Downtown Type of Dawg

2025
6 × 4 in.
Watercolor and Ink on Paper

Zoey stands beside a fire hydrant, completely comfortable in the middle of her environment. Above her are the words “Downtown Type of Dawg.”

Zoey started as an urban dog, but while I had the privilege of raising her, she became a downtown type of dog. She became comfortable with the sidewalks, buildings, traffic, strangers, noises, smells, and constant movement that come with living in the middle of a city.

I watched her learn how to exist in that environment until none of it seemed unusual anymore. The city wasn't somewhere she was visiting. It became her neighborhood.

The fire hydrant is almost a stereotype of what we associate with a city dog, which is why I wanted it beside her. She's doing something completely ordinary for a dog, but in my mind she has an entire identity attached to it. She's confident, comfortable, and going about her business like she owns the block.

There is something special about getting the opportunity to raise an animal. You introduce them to your version of the world, and eventually you start noticing that they have created their own relationship with it. Places that belong to you begin belonging to them too.

Downtown Type of Dawg is my memory of who Zoey became during the time I got to raise her. I may have introduced her to downtown life, but eventually she didn't need me to show her how it worked.

She became a downtown type of dawg all on her own.