Reasons not to bring a dog to Burning Man.

September 2, 2001 11:50 AM

Reasons not to bring a dog to Burning Man. Find-and-replace "Burning Man" with "Manhattan." Replace the bit about the alkali with comments about cramped shelter and lack of green space. Add to the comments about the undue heat so they also refer to snow and cold. Now you've pretty much mirrored my thoughts on why it's unfair to for selfish humans to have large dogs in Manhattan. Link circuitously via Memepool.
posted by Mo Nickels (12 comments total)

I don't know, I'm thinking you can find-and-replace "dog" with "self" in regard to the whole Burning Man thing, and not lose any significant meaning. But then, that's just my personal opinion.
posted by jennaratrix at 12:11 PM on September 2, 2001

I never understood why Manhattan is such a dog place. Esp. big dogs. Where in the hell do they keep these giants? I could barely keep myself in a one-bedroom in the East Village!
posted by meep at 12:42 PM on September 2, 2001

I never understood why Manhattan is such a dog place. Esp. big dogs. Where in the hell do they keep these giants? I could barely keep myself in a one-bedroom in the East Village!
posted by meep at 12:42 PM on September 2, 2001

There are few more effective ways to blow your Burning Man mellow than to spend many panic stricken hours looking for a lost dog, and then spend the rest of the event wondering how the animal will die.


That's just harsh. I'm picturing the surrounding desert filled with dog skeletons.
posted by skallas at 1:22 PM on September 2, 2001

That would probably be an accurate picture.
posted by benbrown at 3:42 PM on September 2, 2001

It wouldn't kill the dog to stay at home while you went to Burning Man. Geez.
posted by philulrich at 3:58 PM on September 2, 2001

I'm sure Burning Man probably isn't a great place to bring a dog, but I'll sound a voice of dissent here: Manhattan sure is a great place to own one.

A lot of people who live in suburbs confine the dog to the backyard and figure its happy simply because it's outside. How wrong they could be. Dogs get bored too.

Here my dog gets to go for quite a few walks a day along tree lined blocks with lots of interesting smells and sights (the dog I'm certain cares more about the smells). Its only a few minute stroll into a giant dog run where at any hour of the day I can sit and read while my dog gets to run around for hours playing with a gaggle of other dogs. Seems like dogs have a pretty nice life in Manhattan to me.

I'm sure any other NYC people with dogs could attest that there is quite a welcoming dog-owner community here who are quite vocal in city legislation and etc.

[recap for people who don't like to read long posts] -
dogs + NYC = good!
dogs + Burning Man = bad!
posted by matthew at 6:48 PM on September 2, 2001

Maybe if you replace "dog" with "human." It sounds suspiciously like Burning Man is not a place I want to be.
posted by ilsa at 11:20 PM on September 2, 2001

"Loud, constant noise day and night, fireworks, explosions, loud music, strange vehicles, strange bicycles, strange people, stupid people."

In a very hot desert? And people want to go there?
posted by pracowity at 11:37 PM on September 2, 2001

There's also less "radical self-expression" permitted there than one would expect. This year, sheriff's deputies ordered the removal of gay artwork from public view at Burning Man. Event founder Larry Harvey supported the censorship of this artwork.
posted by xowie at 9:18 AM on September 3, 2001

The Burningman art / NYC dog connection reminded me of the dog poop art I'd see on Avenue A about 3 years ago when I lived there. Someone would adorn unscooped offense left on the sidewalk with those multi-coloured sugar sprinkles used for cake decoration.
posted by spandex at 1:40 PM on September 3, 2001

Mo (is that Grant?), I'm a huge fan of yours, but I have to take issue with this odd comparison.

I find it hard to equate stoners baking dogs to death in the desert with cramped apartment living. I go to the gym for my exercise: so did my (animal shelter-rescued) dog, at the Tompkins Square Park dog run. Humans are active animals also, so we make physical concessions and adjustments to live in this city. Decent dog owners take steps to provide similar exercise for their dogs.

Many breeds of large dogs enjoy snow and cold weather (for them, our winters here are comparatively mild) and are more prone to sleep contentedly with you, their pack, on chilly winter nights.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 12:50 AM on September 4, 2001