Paris Dogs Rule

Does your pampered pet have a diamond collar? Paris dogs do.

Postcards available on every street corner immortalize Paris dogs... Paris dogs are in every art galerie vitrine on the Left Bank... There are many "don'ts" in Paris. One BIG "do" is it's OK to pet a strange dog. If you take your pup to Le Comptoir for Gawds sake take a blankie!
It can be quite chilly if you sit outside... La Mom in Paris sent me this adorable photo of a pampered Paris pet sitting at the dinner table in his/her OWN chaise/chair!
Wha'?A bit more down scale and no special chair, but still an invited guest - this pug at the Louvre McDo's.
"Stop reading and give me a snack svp vite, Madame".Paris dog on the bus in a rather plain vanilla carrier bag...hmmmNo wonder Ralph Lauren has been awarded the Chevalier de la Legion de Honneur ! According to Andre Leon Talley of Talley Ho-Vogue, he has "the new black alligator doggie carrier with a faux-fur carpet interior for €20,000" in his new Paris store". Definitely an improvement on plain vanilla canvas though I wonder how the 'gator feels about it. You can always just carry your dog as an accessory. No carrier bag required.

Dogs do not rule quite as much as they used to.

Things have changed.

A Paris dog can no longer enter a food shop. *note the sign at Eric Kayser. *note the thoughtfully-designated parking place for your hound.

In a fancy department store like Bon Marche, dogs still rule thank you very much. *Note the fashionable studded collar and leash on this fully co-ordinated hound...

Galeries Lafayette even has dog art plastered on the walls at dog eye-level...

If you're going out walking with your hound, by all means dress head-to-toe in royal purple. Your dog deserves it...

I stalked this dog and owner for quite a few paces. Don't ask me why. Nothing all that special, except it IS a Paris dog.

Bergdorf Goodman's is trying desperately to ape Paris ways by placing a dog in their window. But where are the Louboutins? Shoesless? Barefoot? You would never see this on a Paris street!

No Paris dog would permit it.

BONJOUR PARIS DOGS!!!

Paris Guard Dogs

Foret Noire Salon de The,original art,9" x 11"

Something you see all over Paris are working dogs
 

They are guarding bistros

And cafes - have you seen this little hard worker,Ourson sitting on the corner of rue de Buci? He's always there.

Double guards on duty watching the girls go by...Is that allowed?

A chic Marais shop dog guards from the inside...The night watchman on patrol!
He's eyeballed me. Uh oh

 

This hound is guarding her mistress' baguettes.Don't touch/ne touche pas!

 

An antique watch dog.

Goyard has this fausse metal hound on offer.

More and more NO DOGS allowed signs in Paris

 

WOOF! How do you say woof in French?

PB reader, Anne Mathieu sent in this photo of Paris Bull Dogs on Bvd. St-Germaine des Prés

Ouah-Ouah

Sunday in the Park with...

Max eats macarons, watercolor

After seeing the extraordinary exhibit at MOMA of Georges Seurat's drawings there was no question. I had to see the new revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Sunday in the Park With George". We were lucky to snag seats on the last row of Studio 54, but seeing in that small theater was no problem

At the exhibit there were 4 handheld sketchbooks. You could turn the pages and get an idea of how Seurat saw things and then captured them on paper. Quite a number of dogs fill those pages. You can turn the pages online if you visit here.

     Beagles prefer macarons, watercolor,

Painting a piece of cake is much easier than painting a dog. I love the way Seurat captured the dog's livliness and animation with such simplicity. I admire even more so his skills after my attempts.

 He made study after study of the individual elements for his masterpiece, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, before he brought them together in perfect harmony.

 In the final painting they are all so well integrated, like pieces of a puzzle locked together in a moment of afternoon sun.

 The dogs add animation and wit to the grand gesture of the painting.

 Photo by Sara Kulwich for the New York Times
British director Sam Buntrock (formerly an animater) uses 21st-century technology to convey 19th-century Pointillist Seurat's vision. These two blank canvases are animated with drawings of scampering dogs that jump and leap and come alive as they do inherently in the painting.

 The finished Seurat work - which you understand much better after seeing the play.

 Photo by Sara Kulwich for the New York Times
The grand finale of the play bursts forth with light, warmth and energy. A painting brought to life!

 There's a grand finale at Studio PB, since my new hounds of Baskerville have arrived.