The Story Of Our Pups: Teddy & Penny Lane

Meet Teddy, our Yorkie, almost 13 years old, and I can’t even believe he’s been mine for that long. I got Teds just before meeting Jason, during my early days of  living in NYC, because I think I was feeling lonely. My roommate was never around, so I started to researching dog breeds. Having a Cocker Spaniel as a child, I wanted a pup that was a little smaller, since we would be living in an apartment. The newspaper listed that Petco in Union Square was hosting an ASPCA event during the upcoming weekend, and I was determined to get a pup. I show up early Saturday morning, disappointed to find only cats, and was bummed. So I googled a nearby pet store and ended up at Le Petite Puppy. Walking up, I noticed Teddy in the window and just had to have him. His price tag was steeper than I could afford with the salary from my first showroom job, but the pet store allowed me to finance him. Yeap, I did it; puppy on credit. He was so teeny, and he sort of resembled a teddy bear, which is how he got his name, Teddy. In the early days, he basically came everywhere with me. It was work during the day, and he became the mascot of our Hamptons share house. I wish I could dig up some of the photos of him lounging on a float in the middle of the pool.

At 11 years old, Penny Lane is a maltese mix, who was a gift from Jason for my 24th birthday. I thought her and Teddy would totally hit it off, but it took a long time before they warmed up to each other. Now they are totally inseparable. Penny is such a sweet soul, and super loving pup.

I remember when first having Ryder, I made a point to figure out how to walk two dogs and push a stroller simultaneously. The manuring took some getting use to, but now I don’t even give it a second thought. Watching Ryder, Siella, and Gemma grow up with my first set of babies is truly something special. They all love walking the pups, and during summer break, you can usually find us in the Sirius Dog Run or West Thames dog parks most mornings. Ryder is finally starting to take on the chore of giving them fresh water and food daily.

Living down here in Battery Park, we are pretty spoiled with access to such amazing dog parks, but I totally realize that this is not the norm for most folks. I’m super excited to announce that I am part of the Friends Of Beneful Program, and helping to spread the word on their amazing efforts in the Beneful Dream Dog Park Project. Their new partnership with GoFundMe provides dog park organizers with a platform to create campaigns for their local dog parks, raise awareness and funds for improvements, or to help increase funding to get a new park off the ground.

Dog parks are a special place for dogs and owners to bond and socialize with each other, along with other members of the community. The program, started out as a contest five years ago, with the Beneful team visiting one winning community each year, offering a Dream Dog Park renovation. Since then, the program has evolved to bring joy to more communities across the country. This year’s goal is to support a total of 12 parks! 

Another way Beneful supports dog parks is through crowdfunding on social outlets. For every post tagging @Beneful with the #DreamDogPark hashtag, Beneful will donate $1 (up to $50,000) towards the Beneful Dream Dog Park Projects this year. They are currently spotlighting the first Dream Dog Park of the year, Frenchtown Dog Park in St. Louis! If your community has a dog park in need of support, you can make a campaign for it on GoFundMe, and maybe Beneful will spotlight it, and help match funds raised! Would love to hear which dog parks you would like to support, please leave your answer in the comments below!