The Cut - Why Does Everyone Hate My Dog?

When I moved my Poochon Milo to Brooklyn from the suburbs two years ago, he was afraid of sidewalks, crosswalk patterns, and big friendly dogs as well as small aloof ones. Eventually, he realized he could walk around subway grates and learned to cross the street without needing to be tugged along, and the six blocks from our apartment to Prospect Park started to seem less daunting.

But the neighborhood wasn’t thrilled to have him. First came the dirty looks as I walked Milo up to Nostrand Avenue and back. Then the tree wells on the curb with the all-caps “No Poop, No Pee Here” signs. And then there were the side-eyes I got bending over with a waste bag, and the man who called me a bitch under his breath when he saw Milo and I waiting outside the deli. In a city where many feel ready to snap, dogs have become easy targets for a bubbling undercurrent of rage. Now, strangers will just tell my dog he’s an asshole. On three separate occasions, a woman in my building, who doesn’t know I work from home and who doesn’t live on my floor, has come downstairs to stand right in front of my door until Milo starts barking, then yells at him gleefully. Walking to the corner store the other day, Milo made a little woof while crossing the street. “Shut up, dog,” a man told him, staring at me. The woman next to him started laughing. “Yeah, shut up dog!”

A look inside the book conservation lab at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The world’s largest democratic elections begin in India today. Harry and Meghan aren’t a good investment. New Title IX regulations officially add “gender identity” onto the list of protections from sex-based discrimination for the first time. Notably absent, however, is any mention of transgender athletes. It’s unclear what’s going on with The Office reboot/revival/spinoff thing, but apparently it’s real and has its first cast members. Experts are warning of an increase in bladder issues among young people due to prolonged ketamine use. Under a new initiative, Spotify will recognize Nature as an artist in its own right, letting it earn royalties that will be used for conservation.

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