BLOG: The real dogs of New York
Over spring break, I accompanied my little sister and her high school drill team on their trip to New York City. While it was many of the girls’ first time to the Big Apple, it was my second trip to the city that never sleeps.
My first trip to New York City was in 2019, for my best friend’s 21st birthday. We traveled with her mom and aunt, who also had never been to New York. So, with all four of us being “first-timers” in the city, we had no clue what to do, or where to go.
While that was such a fun trip, I was excited to go with the drill team to have a more structured schedule. See, the drill team booked the trip with a tour company, which planned our entire itinerary for the trip, including daily agendas, pre-booked tickets and tour guides.
Our very first day in the city was a whirlwind. Right out of the airport, we loaded everyone up onto charter buses, (roughly 80 people), and began our adventure. Our first stop was at Grand Central Station where we ate lunch. Then, we met with tour guides to show us a short bus tour of the city on our way to the hotel.
At times, our tour guide would stop the bus so we could get out and walk around for a bit, while he explained everything we were walking past. Keep in mind, we were traveling with 50 high school girls, who had to be up and ready at the school at 3:00 a.m. that morning. So, they were not too fond of our tour guide who was telling the extensive history of every single building that we passed.
At one point, as we were walking back to get on our buses, a dog walker passed by us with two of the prettiest dogs we had ever seen. They looked like some sort of a Dalmatian mix. All of the girls swooned over them, while our tour guide continued to talk about the history of Washington Square Park.
He slowly started to fade his informative tour guide voice into the background of the girls saying “They’re so cute,” “What are their names?” and “Can I pet them?” Our tour guide soon realized the high school drill team was more interested in these dogs than the history of the New York City landmarks.
While talking with the dog walker, we learned that he gets paid $50 an hour per dog he walks. The girls could not believe their ears when they heard this.
Once the friendly dog walker went on his way, our tour guide, who was not surprised by this information, expressed to us that some dog walkers take up to 12 dogs at a time. After doing the calculations, we all wanted to quit school and our jobs to become dog walkers in New York.
From that point on, our group started to notice every dog we passed. Thus, I decided to try to document all the dogs that we came in contact with. So, without further ado, here are some of “The Real Dogs of New York.”
