Nancy George-Michalson, who is the Executive Director at New York Therapy Animals, knows what it feels like to bring a smile to people’s faces with the help of trained therapy dogs.

 “When you are interacting with a therapy dog, it actually brightens the room when you walk in,” George-Michalson said. “The best part is seeing the reactions and knowing that you’ve made a difference just even for a few minutes with somebody.”

George-Michalson has been a volunteer for 19 years, working for and founding the non-profit organization, which aims to help people in places such as healthcare facilities and schools with the assistance of trained, licensed and insured therapy dog teams.

But the impact dogs have on mental health is not only felt with the help of these organizations, people all over the world are helped by their dogs on a daily basis with relationships built on trust, companionship and loyalty. 

In a survey conducted by For Better Mental Health 98 percent of pet owners consider their pet to be a member of the family and 74 percent of  pet owners  reported owning a pet led to better mental health. 

Lindsey Barton, 30, of Hoboken, New Jersey, embraces her rescue dog Marnie. Photo by Jose Balderrama

Maggie Donovan, 30,  described her dog Hope as “the best thing ever to happen to her.” As a person who has been battling through depression and anxiety for the past decade, building a relationship with Hope has really helped her daily routine.

“There is always somebody who is home and excited to see you, because I live alone,” said Donovan. “Especially during COVID too, just having a structure throughout the day and I think that really helped me, it kept me sane.” Donovan said. 

According to the ASPCA in five households adopted a pet during the pandemic, that’s 23 million households. Early in the pandemic there was a waiting list to adopt dogs from shelters.

Lindsey Barton of Hoboken, New Jersey, has also noticed the importance in having to go out everyday in order to walk her dog, Marnie, and attend to her needs.

“It gets you out of the house everyday, ” she said. “I’m forced to go out and walk her even though I’m still working from home and otherwise I probably would have just stayed home, so I think that’s actually a big help in terms of mental health.” 

Barton also said the love of a dog is pure and incomparable. She is amazed by the characteristics that dogs show which allow them to impact peoples’ lives.

“Unconditional love, they are very loyal creatures, she is very sweet, very docile,” Barton said. “She just wants to be happy, she wants everyone to be happy.”

George-Michalson said that the relationships between humans and dogs bring out the “Natural miracle drug for bonding,” Oxytocin. She said these bonds also facilitate other health benefits such as lowering blood pressure, decreasing heart rate, and lowering stress and anxiety levels. 

George-Michalson said that since the pandemic  began, 350 to 400 people have contacted her with an interest in being part of the organization. There is a lot of training involved.

“Their dogs have to meet the requirements and the human end of the leash has to meet the requirements as well,” George-Michalson said. 

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As dating apps become a more widespread way to find love, finding a partner who is equally as enthusiastic about the four-legged furry companion becomes more important to dog owners.

Leigh Isaacson, Co-Founder and CEO of Dig, was inspired to build a dating app that connects fellow dog lovers with one another after her younger sister’s failed relationship with her non-dog loving partner.

 “My sister was dating a guy who tried to be a dog person for her, but by the end of the relationship he didn’t want the dog in the apartment, and if he did, he would put towels down on the couch, so the dog didn’t touch anything,” Isaacson said. “She realized two things, not only was this bad for a long-term relationship for her, but the dog itself was getting left at home.”

Isaacson wanted to help other canine loving singles cut to the chase and help them find lifelong partners who shared similar values through Dig.

 “People don’t want to have a general, giant list of people where you can swipe forever,” Isaacson said. “They want to find what matters to them.”

Having a dating app specifically made for dog lovers is an attractive prospect to many pooch owners as they believe it can help eliminate people who are not truly passionate about dogs.

Studies have shown that many people will use dogs in their online dating profiles to attract more dates, making it difficult to identify who the true dog lovers are. 

Katie Woods says having a dating app specifically made for dog owners and lovers can help eliminate people who are not truly passionate about dogs. Photo by Bessie Liu

Katie Wood, a Brooklynite and dog mom to 13-year-old Cockapoo, Cricket, said  that she and many of her friends have met many guys who aren’t really into dogs, but will use a dog in their online dating profile to attract more matches.

“If you talk to the guys and they’re like, oh yeah it was my friends’ dog three years ago, well that’s false advertising,” Wood said. “I just think that it probably weeds out a lot of the weirdos. If you can own and love a dog, you’re better suited to interact with people too. You know there’s a lot of weirdos out on those places, anything you can do to widdle that down a little bit is probably useful.”

