Competitive Dog Rescue, a New York City Love Story

This could only happen in New York.

Hartley in Tompkins Square Park, courtesy of the author.

Cutthroat as you may think New Yorker’s are, there’s one arena where their ambitions are at their most exaggerated. Dog adoption.

When I landed there in 2007, fresh on the heels of divorce, I had no idea competitive dog rescue was a thing. And god help me if I ever find myself trying to adopt…