Hello World!

After graduating college, I moved to New York City and did the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever done in my entire life: I bought a dog on the Internet. (In all fairness, I DID do my research-- spoke with the breeder for hours at length on the phone, and called all of the references.)

Having grown up with dogs all my life, I thought I knew what I was in for: Feed + walk + bathe + occasional vet visits = unconditional love, right? Um. Wrong. I also swore that I would never dress my dog up, speak to her in baby voice, have more than 5-6 photos of her on my phone, etc.

So everything didn't exactly go to plan....

From finding the right vet, to deciphering dog park etiquette, there was a lot to figure out, but after three years, I think I’ve kind of got it figured out. While somewhere along the way I’ve become that girl who carries her dog in a bag (and whose dog may, or may not, have a small designer wardrobe), I’ve learned to embrace it and have fun.

I started Barkzilla, a style-oriented NYC centric dog blog, in 2009 as a way to share with other dog lovers some of the things I’ve learned or found along the way. After putting my “pet” project (harty har har) on hold for several months, I am excited to get it up and running again. I am by no means a pet expert or professional, just a girl who loves her dog very much and hopes you’ll enjoy her crazy dog stories and pet-friendly finds.

In addition to posting stories from our archive, we’ll be adding new content shortly, so please make sure to visit again soon!

xoxo The Barkistas (aka Sam & Paddy)