New Canine-ites

Everett the Black Lab: Wags His Tail So Much It Whacks the Wall and Bleeds

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For this installment of “New Canine-ites”—our feature profiling New Canaan dogs—we meet Everett Zack, a 3.5-year-old black Labrador retriever whose owners describe him as “loveable and loving.”

“He loves everybody,” Edward Zack said as he and wife Ann walked down Elm Street with Everett on Friday afternoon. “He loves kids. He loves burglars. He would let anybody in. He loves swimming, he leaps off the dock [at Rye Yacht Club].

New Canine-ites

Sky the White Golden Retriever: Bribe for the Kids

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Walking from New Canaan Library to Forest Street Deli on Thursday, I came across this family, with friends, sitting on a bench on Main Street near East Avenue. Transplants from Seattle who have settled into New Canaan, the Oyekanmi kids—10-year-old Maiah, a South School fourth-grader, twins Chloe and Jaden Oyekanmi, 8, second-graders at South, and mom Angela—were joined by family friends Jacob Kozar of New Canaan, 7, a West School second-grader (who knows what retrievers are all about), and Gabi Ewen, 10, visiting from Seattle. I asked about their lovely white golden retriever, whose name turned out to be Sky, and discovered the family dog has a weakness shared by many. Here’s my chat with Angela.  

New Canaanite: What’s her [the dog’s] name?

New Canine-ites

Safety a Concern for Repeat-Offender Roaming Chocolate Lab Near Merritt

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The safety of a chocolate Labrador retriever who lives near the Merritt Parkway is a concern for animal control officers, as the dog continually is getting off property and wandering the neighborhood. The animal was picked up twice on the morning of April 4 in the area of Gerdes and White Oak Shade Roads—the latter a street where residents say motorists regularly speed—and then again this past Monday, said Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. The animal is licensed, she said. “This is now a serious situation with this dog roaming because White Oak Shade is right by the Merritt Parkway there, and the dog will get hit sooner or later,” Kleinschmitt told NewCanaanite.com. The lab is older and its owners have an invisible fence that doesn’t work, she said.

New Canine-ites

Emi the Chow Chow: Sniffing Planters a Favorite Activity

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When New Canaan resident Noriko Hiraga’s Chow Chow died at 15, a rescue group for the ancient breed asked if she’d take on another one, from Long Island—and she said yes. Meet ‘Emi,’ a Japanese female name that means “Bountiful Beauty,” Hiraga said. Emi was five at the time of her move up to New Canaan and is now around 13 years old. Though the Chow Chow has become quite arthritic in the last three years, Emi still enjoys walking downtown—this day in a raincoat—and likes to break up a stroll with a favorite New Canaan pastime, Hiraga said. “She likes to smell every one of the planters,” Hiraga told NewCanaanite.com on the corner of Park and Cherry, where we met Emi.

New Canine-ites

Coltrane the Black Lab: Doesn’t Know What a Mid-Life Crisis Is

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Here’s our new installment of “New Canine-ites,” where we profile our local dogs. Last week, we ran into a pair of Labrador retriever puppies (prepare to saw Awww). This week, we take a look at 10-year-old black lab Coltrane, a New Canaan resident since age three months. Coltrane often can be visited right at work with his dad, town resident and New Canaan Bicycles owner Lou Kozar. Kozar laughs to recall what it’s like to travel to a client’s house in the summer with Coltrane: Homeowners lovingly offer use of their pool to the dog (while Kozar himself sweats out a repair in the sun).