is hoping to make headlines for very different reasons as Elusive Eagle makes his way to the big smoke. If Elusive Eagle doesn't fire on Saturday, the trainer certainly won't be able to blame his trackwork rider. 'I'm 75 and I still ride my own trackwork,' Sheppard said. 'I don't have any trouble getting the medical certificate off the doctor, I'm as good as gold. 'I really only train horses for my family, I've got three or four horses at the moment. 'Digger, my son, has got a share in this horse and some other family members have too. 'I think there's 21 (family members and friends) in total going to watch him on Saturday. 'I haven't had a runner in the Battle Of The Bush before, but this fella is a real honest horse. 'I've had a lot of troubles with him, but he is just starting to sort things out now.' • Gollan 'itching to get back' to fulfil Group 1 dream with rising mare Before moving to Goondiwindi, Sheppard lived in outback Cunnamulla where he operated a service station for 24 years and was also the local postie for six years. He has always had a small team of horses. Elusive Eagle has notched up almost $200,000 in prizemoney and the eight-year-old gelding has won 13 of his 56 starts. He qualified for the Battle Of The Bush Final by scoring a qualifying race on his home Goondiwindi track in April. Elusive Eagle is a $34 chance in the Battle Of The Bush which is raced over the 1200m sprint trip at Eagle Farm on Group 1 Tatt's Tiara day. Meanwhile, Sheppard says Fitzroy Boy will soon return from a spell and has shown no lingering impacts from the horrifying slasher attack in 2021. Fitzroy Boy is now eight. 'The police never got who did it, but there was a lot of work done securing the stables after what happened,' Sheppard said. 'Fitzroy Boy has been back in work for three weeks now after having a bone chip taken out of his knee. 'I am surprised he made a comeback but he did and he is still loving his racing.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon's NASCAR broadcasts are already putting Fox's efforts to shame
Amazon Prime is already setting the standard for NASCAR broadcasts. Hopefully Fox is taking notes. Sunday's Cup Series race at Nashville — won by Ryan Blaney — was the second Amazon race of the season after the internet behemoth made its NASCAR broadcasting debut at the Coca-Cola 600. So far, its two telecasts have been sharp, professional, devoid of nonsense and informative. Simply put, it's the type of coverage that NASCAR fans deserve. Advertisement Look, complaining about TV coverage is rote at this point. Fans of every sport can easily nitpick broadcasts and there are significant subsets of every fanbase that thinks broadcasters are biased against their favorite team. But NASCAR fans have been dealt a tough hand in recent years. As Fox is in its third decade of covering NASCAR, it's felt all too often like the network is mailing it in. Nearly 25 years ago, Fox was in the same position Amazon is in. The network's first NASCAR Cup Series race was the fateful 2001 Daytona 500. Fox's entry into the NASCAR world was a pivot point for the sanctioning body. It had officially gone mainstream. The early Fox years were glorious. Especially compared to other broadcasts. Fox set the standard for what NASCAR coverage should be, even if you weren't a fan of 'Digger' and the embedded camera on the apron in the corners of racetracks across the country. Advertisement But something has changed in recent years. We're not the only ones who have noticed, either. NBC's coverage has put Fox's to shame since the network took over the second half of the season from ESPN and Fox hasn't upped its game. Kevin Harvick is an insightful analyst. But he can't overcome the hokeyness that permeates Fox's broadcasts. To be fair, Amazon isn't starting from scratch. Like Fox, the streamer acquired NFL rights before it jumped into NASCAR. And its booth of Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte have plenty of experience calling races. Alexander has been a main Xfinity Series play-by-play voice for years, and Junior and Letarte form the best analyst pairing in NASCAR from their years at NBC. The two worked together as driver and crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports and their chemistry is apparent on screen. Advertisement But Amazon is nailing the production details that Fox isn't. The broadcast is all about the race and doesn't feature myriad cutaways to children watching in the grandstands. The camera shots follow what the booth is talking about. The graphics and picture quality are markedly better. There are no full-screen commercial breaks during green flag racing. And Amazon hasn't gone to commercial with less than 10 laps to go. It's been a breath of fresh air for the NASCAR fans who have been able to watch. It's no secret that NASCAR's audience skews older than most other professional sports and the viewership gains that NASCAR saw in the 18-49 demographic during the 600 came at the vast expense of those 50 and over. But it's also no secret that streaming is the new cable and how we'll consume most of our sports content in the near future. NASCAR was smart to add Amazon to the mix with its new media rights deal. Trading fewer younger viewers for more older viewers is the right play, especially as Formula 1 is the trendy motorsport among those not eligible for Medicare. Ideally, Amazon will continue to build off how good its first two race broadcasts were and Fox, NBC and TNT — back in the NASCAR game this year — will aspire to meet Amazon's standard. But we won't blame you if you're pessimistic about that ideal world ever happening. We're all worn down by the past decade of Fox's NASCAR broadcasts.