Although the intention behind bringing together people who love dogs may sound good in theory, when put into practice, it doesn’t always work out as planned.

Boris Berenberg who was intrigued by the idea of a dating app that bonded people through their mutual love for dogs, used Dig for a short period of time. 

“I met someone and we dated for a while,”Berenberg said.“It was cool, her dog was sweet. Ended up not using the app much after that since I was dating her,”. “Didn’t reinstall it when the relationship ended.”

 Despite his unsuccessful relationship, Berenberg thought that the idea of creating a dating app for dog lovers was good. 

 “I think it was a fun idea, and I would recommend people to try it out,” he said.

Not all Dig users share the same sentiment as Berenberg and many of them have publicly voiced their concerns on an online review forum for the app.

Jennifer Madaj wrote that the dating profiles needed to be more informative to truly help people find a potential soulmate. 

“The concept is a good one and I had really high hopes for this,”Madaj said in her review. “Obviously being a dog lover is extremely important, but it’s not the sole requirement to making a good match with someone. More basic information about each match and the kind of match they’re looking for should be provided,” 

Other users are concerned with the dating apps limited reach. 

“The experience is decent, but there’s all of about ten people on it in my area so I literally ran out of profiles to look at in under an hour,” Jimmy Ludiwg, a Dig user, wrote. 

Aware of these challenges, Isaacson and her sister are hoping to get the word out through organising large scale, dog friendly events. These events intend to bring together organizations and groups who work in the pet business, providing them a platform to network with one another in person.

Lisa Lippman is a veterinarian who has attended many Dig events where she has met valuable connections. 

“There are so many photo and networking opportunities.” Lippman said. “I met a dog walking company that I became really good friends with and that I refer to all the time.” 

A single dog lovers speed dating event, where owners bring along their pooches to sniff out a potential partner. Photo courtesy to Dig.

 In person speed dating events provide an opportunity for the dating app users to bring their dogs along and sniff out a potential partner. 

Even though Lippman herself did not participate in the speed dating event, as she was a vendor, she brought along her friend who did.

“I had a friend who I asked to come, a guy who came and participated in the speed dating event,” Lippman said. “He went on one date, but I don’t think it was like magic, unfortunately.”

 Although there was no spark between Lippman’s friend and any of the other singles who attended the event, she believed it was still an enjoyable experience for them both. 

 “The networking is phenomenal and it becomes a small safe in the city,” Lippman said. “I’ve definitely met a lot of people who I would stay in touch with.”

Many Dig event participants and app users are in their 30s and are first time dog owners, but the app is also attracting many users from older age groups.

“The generation that we thought [the app] was going to be the most popular was right when you get your first dog,” Isaacson said. “It’s definitely the most active group on the app for sure, but we’re seeing a huge amount of 55 plus, especially recent divorcees, a lot more women than men, really coming and turning to Dig.”

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Despite whipping winds and heavy snow, dogs need to poop and pee. So as Manhattan’s West Village streets started turning white this evening, dogs and their owners were taking care of business.

“It’s not like I really want to take them out, it’s because I have to,” said Riley Samson, 18, of the West Village. “My dog needs to pee and poo and do other stuffs outside, so I’m taking her out.”

Samson was out with her brown female Labradoodle, Wizhtle. Walking along them was Samson’s childhood friend, Annabel Newman, with her neighbor’s dog, Zack.

“The case is a little different for me, I got paid for walking Zack,” said Newman, 18, also of the West Village. For her service, she got $25 for one hour walk.

While Zack was curiously and carefully observing the snow, Wizhtle was exuberant. She wanted to explore every nook and crannie of the street and was vigorously sniffing around.

“It gets difficult sometimes to hold her because she’s got too excited with the snow,” said Samson. “I have to grip the leash tightly and be really careful with my steps too.”

Unlike other fashionable dogs in New York, Zack and Wizhtle did not wear sweater or dog boots.

“She’s a big dog and she wouldn’t let me put a sweater on her,” said Samson. “After all, she doesn’t need one.”

“The only thing that concerns us is the salt they use on the snow,” said Newman. “Zack’s owner has been telling everyone around the neighbor to use blue salt.”

Salt used as ice melt can damage dogs’ paws, leading to infection. Even worse, if dogs lick their paws and ingest the chemically unhealthy substance, it could be poisonous for them.

The two childhood friends walked around the neighborhood for almost one hour, before calling it a day as the sun set.

“I’m actually preparing for it to be colder,” said Newman.

