Spring Has Sprung

Right on our dining room table.

You see dad was out plowing up the front lawn yesterday to make way for a kitchen garden. So we had to find a home for the displaced hyacinths and daffodils and what not.

Yes we are going to have Black Prince tomatoes from Siberia, red and yellow Brandywine tomatoes, red and yellow Pear and Rosso Sicilian tomatoes right out our front door. So no more slogging off through the fields for our dinner salad. And arugula. And Genovese basil. And pumpkins. And carrots too. At least I hope carrots too. Angus and Roxie and I love to chomp on raw carrots. Did I tell you that already? Who can remember these days?

And in the meantime, we have a spring garden on our dining table.

My Dog, Myself

Is he talking about us?

My Dog, Myself
By BENOIT DENIZET-LEWIS

Every day, the pressure to create a Facebook page for my dog, Casey, intensifies.

“Everybody’s doing it,” one dog-obsessed friend told me recently. Another, who doesn’t have a dog but occasionally tries to kidnap mine, e-mails me every week or two demanding that I include a chapter about the canine social-media craze in a book I’m working on about dog people. “It’s the future of the Internet,” he insists, “and you and Casey are going to be left behind!”

I have bravely resisted. For one thing, dogs are not human beings (I know, I know, it’s easy to forget that sometimes). For another, I suspect — although I’m most likely just anthropomorphizing here — that my dog hates Facebook, seeing as that the time I waste on the site each day could be better spent (from my dog’s perspective, at least) walking him.

But then came the big news: Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, adopted a criminally adorable Hungarian sheepdog puppy, named him Beast and created a Facebook page for him.

Zuckerberg is late to the party, of course. Hundreds of thousands of dog-loving Americans have already created Facebook profiles for their four-legged terrors, and many others have joined animal social-networking sites (with names like Fuzzter). Then there are those who, instead of featuring a picture of themselves on their Facebook profile, choose to highlight their smiling pets, which has the unintended consequence of proving that many humans do, in fact, look like their dogs. I used to be skeptical of this (Winston Churchill may have looked like a bulldog, but he spent his life with poodles), but several studies appear to prove it.

Do I look like Casey? Why don’t you check out the Facebook profile I just created for him and let me know?

Dara Foster, Stylist for Clients With Four Legs

“What does a doggie stylist do?” Wendy Williams asked Dara Foster on a recent episode of her syndicated daytime talk show.

“Basically the same thing as a human stylist,” Ms. Foster replied. “I dress dogs, and I show people how to live together with their dogs in a stylish way.”

Moments later, a fashion show began; a longhaired Chihuahua named Mei Mei scampered down the studio’s AstroTurf runway. “Mei Mei is wearing the ’80s-inspired punk look,” Ms. Foster narrated, pointing out the tiny plaid kilt and rhinestone-skull tank top. The look, she added, is “giving way to a grunge movement in dog fashion — I swear to God.”

It was an average day in the life of Ms. Foster, who has lately become television’s go-to style expert for all things pet-related. She appears regularly on “Today” on NBC, E!, TV Land and ABC News, dispensing advice on everything from pet home furnishings to baking your own organic dog biscuits.

Not bad for a former fashion magazine editor, who started with a small line of dog collars and a Web site called PupStyle.com eight years ago.

“At some point I realized that there was no real face for the $47 billion pet market in this country,” she said the other day, while browsing at Trixie & Peanut, a pet boutique on East 20th Street in New York. Petite with sparkling blue eyes and a bright blond bob, Ms. Foster, 39, radiated a puppylike sense of optimism. “I figured I could curate the cool up-and-coming products and have an influence on what other pet designers were making.”

Some of these products were on display at Trixie & Peanut. Dressed in a flowing black V-neck, Paige jeans and knee-high Italian leather boots, Ms. Foster pointed out a synthetic mullet wig for dogs (“Can you believe it?” she said) and racks of dog apparel like bridal gowns, bathrobes and denim jumpsuits.

She admired a snowball-shaped chew toy from Planet Dog, an eco-friendly company in Maine. “Toy makers are finally seeing dog toys as aesthetic objects, as things that look good in your home,” she said.

But like a true style arbiter, she can also be frank. She recently declared the Fab Furcedes Pet Bed a “Doggie Don’t” on PupStyle. (Puns are rampant in this market segment — see the brands Bark Jacobs, Chewy Vuiton and Manolo Barknik.)

“It looks cheap, and the joke is over in about four seconds,” Ms. Foster said coolly, running her hand over the car-shaped bed’s plush red taillights.

She stays abreast of pet trends (precooked meals and fluorescent styling gel are hot now, she said) and keeps tabs on dog fashion capitals like Seoul and Tokyo, where fads can reach absurd heights.

