somerville dog: a weblog

Marshall and I took Strummer to Yappy Hour in "the Yard" at the Liberty Hotel in Boston this evening. The Liberty Hotel raises the bar for "dog-friendly" businesses. It's hard to convey in words how good every single staff person at the hotel made us feel.

We drove, because the T only allows dogs during off-peak hours at the discretion of the operator.

I have never felt so welcome, with or without my dog, by a valet as the valet staff at the Liberty Hotel made me feel. When the valet saw Strummer in the back seat, he was delighted to learn that we were there for Yappy Hour. Then he asked her name--always a direct way to a dog owner's heart. He gave us directions to find the Yard twice—once by way of the escalator and then, realizing that the escalator might not be safe for Strummer, by way of the elevator behind the bell desk. Then he followed us into the hotel and directed us to the elevator and gave us directions to the stairs to get back down to the yard level from the second floor. I was glad to pay $15 for valet service.

Even before she took our order, the bartender gave Strummer a Polka Dog Bakery biscuit--her favorite. As we waited for our martinis, we met a Boxer puppy and a Schipperke puppy, both named Roxy. The Yard quickly filled up with dog lovers and their dogs: dogs were allowed off leash at the discretion of their owner.

A couple with a Pug named Lily sat down in the sofa across the table from us. They are engineers who design buildings and they bring Lily with them to their office in Downtown Crossing. They had ordered Veal Sliders and French Fries, and Marshall and I wasted no time following their lead. As we enjoyed our food, three women—the owner of a mini schnauzer, the owner of a Bichon Frise and their friend—sat down across from us. We marveled at how nice it is to be able to go out with our dogs: When you go to a bar with your dog, you connect with other people; without your dog, you only talk to the people in your party. We invited them to the dog-friendly Outdoor Music Festival at Precinct in Union Square on September 13: It turns out one of the women lives in Davis Square and loves Precinct!

Before leaving, one of the receptionists showed us one of the guest rooms in the former cell block (the Liberty Hotel was formerly the Charles Street Jail).

A couple with a greyhound and a woman with a Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog waited with us outside for the valet to return our cars. We're up for a carpool next time!

Yappy Hour is every Wednesday from 5 to 7 in the summer, weather permitting.

Posted by Michèle at 10:49 PM
Categories: Dogs and Business, Massachusetts, Strummer
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Strummer and I have a cameo in the promotional video for the MSPCA Walk for Animals. There's a photo of us about thirty seconds into the video which originally appeared here, on the somervilledog weblog, on October 19, 2004.

Strummer and I are walking in the Walk for Animals with the Somerville Dog Owners Group again this year. Join the Somerville Dog Owners Group Team and help us raise money to support the programs and services of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals!

Posted by Michèle at 5:42 PM
Categories: Destinations, DogNet, Events, Friends of somerville dog, Massachusetts, Strummer
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UPDATE 29 August 2009: POSTPONED Due to the forecast for rain this weekend, the Powderhouse Camera Project is postponed.

Have your dog's picture taken by a camera bigger than you are!

Or your kids' pictures, or your friends' pictures, or anything you'd like to pose with!

On Saturday afternoon, August 29, from 1:00 to 4:00, Somerville artist and dog owner, Annie Smidt, is taking over the historic Powder House in Nathan Tufts (a.k.a. Powder House Park) and turning it into a camera!

Check out the website for the Powderhouse Camera Project to learn how Annie will turn the Powder House into a camera obscura. Annie explains,

I'll darken the window and the door with cloth or plastic, blocking almost all the light in the structure. There will be a small hole in the covering over the door. Across from the door, I'll hang white sheets on the wall. Images of whatever's outside the Powderhouse, on the hole side, will project onto the sheets. I'll capture these projected images with a digital camera.

You will pose outside the Powder House, in the park, but will also be able to come inside and see how it works!

The photo here is of Annie's dog, Sheep, in front of the Powder House.

