On a Leash

Yes, that is a dog.

Some time ago I had gone to the city on one of my regular prowls when I saw a man walking a goat on a leash down the Fifth Avenue.

Let that sink in for a while. A goat. On a leash. In New York City.

Now one might argue that a goat without a leash in New York City would be catastrophic, and I can say from personal experience that unleashed goats can be very dangerous creatures, but that is beside the point. What sort of person who lives on the Fifth Avenue keeps a goat as a pet? Unfortunately, both the goat and its owner vanished in the crowd before I had a chance to take my camera out. But they did leave me with an idea for this post - a post about all the strange things that can be seen at the end of a leash in New York City. Sometimes both ends.

There are more to the right

Most of these things are, of course, classified as dogs. You have the normal dogs, and the the fancy looking ones, and the cute tiny ones, although the cutest and tiniest ones are usually dressed in little frocks and have ribbons in their hair and are carried by ladies in their handbags. Sometimes you see too many dogs and too many leashes with one person and then you know she's a professional dog walker.

Seen at Central Park

Then there are cats. There is nothing surprising about cats being kept as pets per se, of course, but I was surprised to see one on a leash. A cat is such a different creature from a dog that the very idea that it can be taken for a walk seems alien to me. The cats that I have known since childhood would die before being seen on a leash with humans. Some would probably enjoy being carried, but being walked on a leash? Really?

The list doesn't end there, it only gets weirder. However, the next photo on this post was not taken by me. It was taken by a Humans of New York fan who sent it in, and it was published on the Humans of New York Facebook page.

  

Photo courtesy: Humans of New York

A lot of questions passed through my mind when I saw that photo. Who is that lady? Does she own those pigs, or is she just a pig-walker? If she owns them, where does she keep them? Do they stay in her apartment or has she built a pig-sty where she lives? Is she Myra Schoonmaker or related to Lord Emsworth in some other way? Although it is highly unlikely that Lady Constance would have allowed such a thing to become a trend in her family, one never knows.

But alas, it seems that walking unusual things on leashes in New York City is too common to simply dismiss it as the peculiarity of a single crazy family. Just when you think you have seen it all, you come across this:

Actually looking at that stance, I think the leash is a good idea

 And in case you think it is only one poor baby with queer parents, here's another one to let you know that it is a trend. This one isn't even trying to escape.

Technically speaking, the leash is attached to the monkey on her back

I would end the post here, but since I have already shared a photo from Humans of New York, this post about leashes would remain incomplete without this photo by Brandon. He saw this dog walking itself down the Eighth Avenue. From the comments on this photo, it seemed that the dog does this regularly. Or maybe he's an animagus. I cannot tell. Can you?

Photo courtesy: Humans of New York