[Leo’s owner with Buffalo Trace at The Daily Refresher’s Tito’s Yappy Hour, 7/29/16]
Dexter Park, Providence, Rhode Island
Top Ten Things To Do This Weekend, D & C
As seen in Letting dogs and humans step to the music which they hear at the Dog Rock Concert for Nuts for Muts, Shadi was ideally suited to cover the first ever Tito’s Yappy Hour at The Daily Refresher this evening.
Alas, Shadi was unavailable so I was pressed into dog-centric duty despite some lingering psychological trauma from a childhood bite.
But I had partially recovered in the early 2000s when living in Providence, Rhode Island where I walked my friend Joe’s black lab in the Armory District’s Dexter Park.
Developing a soft spot for Pace [pronounced ‘p Aa ch e’ (the e in set) as Joe is Italian], I learned the rudiments of dogspeak, conversing with the other owners about name, breed and age.
Bowls provided by Tito’s
I also was amused by the rather polymorphously perverse eroticism of dogs that makes the Human Style look tame. Pace’s neutering did not prevent him from being the Don Juan of Dexter Park whose pansexual successes humbled his walker.
Roxy the Boxer, Micki the Shithtzeu, Monte the Pug and Sadi the Sherpherd collie.
In collaboration with Tito’s Vodka, this was the inaugural Yappy Happy. Tito’s had brought a whole rack of Dog People water bowls and leashes. For humans, the cocktail specials were Tito’s of all flavors.
I immediately was taken back to the good Dexter Park vibe of people and canine socializing.
Upon arrival about a dozen dogs and thirty people were enjoying this delightful July evening in Daily Refresher’s back courtyard. Right away, I met Roxy the Boxer, Micki the Shithtzeu, Monte the Pug and Sadi the Sherpherd collie.
Sami
I learned the Ellison Dog Park is one of the most popular walking spots in town where unleashed dogs can splash in a pond.
The owners of Clover and Granger, a lab dachshund mix, often take their dogs to Corbett’s Glen in Brighton or Turning Point Park in the city, both offering doggy bags or special garbage cans
Jilli, a golden poodle
They elaborated on the differences between quick walkbys and quick smells, as well as expanded my dogspeak lexicon by including temperament and origin, especially whether a dog was rescued or bred.
Granger under human male on bench. This human about to pet Clover.
By the time I petted Clover, memory of the childhood bite had all but vanished.
Like the Park Avenuers with Sami, I could tell the Penfielders — who walk Jilli in Harris-Whalen Park and Spring Lake Park in Perinton — saw their pets as their babies.
In the back bar was Buffalo Trace looking forlorn and lonely. Trace felt that dogs not bison — not to mention humans — get all the love.
Leo’s owner with Trace
Leo’s owner did comfort and befriend Trace, but said under her breath that Trace would have to do in her golden retriever’s absence.
With Pace in Providence [Photo: Joe] see On Clinton era nostalgia, Rhode Island style
SEE
https://talkerofthetown.com/2016/04/11/letting-dogs-and-humans-step-to-the-music-which-they-hear-at-the-dog-rock-concert/
