Johnny wrote:
Hi everyone, I'm thinking of getting a Great Dane - but would like to hear the opinion of the owners in JC. I've seen a lot of these dogs in downtown, so I know you're around.

Are they tough dogs to have in an apartment? Separation issues? Issues with the landlord?

Thanks!

OP, my family had Great Danes growing up and I have cared for several as a pet-sitter/dog-walker so I will tell you my experience. First, it makes no difference whether or not you're in a house or an apartment as long as whatever space you're in is easily navigated and relatively uncluttered. Their tail ends up being exactly table-height so they will clear entire surfaces as they walk around! As far as their energy level goes, it's no different than any other breed as a puppy and as an adult they are quite slow and calm and docile. They mostly just lounge around. I would share an apartment with a dane before I'd share it with a Jack Russel Terrier or a beagle or some other high-energy, yappy small breed. For that matter, I'd much rather be neighbor to someone with a dane than a crazy-loud little dog!

Danes are very sweet, very sensitive and incredibly loyal dogs. Absolutely lovely to be around and share your life with. However, there are breed-specific down sides: I know of very few Dane owners whose dogs have passed away naturally of old age. They almost always develop hip or back issues at some point in their life and when they do it's heart-breaking. Also, because of their size, they are very suseptable to bloat. We did everything right to prevent bloat: fed them at a height of about 2-3 feet off the ground, never let them exercise after eating...and still we had to euthanize one and another had to go through a very painful abdominal surgery.

So, that's my two cents. Hope it helps. For the record, I agree with everyone who said that you should adopt. You will have less health issues to deal with if you get a dane mix (dane/lab mixes are awesome!). And you'll know you rescued a dog and donated to a good cause instead of lining the pockets of some backyard breeder.

Maybe things have gone down-hill in the year and a half since we moved, but we honestly never experienced any of the issues mentioned by JCParentingUnit. We never received a single phone call asking if our daughter was coming to school. And as I mentioned, one of the things that most impressed me was the lack of staff turnover over a three year period. Of course, here and there a new face would appear and then disappear but that's to be expected. Not every staff member will work out. And those that don't are often bitter and want to trash the business.

As far as paying for days your child isn't there, that seems to be par for the course as far as day care facilities go. I run a simililar business, only with dogs, and I wish I could have a policy like that! When you have a lot of cancellations, you lose a lot of money. And that's the money you need to pay your staff so I understood the policy and didn't have an issue with it. In fact, if I remember correctly, Galileo offered a generous 1 free week a year (or every 6 mos?) for full time students.

Lastly, maybe we have different parenting styles, but if my kid took longer than a half hr to eat, I would take their food away too! My kids learn that the world doesn't revolve around them and that if they snooze, they lose!

My husband and I were thrilled with the level of care and education that our daughter got at Baby & Kiddie Galileo. Our daughter went there from 8 mos until she was about 3 1/2 (she's 5 now) and not a single day went by that she wasn't happy and excited to go to school. Being our first experience with a day care, we knew that our daughter was learning a lot at Kiddie Galileo, but we didn't realize just how good of an educational foundation she was getting until we moved to the burbs and she started at a new day care/pre school. We soon realized that our daughter was literally years ahead of the kids her age at her new school as far as her fundamentals go, ie letters, numbers, shapes, even some science stuff like she knew all the planets and different kind of weather and whatnot. All knowledge that came primarily from Kiddie Galileo. We also loved that they go on lots of fieldtrips and often walk to the local parks to play and have a picnic. The director, Louiza, was always attentive and seemed to be in a constant state of trying to make improvements to both locations. Many of the same teachers that were there throughout our daughter's 3 yrs there are still teaching there now. I see them from time to time and even though so much time has passed they all remember my daughter's name and ask about her when they see me. So, yea, overall I can't say enough good things about Baby Galileo!

"Sounds like a relation to drugs to me, such as doping. The new term is more of an inner city ghetto slang as in "thats dope" "

Your old is showing, Heights.

