{"id":370388,"date":"2026-10-11T15:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T15:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/370388\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T15:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T15:18:10","slug":"lets-hear-it-for-the-upper-west-sides-old-dog-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/370388\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Hear it for the Upper West Side’s Old Dog Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Piccola and Jane. Photo by Allan Ripp.<\/p>\n

By Allan Ripp<\/p>\n

My neighbor Jane is an old dog lady. Or maybe an old-dog lady. Either way \u2013 I mean it as the highest compliment.<\/p>\n

Jane is indeed an elder \u2013 she\u2019s 89. However, \u201cold\u201d in this case refers not to Jane but to the aging canines she\u2019s adopted over the past 15 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lulu. Photo by Jane Rosamilia.<\/p>\n

First was Lulu, a 10-year-old Havanese mix from Florida, whom Jane rescued in 2011 and kept close for seven years, holding Lulu on her lap when she passed from a blood disease in 2018. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t a cuddler but had a great temperament and we bonded well,\u201d Jane remembers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Oliver. Photo by Jane. Rosamilia.<\/p>\n

Next came Oliver, acquired at age 12 from New Jersey in January 2020 just before the pandemic. His DNA profile showed mini-Poodle, Bichon Frise and Pekingese. \u201cI was relieved the Pekingese wasn\u2019t obvious because I can\u2019t stand the scrunched-in faces,\u201d Jane says. Despite a severe heart murmur he lasted five years and was \u201cquite a mover.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Olive and Jane. Photo by Allan Ripp.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also fostered old-timers, including an 11-year-old tan scruff she called Olive. \u201cShe was deaf and blind and walked into the furniture,\u201d Jane shares, and ultimately adopted by a woman who housed other visually impaired dogs. \u201cI wanted to keep her but it just wasn\u2019t a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

A retired psychiatric nurse and psychotherapist, Jane has lived in the same Upper West Side apartment since 1970, almost always with a dog. When she first moved into her place on West 96th Street, a pack of feral dogs roamed nearby Central Park. One day she took home a park stray, whom she named Vespri, after a Verdi opera called I Vespri Siciliani she attended that evening at Lincoln Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to leave him alone but had great tickets, so I put him in the bathroom with the light on and a bowl of food,\u201d she recalls of the Shepherd-Collie mix, who stayed on comfortably a dozen years. \u201cVespri was 45 pounds but as I got older my dogs got smaller.\u201d She had a total of six, including several raised as puppies, before realizing she was a better match with seniors, even if they came with health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us knows how long we\u2019ve got \u2013 why not take in an older dog?\u201d she figures. \u201cThey need less training, are more settled and we can grow older together.\u201d They also cost a lot less than breeder dogs \u2013 Jane\u2019s purchased several of her adoptees for around $300.<\/p>\n

On the other paw, \u201cexpect more vet bills and pre-existing conditions, no pet insurance and trouble getting an old guy out in bad weather,\u201d she admits. \u201cPlus, it\u2019s not so easy to bend over for pick-ups.\u201d She\u2019ll sometimes call on a dog walker when conditions are tough.<\/p>\n

The ASPCA estimates nearly 3 million dogs are housed in shelters annually \u2013 including a large portion of older dogs, age 7 and up. But only a quarter of those find homes, compared to 60% for younger ones and puppies. \u201cVery senior\u201d dogs are generally 10 and up.<\/p>\n

Despite ample supply and need, Jane says she\u2019s encountered hurdles for her senior adoptions, often receiving no response from multiple applications. \u201cOne rescue agency tried to talk me out of it because of my age, saying their older dogs had been through trauma and might snap at me. And warned I might trip over them. I told them I\u2019d owned dogs all my life and that wasn\u2019t happening.\u201d With no family nearby, she persuaded her cross-the-hall neighbor Mark to be her co-adopter.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jane and Piccola. Photo by Allan Ripp.<\/p>\n

That arrangement helped her secure Piccola, 13, a fetching Dachshund-terrier mix with \u201cbatwing ears\u201d as well as double cataracts and only three teeth, whom Jane adopted in August from a Petco meet-up in Union Square. A stray from Kentucky, \u201cshe\u2019s the most affectionate one I\u2019ve ever had, always kissing and licking, loves people and other dogs, but definitely has her own agenda,\u201d Jane describes. \u201cI\u2019m sure she had a good home before being out on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piccola\u2019s had a few alarming growths but biopsies were benign. \u201cShe\u2019s very attuned to me but we\u2019re working on leaving her alone in the apartment,\u201d Jane says. \u201cI\u2019m wondering how she\u2019ll handle her first New York snowfall.\u201d With a box full of outerwear and accessories accumulated from five decades of dog ownership, Jane\u2019s picked out a couple of sweaters and ponchos that nicely fit her 10-pound, 7-ounce adoptee.<\/p>\n

Jane is grateful for how far local canine care has matured with her. \u201cThirty years ago there were few dog services in this neighborhood \u2013 no walkers, daycare, groomers. I had to go down to the West 70s just to find a vet,\u201d she says. \u201cNow the Upper West Side is teeming with dog providers.\u201d She credits her longtime vet Bonnie Brown of Gotham Veterinary Center on Columbus Avenue with first urging her to go the senior route.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s mindful of the mortality timeline at work in elder adoptions \u2013 her own included. \u201cI\u2019m sure up there!\u201d she declares. \u201cI\u2019m actually hoping I\u2019ll be the first to go, since my dog has already been through so many adjustments including being re-homed several times.\u201d That\u2019s partly why she asked her neighbor to be co-guardian.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I realize that sounds a little selfish,\u201d she adds. \u201cOf course, you have to be prepared for heartache to come sooner when you take a dog that\u2019s at least 10 or older. You need time to process the loss and decide whether to take a new one \u2013 for me, the pull of having another living thing around is too great, and I would probably do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can old dogs and their owners learn new tricks? \u201cWe\u2019ve both figured things out by now and may seem set in our ways but you adapt to one another,\u201d Jane says. \u201cA dog takes me outside, away from my aches and pains. We both socialize, exercise a little. Mostly, we\u2019re just good companions.\u201d Little Piccola, lying on the couch next to her, doesn\u2019t disagree.<\/p>\n

Allan Ripp runs a press relations firm in New York.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Piccola and Jane. Photo by Allan Ripp. By Allan Ripp My neighbor Jane is an old dog lady.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-370388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}