“I’ve heard of owners and their dogs getting matching tattoos,” she said. “There’s an element of craziness in pet fashion, obviously, but that’s going way, way overboard. That’s abuse.”

It was the abuse of animals that led to her current career. After graduating from Hunter College in New York, Ms. Foster was a volunteer coordinator for the Animal Care and Control of New York City, a nonprofit pet rescue agency. Perky and camera-ready, she served as its spokeswoman, advocating for animal adoption and foster care on television.

But the center also euthanizes unwanted pets, which weighed heavily on her. She took an “emotional break” from the pet world in 1995 and went to Seventeen magazine, where she worked as a retail editor and organized fashion shows at Midwestern malls, before becoming a freelance fashion stylist for magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal and Marie Claire.

Her transition to pet stylist came in 2002, when she designed a white dog collar with red leather whip-stitching for her dying Jack Russell terrier, Tulip. It drew raves on the sidewalk. In response, she and her husband, Jonathan Spooner, the owner of a boutique Web agency, introduced a brand of dog collars called Dara Foster New York.

“The luxury dog market was in its infancy back then,” Ms. Foster said. “So we thought, Let’s just go crazy. You know — solid silver buckles, 24-karat gold-plated leash hooks.”

Around that time, she started PupStyle, a dog-fashion Web site. It gained national attention in 2003 for its “Free Tinkerbell” dog shirts, bearing a graphic of Paris Hilton and her newly acquired Chihuahua.

But it wasn’t until Ms. Foster covered the first New York Pet Fashion Week, a dog fashion trade show started in 2006, that news media outlets started to call. Clips of her chatty interviews went viral, showing up on Web sites like Coolhunting.com and JoshSpear.com. Soon, she hired a publicist, Alanna Zahn of the Azure Group, who represented Cesar Millan and introduced her to a producer at “Today.”

“At that point it was just on,” Ms. Foster said.

TV, print and Web media now call at least once a week. For a segment on E! titled “Insanely Pampered Hollywood Dogs,” Ms. Foster flew to Los Angeles to outfit the actress and singer Taryn Manning’s Maltese mix, Penguin. In March, on another episode of Wendy Williams’s show, she hosted a red-carpet-inspired runway show, in which an Italian greyhound modeled a dress based on Natalie Portman’s Victor & Rolf gown from the Golden Globes.

Ms. Foster also has a new children’s book, “Now You See It! PupStyle,” with photographs of styled and “naked” dogs, that is being released on Friday.

Ms. Foster is active with the Humane Society, using her semi-celebrity status to raise money. Her dream is to start a national pet food bank, for people who can’t afford to feed, let alone dress, their pets.

“If that could make a difference between hanging onto your pet and dropping them off at a shelter,” she said, “we could save a lot of lives.”

Gwyneth Likes Dogs and Pasta

And so do we!

Especially her Fried-Zucchini pasta. We use whole wheat pasta and flour to make it healthier. It is Heaven!

This pasta is an ode to the mountains of fried zucchini Gwyneth Paltrow ate at Elio's, an Italian restaurant on Manhattan's Upper East Side, growing up. Here, she adds the crispy zucchini slices to spaghetti that's tossed with shredded Parmesan cheese (which adds texture to the dish) and plenty of olive oil and basil.

FRIED-ZUCCHINI SPAGHETTI
Recipe by Gwyneth Paltrow

INGREDIENTS
1 pound small zucchini, very thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound spaghetti
1 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 cup torn basil leaves
Freshly ground pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving

1. In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini with the flour and a pinch of salt. In a very large skillet, heat half of the oil until shimmering. Add half of the zucchini and fry over high heat, turning once or twice, until browned and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the zucchini to a paper towel–lined wire rack and season with salt. Repeat with the remaining oil and zucchini.

2. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.

3. Return the pasta to the pot and toss with the 1 cup of cheese, the basil and a generous pinch of pepper. Add the reserved pasta water a little at a time, tossing well to coat.

4. Transfer the pasta to a bowl and top with the crispy zucchini. Serve right away with lemon wedges and additional cheese.

Snoopy Finds a Home

We were distressed to hear that Snoopy, an adorable Tibetan Terrier, ended up in a shelter in Milford, CT. We are happy to report that he is now in a very good home.

Here is the original listing and an update on Snoopy.

Hello there, my name is Snoopy. I'm a senior citizen and a very lonely one now. My owner had to give me up for health reasons and I find myself looking for a new home in my golden years. I'm told I'm a handsome guy... I'm friendly, smart and I get along with everyone and every other animal I meet so you can imagine my sadness and confusion when I arrived here at the shelter. I had an owner for many years and now I don't... but I'm trying to see this as an opportunity to give love and kisses to even more people when I find my new family! Could yours be the one? You can visit me at Milford Animal Shelter, 664 East Broadway (Silver Sands Park), Milford, CT, Monday through Friday 11am - 4pm or on Saturdays between 10am and 3pm.

