I love all animals, but dogs take the cake for me anytime, especially over cats! I grew up with dogs and I’m a dog person. Five years ago, I lived in an apartment building and I thought it was terrible. The apartment and building were fine, but the people never smiled, it was a fight to get anything done, and, of course, I blamed it all on the neighborhood. When my lease was up, I searched all over town for the right neighborhood. Where did I end up? Directly across the street from the old building, and I love it! The difference? My new building allows dogs. As I often mention in my blog, I like to take advantage of the fact that I live across the street from Central Park. In one blog I even mentioned how I think it’s great that the park allows unleashed dogs prior to 9 a.m. That is a great sight to see, but nothing compared to what I saw yesterday — it blew me away! I though I’d seen it all, but apparently I was wrong. I saw four good-looking men, all sporting the same jacket, each with about 10 dogs, all of different breeds, on leashes. They would walk them and then make them all sit, lie down and obey any command their hands waved. The dogs were perfect, and I realized it was an obedience school. But the name on the jacket is what really made me smile – Zen K9. Yes, that’s right, despite the economic crisis and everything else going on in the world, rest assured, because your dog can find its spirituality. I guess as crazy as the city can make humans, it can stress out dogs, too. I am glad to see they have a place to go while their owners go to yoga class. Now, that may sound sarcastic, but if I had a dog, I would trust the people I saw yesterday. All the dogs looked happy and extremely well-behaved. I hope I run into them in the park again! -Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher