Not many states have an official state dog. Until recently, there were only eleven. But as of December 23rd, New York is joining that small group after Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation naming the "working dog" as New York's state canine. While other states are represented by a single breed, the Empire State is celebrating all breeds, from the Belgian Malinois patrolling the streets of Manhattan to the Labrador Retriever helping a visually impaired person cross a busy intersection.
The inspiration for this bill came from Bari, the dog of Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-Staten Island), who is trained as a therapy dog. Together they've worked with preschool autistic children and homeless young adults. Seeing Bari in action, Matthew wanted to sponsor this bill in order to honor pups like Bari.
This wasn't the first time that New York tried to designate a progressive choice as their state pup. In 2011, State Assemblyman Micah Kellner, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, and Senator Joseph Robach co-sponsored a bill to designate "the rescue dog" as the state pup. Although that attempt was unsuccessful, I'm glad my home state finally has its own official canine that also honors the work hard they do for us each day!
