Where's the Dog??

The one day I don't have my camera with me.. ugh!

I usually carry it with me in my purse in case I come upon something I want to take a picture of and today I left it at home. We went downtown for lunch after church and it was raining a little so I took my umbrella in my purse and left my camera at home. I thought to myself, 'I should just bring it with too, you never know... ' but I didn't want to be lugging around a heavy purse so I left it. I left it!! 

As we walked to Chipotle we saw a couple walking with a leash.. but there wasn't anything at the end of it. You know, like one of these

After we finished eating we decided to walk around for a while. The rain had stopped, it was nice out and I totally didn't need my umbrella anymore. 

As we walked around Court and Montague streets we began to notice more and more people walking their invisible dogs. They weren't really interacting with people, just walking their dogs like nothing was weird about it. One guy almost lost his 'dog' and had to pull it back when it tried to chase a pigeon as he was walking across the street! haha! I started to count how many we saw and by the time we left was up to 52. It was really entertaining to hear the comments others would make about the strange dog walkers. 

After learning a few days ago that October is 'Adopt A Dog' month I thought that maybe it was some sort of awareness thing but like I said they weren't really trying to talk with people, you know- encourage them to adopt a dog, so maybe that wasn't it. 

When we got home I tried to look it up online and learned that factory that made the original Invisible Dog leashes in the 70's was located in the area and had been closed down but was recently bought and converted into a three story art center opening next weekend. It didn't mention anything about a promotional stunt being done, but what else could it be?? The article said that the new owner sold many of the wacky artifacts left in the factory out of the street level thrift store but that he wouldn't sell the 200 dog leashes. What a cool way to promote the opening of an art center right? I mean, it got us to find out about it and want to go to the opening on Saturday. This had to be it. 

But no, as I looked into it again this evening I found the real story behind all those people on a Sunday stroll with their invisible pets. And it's so cool! Have you ever heard of Improve Everywhere? They did the stunt in Grand Central Station where over 200 people all froze at the same time. Well, this was one of their missions. And we were witnesses! Over 2,000 people participated in the mission today and guess where they got the leashes? The old factory/new art center appropriately called The Invisible Dog. I only wish we had heard about it before and volunteered to be dog walkers too. Dang. 

AND I wish I had brought my camera so that I could post photos.. double dang! But if you want you can check out Improve Everywhere for some photos and stories from today and videos of their other fun missions.