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Doggie
Happy Hours, or
Virginia
is for Canine Lovers
It’s
true. If you are in Alexandria on April 1, bring
your favorite pooch to the Hotel Monaco’s "Doggie
Happy Hour." Complimentary gourmet biscuits
and water bowls are provided each Tuesday and
Thursday from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. from April to
October. The only rules: dogs must keep their paws
off the tables and stay out of the bar area. The
happy hours apparently attract Labradors, poodles
and just plain mutts from as far away as Richmond,
according to a review in The
Washington Post. “It's become a
significant cash dog for us," the hotel's food
and beverage director told the Post. "We
try not to talk in terms of cows on Tuesdays and
Thursdays. Only dogs."
This
is just one manifestation of Virginians’ love for
their canine friends. Dogs have been companions to
commonwealth inhabitants since at least the 18th
century, when ads for lost pets appeared in the
Virginia Gazette ("The Eighteenth Century Goes
to the Dogs," Colonial
Williamsburg Journal, Autumn 2004). In 1774,
a brown-and-white bulldog with an iron collar went
missing from behind the Governor’s Palace in
Williamsburg. The owner offered 20 shillings for his
return. Three years later a William Finnie inserted
an ad offering a much larger reward for a pet
Pomeranian named Spado, owned by a General Lee.
Today,
there are about 725,000 dogs in the Old Dominion and
more than 1.1 million dog-owning households,
according to a formula developed by the American
Veterinary Medicine Association. One website
lists 20 all-breed dog clubs in the Old Dominion,
stretching from Chesapeake to Roanoke and the
Northern Neck to Virginia Beach. An additional 40
clubs are devoted to specific breeds ranging from
the boxer and collie to the more exotic Portuguese
water dog and the vizsla.
Another site announces more than 200 pure bred dog
shows scheduled between now and February 2009 in
the state. Then there’s obedience clubs, as well
as specialty training clubs such as the National
Capital Air Canines (Frisbee dog club) in Falls
Church and the K-9
Kamikazes, a flyball
club. (Flyball is a relay race involving four dogs,
hurdles and a tennis ball.)
Then
there are the dog-related services. In addition to
dog walkers and sitters, day care centers, groomers
and vets, there are dog waste removal services such
as Dog Gone It
Pet Waste Removal and Dog Food Delivery in the
Richmond area and Mud
Mounds Dog Waste Removal Service in northern
Virginia. For a fee of $15 plus $5 for each extra
dog, residents from Manassas to Fredericksburg can
have waste-free lawns.
More
serious help is provided by organizations such as Service
Dogs of Virginia, which trains dogs to help
those with disabilities. The group trains dogs to
assist with everyday tasks, such as pushing an
object; paying for an object in a store; or even
pulling laundry out of a washer and putting it in a
basket. Another organization, the Psychiatric
Service Dog Society of Virginia, advocates for
service dogs that help their owners with mental
health issues. Some can be trained to recognize
panic attacks and mood disorders.
Those
coping with the loss of a dog can access an array of
Virginia
pet loss resources, including a hotline at the
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine;
support groups in Alexandria, Richmond, Bristol and
elsewhere; as well as pet cemeteries and
crematories.
Unfortunately
not all canines are well-treated, as recent news
stories about Michael Vick’s alleged involvement
in dog-fighting demonstrate ("Falcon's
Vick Indicted in Dog-Fighting Case," Washington
Post, July 18, 2007). There are a number of
rescue groups in the commonwealth ranging from
animal shelters run by muncipalities to such groups
as Animal
Rescue of Tidewater, which is one of the
organizations selected to help dogs found on
Vick’s property near Smithfield, and Blue
Ridge Greyhound Adoption, which describes itself
as a “racing-neutral non-profit greyhound rescue
and adoption organization.”
Such
an array of services for Old Dominion dogs and their
owners proves that our four-footed companions have
overcome their gray wolf ancestry and the prejudice
of early Virginians. While contemporary canine
lovers may fight vigorously for dog-friendly parks,
there are no longer laws, such as the Act to Prevent
Mischief From Dogs, passed by the city fathers in
Williamsburg in 1772 that forbade anyone from owning
a female dog within the city limits. Homeowners
could keep up to two male dogs with the owners’
initials on the collar. Dogs not meeting those
requirements were killed. Luckily times have
changed.
NEXT:
Bottled Poetry: Wine Trails of Virginia
--
March 24, 2008
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