She wore her ski jacket, snow pants and snow boots.

“I feel like everyone is freaking out for no reason,” said Newman.

Her mother had stocked up food and had thought of filling the tub in case they run out of water.

“But then, maybe we are underreacting to it,” Samson reminded Newman that today is going to be the first time subways were shut down because of snow.

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View Stacey Kilpatrick’s multimedia project here.

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On a typical morning, Erica Jones wakes up, eats a hearty breakfast, puts on her running gear and heads for the door.

Along the way she will pick up running partners, but not the typical type. Her cohorts aren’t people, they’re dogs.

Jones, 32, of Harlem, N.Y., is a professional dog runner for Happy Pants NYC one of the numerous dog walking services that don’t just walk dogs, they run them.

“You come in and they’re just knocking stuff over they’re so happy to see you” Jones said of the dogs she runs.

With over 1.5 million dogs living in the city, many being large breeds in small living spaces, many dogs are left with little room to release pent up energy.

But companies like Happy Pants NYC, provide a rigorous work out. Athletes are hired to take dogs on a vigorous 30-45 minute run during the day, a time when they might otherwise sit idle while their owners are at work.

Jones recently moved to the city from California after quitting a desk job in finance, because she really wanted a change of pace, she said.

“This is my full-time job now,” she said with a smile.

Jones said for her, it’s the best of both worlds. She has run in seven marathons, and combining her love of dogs and passion for running seems to suit her well.

“It’s totally perfect, I love running, I love the dogs,” Jones said. “I love being outside, running is easy and fun for me.”

She heard about dog running while still in California, and even tried putting up ads to seek out people who might be interested in having their dogs exercised, but she said it was difficult to find clientele in an area where open spaces were readily available and many people had their own yards for pups to run in.

So immediately after picking up her two dogs and moving across country, she went online and applied for a running position with David Haber’s company, Happy Pants NYC.

“I think the ad said something like, ‘Do you love to run? Do you want to get paid to run? Do you love dogs?” she said.

Checking yes to all those things, she met with Haber and was approved to proceed to the running test.

“He wanted to see if I could run basically,” she said laughing. Not a problem for Jones, who held her own during the 45-minute trial run around Central Park with Haber and one of the dogs.

Haber, 39, from the West Village, worked in marketing for years before starting Happy Pants NYC.
He wanted to try and do something on his own, less structured than his previous corporate jobs, and when he saw dog walkers around the city he’d wonder if it was something he could make a living out of doing.

Then, about four years ago, he began working as a runner for a company that specialized in dog running and did odd jobs on the side to make ends meet.

“After my commitment to them was finished, I basically went off on my own and tried to do something similar,” he said.

Haber combined his long-time love of dogs and his desire to run a business into Happy Pants NYC (“pants” as in the panting a dog makes when it’s happy after a long run).

At first Haber was the only runner, and with clients emerging in areas scattered around Manhattan, he was literally running all over the city.

Now he’s got multiple runners and clients all over the city. His business is doing well, he said. Prices start at $32 for a 30-minute run and clients choose how many visits per week they’d like, ranging up to five 30-minute visits for $115 per week.

“In the beginning it was just me and I was running sometimes up to six or seven times a day,” he said. “I think I was logging like 15 or so miles.”

Haber’s legs were so sore at night, he could barely sleep, he said.

Soon after he began to build a larger clientele, he started hiring runners to help take the load off, he said.

“The key criteria is definitely someone who loves dogs and has a great temperament to them” he said.

It is important that his runners are able to withstand running long distances, which is why he typically hires experienced athletes, but more important to Haber than athletic ability being able to trust them with the dogs.

“We develop such a close bond and relationship with the owners, and their dogs,” he said. “They’re affording us a lot of opportunities and sort of trust to be in their home and take care of their dogs that people value sort of at the same level as their kids,” he said.

One such client who entrusts her pooch about three times a week in the care Haber’s company is Dr. Nina Mohr, a veterinarian at City Veterinary Care in the Upper West Side.

Mohr, 41, from the Flatiron District, owns a yellow mix-breed named Banana. She said he had some behavioral issues before exercise was introduced into his routine. Mohr started running him years ago, but doesn’t have the time to do it as often as she’d like, so about three times a week, one of Haber’s runners at Happy Pants take’s Banana out to run.

She said dog running is a great alternative to dog parks and dog walking, which don’t offer the energy release that running does, especially for working breeds like retrievers and schnauzers, whose natural instincts are to be moving and working.

