Growing up, my dad used to love Frank Sinatra—seriously not a car ride went by without us listening to him (or some smooth jazz). He loved him so much, in fact—that he got an autographed picture of him that has hung in our hallway for years. And when you look at the picture, you realize the reason they've nicknamed Frank, "Ol' Blue Eyes".
So when I was taking pictures in McCarren Park last month in Brooklyn, I understood why they named this guy after, "Ol' Blue Eyes."
Meet Frankie, the Half Australian Cattle, Half Australian Shepherd puppy.
When I asked who I thought was Frankie's owner about him, she told me that Frankie was her boss's dog, and she knows a LOT about him from watching him all the time. (I wasn't able to get her name—again, another technical difficulty of the recording that will not happen in the future. If you're reading this, contact me!).
Frankie is six months old, and came from a horse farm in upstate New York. Frankie's dog sitter (that's the nickname I will give her for the rest of this story) brings him frequently to the park with his favorite toys:
"He has a little bee and a little blue ball—he's mad at me because I didn't bring them today. He's getting better with the ball—he likes to play, 'chase' down in the river, but he hasn't quite figured out how to grab the ball before it gets swept away in the current. So we've stopped bringing the ball to the river, because he's lost about three already and then he's always like, 'where did they go!?' He's still learning."
Frankie also loves playing with little dogs close to his size, and like most of the Shepherds I've documented—he will start herding them inside the park.
I also tossed him a Dog Park Diaries ball and he played catch for as many times as we would throw it.
Frankie's other favorite activity besides fetch is apparently an interesting one.
"He's a good paper shredder. That's his super power. He LOVES to shred paper and, because sometimes he gets left in the office alone, he will shred paper for fun."
I laughed pretty hard while taking pictures of him, especially since the tennis ball became completely covered in dirt that he didn't mind having all over his tongue!
As Frankie's babysitter put it—and I fully agree, "Life is good as a puppy in Brooklyn."
Name: Frankie (after Ol' Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra!)
Favorite Treats: Frankie loves any meat based treats. "He loves baked treats—he's a big jerky guy too!"
Tricks: "Not anything on command yet. He does do tricks but not on command—he's very rando."