I think the OP is making a pretty broad generalization about private home-boarding. Just as in any profession there are good apples and bad apples. OP, sounds like you have the misfortune of living near a bad apple. Leaving a dog unattended for hours on end is unacceptable whether it's your dog or someone else's. It's unfair to the dog as well as to the neighbors. That being said, most of the downtown JC dog-walkers I know offer boarding as an option to their clients and more often than not the clients are thrilled to take them up on it. There are many benefits if the dog-walker/boarder is responsible and genuinly compassionate towards animals. The dog gets to stay in a comfortable home environment as opposed to a cage in a strange place, more often than not the dog has the company of the dog-walker's own dog(s), the dog is with a person who is not only familiar but probably one of their favorite people, and in many cases the dog-walker will take the boarding dog with them on their "rounds" during the day so the dog gets loads of exercise. As I said, I can only speak for myself and the dog-walkers that I know and associate with in JC. Anyone who wants a recommendation, feel free to PM me. No one should be boarding multiple dogs at a time just to make money and it goes without saying that no one who works with animals and presumably loves them should be neglecting them or mis-treating them in any way. My advice: Let your dog be your guide. Wherever you board your dog, private home or big boarding facility, pay close attention to their mannerisms when you pick them up. If they are panicked and desperate to leave the place, chances are they had a negative experience. But if they are still thrilled to see their dog-walker or happy to return to the boarding facility the next time, then it's a safe bet they were well cared for and felt secure.

Also, just as an aside, many dog-walkers (myself included) offer in-home pet-sitting in which the pet-sitter will come to your home and essentially live there, sleep there, etc while you are away so your dog never has to stay in an unfamiliar place.

True, Baby Galileo is a daycare, but once your child turns 2, they move over to Kiddie Galileo next to Helen's Pizza on Newark and at that location they move up from classroom to classroom based on their abilities, age, and skill level. My daughter has gone to "The Galileo's" since she was nine months old and she's now 3 years old. We love it! Sure, the building the school is located in needs some major updates, but the classrooms are clean and the staff is very dedicated, very little turnover, and my daughter's teachers from back when she was 1 still greet her by name whenever they see her. As far as the quality of education she's received, we've been blown away. She and her classmates have had homework for about a year now and she's learned about a huge variety of subjects. We have opted to keep her at Kiddie Galileo until she's ready for kindergarten rather than switch to a free Abbott school because we feel it's well worth the money. The rates are really reasonable too. Hope that helps!

Thanks for posting this, Mary Anne. Mike was always so friendly & up-beat whenever our paths crossed. He was one of the more visible dog-walkers in JC & from what I hear all his clients adored him, both the human ones & the dogs!. He will be missed.

Yes, there is and I kept expecting him to mention that, but he never did!

I'm a dog-walker/pet-sitter in the downtown area, so I go in and out of almost all the hi-rises on a regular basis & I've stayed overnight in a few while pet-sitting. Keep in mind, I don't know anything about the rent in these buildings, I'm just giving my opinion based on overall cleanliness, quality of construction, and maintenance staff.

Hamilton Square: Not really a hi-rise, but a beautiful, well-maintained, well-constructed, nicely designed building. Very clean, from what I can tell. I've stayed there several times and haven't seen any bugs.

Grove Point: The maintenance staff here works seemingly non-stop, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. The units are nice enough, nothing special. I've never seen any bugs, but I do know that most of the penthouse units leaked like crazy during the heavy storms. And it's incredibly noisy/borderline scary when the wind is blowing in the higher units, like the windows might blow in at any moment.

50 Columbus: Similar to Grove Point, slightly higher quality construction and more chic design. Not sure about bugs.

Portofino: This one's a dump. Very low ceilings, way out-dated design, kind of smelly..

The A Building: Only been in there a couple times, but it's very nice. The one-bedrooms are small though.

Liberty Harbor: The Zenith Building is a total dump. Very low- quality construction and mediocre, corner-cutting maintenance staff. The Regent & the Sutton seem to be higher-quality construction & have nicer upgrades than the Zenith but the same staff.