“They’re in an apartment, they sleep when we’re gone, they don’t do anything,” she said.

As a result, dogs do sometimes develop behavioral and even medical issues like arthritis and weight problems, but those who can get enough exercise, usually see improvement in these areas, she said.

“I think there are tremendous benefits, cardiac benefits, orthopedic, all kind of things,” she said.

Mohr believes strongly in exercise for dogs. Not only does she recommend running and other forms of exercise to patients, she also swears by it with her own pooch.

At 11 years old, Banana is still in great health and has the spirit of a young pup, Mohr said.

“Before I started running with him, he was sort of more destructive, “ she said. “He had separation anxiety.”

But the running has mellowed him out, she said.

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On the first day of spring New Yorkers flocked to parks to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. But it wasn’t just city residents out in the sunshine. New York dogs were out in force in Tompkins Square Park Tuesday and their owners say the weather is cheering up their pups.

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Closer than best friends, Carmen Greico and her golden retriever, Bud, spend every waking moment together, and when she’s not awake, he’s lying nearby to ensure her safety. But this relationship is much more than one of companionship: Greico is blind and Bud is her guide dog.

“He is a pet and he is a worker,” she said. “There’s a very strong emotional attachment, very strong; there has to be, because you put your life, you put your safety, in this animal’s care.”

Greico, 64, of Levittown, Long Island, has been blind since she was 4-years-old and was diagnosed with retina blastoma, a cancer of the retina.

For years she used a white cane to help her get around. While attending college in the city, she said she didn’t feel the need for a guide dog because of the all people around to help her across busy streets.

But when she moved to Long Island, things were different. The streets were quieter and there were less people around to help, she said.

Years later, Greico is with her fourth guide dog and she said they have completely changed her life. The dogs have provided Greico with a chance to go where she needs to without fear, she said.

“I enjoy having the independence of being able to move around in my environment without having to necessarily ask for sighted assistance,” Greico said.

Most foundations that train the blind with guide dogs won’t do so until the person is 16 years old, but it wasn’t until her late twenties that Greico began to explore the idea of using a guide dog, she said.

“I wasn’t ready for a guide dog at that age,” she said. “In some ways I didn’t want to have the responsibility of traveling with a guide dog while I was going to college and graduate school.”

Greico first became interested in the idea when she was invited to an event for the Guide Dog Foundation. It was there that met a golden retriever.

“[He] was so calm and so, you know, not what I thought a guide dog was,” she said. “It kind of turned me around.”

And so began her longstanding relationship with The Guide Dog Foundation of Smithtown, Long Island.

The foundation, which is completely run on donations, not government funding, offers an in-house program to train the dogs and their new owners, she said.

“They know who you are, the environment you live in, the kind of work you do, and you’re interviewed personally, as well as having references,” she said.

Bill Krol, communications manager at The Guide Dog Foundation, said the entire process, from room and board, training, to the dog itself, is free of charge to the blind or visually impaired.

The foundation trains their clients for four weeks at their campus and also takes them to shopping malls and real world situations, to acquaint them with using the dog in public, Krol said.

“I love hearing them say that they have the freedom now to go wherever they want,” Krol said.

It worked wonders for Greico, she said.

“The guide dog right away enabled me to move faster, with less stress on myself, [not] considering everything what might be in my way,” she said.

Greico enjoyed the experience so much that she and long time friend Debbie Nicolay, 58, of Levittown, Long Island, began raising and eventually breeding their own puppies to be donated to Guide Dog Foundation.

Nicolay began raising puppies, with Greico’s help, in the late 1990s. Nicolay had a background in dog training and wanted to put it to use, she said.

“It was a way to combine those skills and help others,” she said.

Volunteer puppy raises will have the dog for the first year of their life, and then give it back to the foundation for formal training as a guide or service dog, Krol said.

Giving them back is the hardest part, Nicolay said.

“And then the tears start, the water works begin, because you’ve had this dog for a whole year, you love her,” she said. “So we always say, you’re going away to college, that’s the way we can cope with it.”

That may be why she and Greico own six dogs of their own, including Bud. All of their dogs have either been guide dogs and retired, or were trained to be but didn’t make the cut for reasons like size and ability to guide on harness, Nicolay said.

After raising them for years, Nicolay got her black Labrador, Jo.

They began breeding Jo so they could donate puppies to the foundation to be trained as guides.

“She’s a great mom, she’s just such a good mom,” Nicolay said, smiling. “And we love working with the foundation.”

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