The Powderhouse Camera Project is funded in part by the Somerville Arts Council.

Posted by Michèle at 3:37 PM
Categories: Events, Friends of somerville dog, Somerville, Somerville Dogs
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Celebrate the Dog Days of Somerville with food, fun, prizes, gifts and games for you and your dog, Saturday afternoon, August 15, from 1:00 to 1:00 at City Dog Training's new location at 321 Washington St.

City Dog Training, LLC is a community dog training and education facility welcoming neighborhood dogs and their humans to classes, seminars, play groups and behavior consultations. The facility offers specialized floor matting for safe jumping and running, a variety of classes and courses, and a separate behavior consultation office for dogs and owners in need of extra help.

Strummer and I took a Rally class in the winter at City Dog Training at the former location on Central Street. The new location on Washington Street is just outside of Union Square and has a little more space, high ceilings and a HUGE parking lot for parking, training and play.

Posted by Michèle at 3:49 PM
Categories: Events, Friends of somerville dog, Somerville, Strummer, Training
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Somerville Mayor, Joe Curtatone, was a guest on Radio Boston this afternoon for a show about "Dog-Friendly Boston." Asked about allocating public money for dog parks, the Mayor laughed: "The last time I checked, we weren't writing checks to dogs." In all seriousness he explained, "people want to live in the urban core and you have to provide them with amenities and services". "Like New York,"he said, "we need to maximize and have the most flexible, dynamic open and recreation spaces."

Curtatone addressed complaints that he has heard but, "overall," he said,

the response has been extremely positive. Whether it's from residents who have just moved here, or have been here for a long time who have pets--and I have two dogs--or people from out of town who visit here and say "That's an incredible commitment to urban living!" I think that, if we want Somerville, like NY does, to be a model of urban living, you need to have those amenities. It's a great use of tax dollars.

Give him some love!

In addition to the Mayor's comments, I especially liked the sequence with Adam Ragusea, Associate Producer for Radio Boston, who adopted his first dog a few months ago. Ragusea's story is the familiar story of city-dwellers who become dog owners. Since he adopted his dog, he has begun to visit parks he never visited before. Rausea and his border collie mix, Lucy, visit the off-leash parks in their Cambridge neighborhood: Pacific Street Park as well as Fort Washington Park. They also travel to visit parks: They take the Red Line to the Joe Wex Dog Recreation Space at Peters Park in Boston's South End, and they visit participating parks in the Green Dog Program in Brookline.

I was interested to learn more about the Boston Dog Owner Group's proposal for expanding off-leash privileges in Boston Common. In addition to a designated area in the Common for off-leash recreation, they are working with the Beacon Hill Civic Association on establishing a secondary off-leash area that would rotate on a six-month schedule around three different sites in the Common.

There's been a lot of brouhaha and hubbub in the local media about the pilot off-leash area at Cold Springs Park in Newton. It was refreshing to get a reality check from Amy Koel, Chair of the Newton Dogs Off-Leash Advisory Committee, who said that by reputation it's a lot more controversial than it is in reality. Koel's verdict on the pilot area: "it is working." (I thought it was cheesy on the part of Radio Boston that they played up Koel's PhD in human psychology, which has no bearing on her volunteer work in her community.)

One caller from Somerville said that he was a former dog owner but would never own a dog again because he thinks that it is inappropriate to own dogs in the city. Matthew Parker, Vice-President of the New York Council of Dog Owner’s Groups (NYCdog, pronounced "nice dog") had a great reply: Parker sees people who are visiting from either other countries or the suburbs walk past the dog park in his neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, and they marvel at how the dogs, both off leash and on leash, are very calm with each other and around people. That's a direct result of socialization, which dogs get a lot more of in the city than they do in the country.

Posted by Michèle at 3:27 PM
Categories: D.O.G.s (Dog Owner Groups), Destinations, Development and Open Space, Dogs and Culture, Massachusetts, Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks", Somerville
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