Year of the Dog Celebrations

The year of the dog started officially on Sunday, but there is still time to celebrate in New York's Chinatown. The parade and festival are on February 5 (next Sunday). Many restaurants also serve Lunar New Year feasts. For information, visit the Explore Chinatown website.

Here are a few suggestions for a non-traditional celebration of this canine year.

Buy a really cool a dog-shaped pillow with a picture of a dog silk-screened on it at Salvor. You need to click fauna, then dog pillows. (I particularly like the Chow.)

Go on the Brooklyn Animal Foster Network's benefit cruise on February 12. For $100, you get a four hour cruise of New York Harbor, a buffet dinner, drinks, and dancing. Also, in honor of Valentine's day, a chaplin will "remarry" 25 couples. And of course you help some homeless critters. The benefit has a kind of funny, kind of gross graphic urging you to "Mark Your Calendars."


Visit Marianne Petit's online graphic novel 716. Jody wrote about this work last month. What you might not know is that Marianne devotes whole chapters to her dogs and to the dogs (and their humans) in her building, describing their personalities and place in the building's social network. She also recently had a very touching story of her dog coming to terms with her new boyfriend. (As Elvis used to sit on Neilson's head to indicate his position in the house, I could really relate to this chapter.) You can also watch funny, sweet videos of her dogs, set to music.

Of course, you could just visit a dog run or hang out with a dog you adore.