All the above-mentioned buildings are pet-friendly! Hope that helped a little.

I had a bizarre run-in with a member of the JCPD myself recently. Nothing nearly on the level of what OP experienced, but the officer's arrogant, dismissive, and subtly aggressive manner was strikingly similar to that of Officer Melendez.

I work for a company that takes small groups of dogs to local dog parks for off-leash play time. We transport the dogs in our SUV's and all of our clients are aware that this is how they're transported. I arrived at the Lincoln Park dog run and proceeded to let the 5 dogs I had riding in the rear of my SUV out of the car. They were all leashed, they came out one at a time, and in the pack were only 2 dogs that were over 45 lbs, the other 3 are under 15 lbs each.

I walked the group into one of the entry areas, and as I was unleashing them, a detective (I assume he was a detective, as he was wearing a dress-shirt, tie, and suit jacket) walked over, showed me his badge, and asked how many dogs I'd had in the back of my car. I was confused, sure that he was going to ask me if I'd witnessed any suspicious activity in the area or something along those lines, but no. Turns out, he accused me of "cruelty to animals" for "cramming" too many dogs in the back of my car. He read the company sign on the side of my vehicle and wrote down our info, claiming he was going to file a complaint with the ASPCA! Of course I questioned him, thinking this can't be real. Surely, this detective has more important crimes he should be investigating. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that a member of the JCPD cared enough to question the welfare of the animals, however misguided he may have been in this particular instance.

Anyway, I tried to explain to him that the dogs were perfectly comfortable, I had all the windows rolled down completely & they're in the car for 15 minutes, but he just walked away, wouldn't give me a chance, wouldn't give me his name or badge info, yelling that the ASPCA was going to hear about it. A woman who was leaving park at the time with her dog came over right after he left and offered her name and number to be a witness that the officer was way out-of-line and that the dogs seemed perfectly happy, comfortable, and well-cared for. It was very weird and for a second I though I was being punked or something, but apparently this behavior is typical of the JCPD...

Does anyone have any suggestions for fun, laid-back dance/gymnastics classes for little kids here in JC? My 2 1/2, almost 3 yr old, has tons of energy and loves to dance, but I don't necessarily want to commit her to anything intense just yet. For example, I'd rather not send her somewhere with "hair requirements", ie her hair must be pulled back tightly in a bun, blah, blah, blah. Just fun, energy-burning, silly time...Has anyone had any experience with The Little Gym? Thanks for the help!

I'm curious about the pole with all the megaphones at the top that's located on the corner of Columbus and Marin...What the heck is it?

FYI, I heart JC, my clients pay for the exact service I provide, which is an off-leash play date at the dog park. They aren't interested in a walk, they prefer their dogs to play and socialize for an hour.

And, Fleur, as I said, there were 4 or 5 people in the dog run, according to your own math. Also, as an aside, perhaps you should pick up a book on dog psychology so you'll know from now on when you're about to walk your dog into a potentially dangerous situation.

The good news for everyone here is that there are plenty of dog walkers in JC and there are plenty of clients. I actually have a wait list to join my play groups. The point is, everyone can find the walker and the clients that work for them.

Fleur, You didn't realize a lot of the things that afternoon: You didn't realize the park was so crowded (there were 4 or 5 people in there when you guys arrived), you didn't realize how many dogs the dog walker in question actually had tethered in the entry way (it was 3 dogs, no more, no less) and you apparently didn't realize the danger you were putting your dog, her dogs, and yourselves in with your impatience. Forget common courtesy, how about common sense? Common sense should tell you that a pack of leashed dogs in a confined space are likely to view your dog as a threat. As I pointed out to you immediately after the altercation, you're lucky your dog didn't get bitten in the face as a result of your unwillingness to wait. The dog walker was simply doing exactly what our clientele expects of us, which is to fiercely protect the safety of the dogs in our care at all times, even if it means coming across as a bitch on occasion.