Animal 411

PHOTOS: New Canaan Dog Days Returns

By |

Tongues lolling, scores of leashed dogs gathered in New Canaan on a clear, hot Saturday for a popular canine-focused and -themed celebration put on by an established local business. Pet Pantry’s New Canaan Dog Days was held on the grounds of the New Canaan Nature Center, making its return after two years off due to the pandemic. New Canaan resident Niki Marmarinos said this was her first time coming to Dog Days and that she’d be back next year. 

“It’s beautiful weather,” Marmarinos said as she pushed her two toy poodles, Daisy and Lillybelle, relaxing in a baby carriage through. “A lot of vendors, they’re very cordial and welcoming. A lot of variety here.

Around Town

Podcast: New Canaan Dog Days

By |

This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Adam Jacobson, executive vice president at Pet Pantry Warehouse on Grove Street, about New Canaan Dog Days. The hugely popular celebration of dogs, a fundraiser for rescue groups, will be held 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 at the New Canaan Nature Center. The event features games, competitions, family activities, entertainment and a lot of free swag from premium pet food brands. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Around Town

PHOTOS: Crowds Come Out Sunday for ‘New Canaan Dog Days’ at Pet Pantry

By |

Alex and Liz Tuff of New Canaan entertained high hopes for their 2-year-old miniature Australian Labradoodle, Bear, as the family waited in line with daughter Eloise and son Oliver at the “Doggie Fun Zone” track on Sunday afternoon. A centerpiece of this year’s New Canaan Dog Days event at Pet Pantry on Grove Street, the Fun Zone included an obstacle-laden track that Bear Tuff’s parents expected him to demolish. “We’re thinking of taking him on the road,” Alex Tuff said on a cool, gray spring day. “We think he’s got game.”

Liz Tuff added: “We think he’s going to win a trophy.”

He did not. Attentive to his mom as she tried to lead him through the course, though seemingly uninterested in the white “rabbit” he was meant to chase, Bear Tuff like many before him appeared lost and confused in the Doggie Fun Zone, finishing well over the 25 seconds that his dad had predicted.

Animal 411

PHOTOS: Pets and Pet-Lovers Hit Dog Days New Canaan At Pet Pantry

By |

Hundreds of leash-wielding New Canaan and area animal lovers descended on the parking lot at Pet Pantry on Grove Street on Sunday for a dog-friendly event that’s become a hugely popular spring tradition downtown. Less than halfway through the 7th Annual New Canaan Dog Days, an estimated 500-plus dog-lovers had visited the merchant tents, signed their four-legged family members up for contests, sampled free ice cream from Baskin Robbins and enjoyed the music of New Canaan School of Rock, one of its organizers said. As it did for Caffeine & Carburetors at Waveny in the morning, the weather held out for Dog Days, said Adam Jacobson, executive vice president of Pet Pantry New Canaan. The event is expected to raise “thousands upon thousands of dollars” for Adopt-A-Dog as well as Strays & Others, Jacobson said. “We have great support from our vendor partners,” including New Canaan Veterinary Hospital, he said.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

Scores of New Canaanites joined students of architecture and fans of the Midcentury Modern style at The Glass House on Saturday for the annual Summer Party, a fundraiser for the National Trust for Historic Preservation site. Sipping Taittinger champagne and bringing picnic baskets prepared by Campagna and The Bedford Post Inn, attendees roamed the 49-acre property on a bright, sunny day, entering buildings that include not just the famous Glass House but also Da Monsta and Philip Johnson’s painting gallery and library. Others lounged by a pond down the back of the property or by the pool near the main house. See photos above. ***

A woman who hurt herself after falling on the sidewalk in front of Dunkin Donuts on Elm Street in January has filed a letter of intent to sue New Canaan, according to a notice filed with the town. It happened at about 2:30 p.m. on Jan 12 at what the woman’s New Canaan-based lawyer is calling “a dangerous and unsafe pedestrian sidewalk which was improperly repaired, maintained, cleared of snow, sleet and/or ice and/or improperly treated with salt, sand or the like.” The woman hurt her “right fingers, right hand, right wrist, right arm, right elbow, right shoulder, neck back and buttocks,” according to the Notice of Intention to Commence Action Against Municipality.