UPDATE: Snoopy went to his new home late Thursday afternoon. He and his new housemate, a kitty named Lily are getting along just fine. His new person works from home so he has company all day. The family formerly owned a Bouvier that lived well into his teens. His new owners were highly recommended by their vet for the excellent care they give their pets.

Borrow a Dog at the Library

Yale Law lets students “check out” the resident therapy pup

Last week, Yale Law School’s library started offering therapy dog services on a trial basis. Interest has been high, so it’s hopeful that the program will continue.

Students can sign up at the circulation desk to “check out” Monty, a certified therapy dog, for 30-minute sessions of stress busting. The Border Terrier-mix belongs to librarian Julian Aiken, so he’s well loved even when he’s “off duty.”

As you can imagine, it’s easy for students’ stress levels to rise at the nation’s top-ranked law school, so the librarians are always looking for new services to offer. After reading about the benefits of therapy dogs, they contemplated the idea for some time.

To keep the peace among any non-dog lovers, Monty is hypoallergenic and visits are confined to a non-public space in the library.

The idea of therapy dogs and college students isn’t quite new. Other schools, which include Tufts University, New York University (where my therapy group, The Good Dog Foundation, visits), Oberlin College, and the University of California, invite dogs to campus during finals, but Yale is the first I’ve heard of that lets students “check out” a therapy dog.

A little one-on-one time with a friendly pup sounds like the perfect way to beat stress!

Dachshund Survives for Weeks Inside Burned Down House

Miracle pup Lola is on the mend
The miracle dog of Boston who survived for nearly a month inside the charred ruins of her owner’s burned down home is expected to make a full recovery.

Terisa Acevedo found Lola, her one-year-old longhaired dachshund, on Monday when she returned to her fire-ravaged duplex to silence the alarm on a Ford Explorer she’d left parked in the driveway.

“I was standing on the porch and I heard Lola scratching on the door,” Acevedo told Bark. “My boyfriend was with me and he pried the wood off the front door. When I saw her, I fell to my knees and started screaming and crying. I was so happy.”

Acevedo wasn’t home when the February 23 blaze engulfed her duplex, which is located in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. When she arrived, the 24-year-old emergency medical technician (EMT) asked firefighters if they’d seen her dog. They hadn’t.

“A couple days after the fire, police officers took sniffing dogs through the house and they didn’t pick up (the scent of) any remains of animals,” Acevedo said. “I thought Lola had run away. I made flyers and gave them to all the vets in the area and posted them all over Hyde Park.”

Acevedo also went back to the duplex several times, but never found any signs of the tiny dachshund.

“I cried for her every day,” Acevedo said. “I was so devastated. But I never gave up hope.”

Acevedo’s tears of sadness turned to joy on Monday when she discovered the much thinner Lola trapped inside the remains of her fire-damaged home. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

Veterinarians at Boston’s Angell Animal Medical Center, who treated the malnourished and dehydrated dachshund, released the “incredibly lucky” pooch on Thursday afternoon.

“She’d lost a tremendous amount of weight when she came here on Monday,” spokesman Brian Adams said. “She might not have survived much longer. But she’s a trooper, a true survivor. And her story of survival is simply amazing.”

Lola, however, still has one more health issue to overcome. Veterinarians discovered she had a condition called refeeding syndrome.

“If she was fed too quickly or improperly she could face life-threatening results,” Adams said. “She was given her first bit of food on Wednesday and will remain on a restricted diet at home. She will receive 16 grams of wet food, which is the equivalent to one teaspoon, every six hours as her body once again becomes accustomed to nourishment.”

Acevedo is confident that her best friend will make a complete recovery. “She’ll be okay,” she said. “She’s playful like always. She’s still Lola.”

But how did the little dog survive this ordeal? What did she do for food and water? “The police investigators said there was a refrigerator on the other side of the duplex that tipped over during the fire,” Acevedo said. “They think maybe she ran over there looking for food. They saw some chicken by that refrigerator. She might have eaten some cat food, too.”

What about water? “It might have come from the firemen who were trying to put out the fire,” Acevedo said. “The house was soaked.”

Acevedo hopes Lola’s story of survival will inspire others who’ve lost a pet. “Don’t give up hope when times are rough or when you’re down,” she said. “You just never know what will happen.

“I’m just so happy and excited that’s she’s here…next to me. And now I don’t plan to let her out of my sight.”