On the weekends, Princeton’s campus is often visited by families and their furry companions. As the weather begins to warm up, green spaces are filled with dogs of every breed playing frisbee, chasing squirrels, and enjoying the architecture. The Daily Princetonian spoke with the families and owners of four of these fuzzy visitors.
First the ‘Prince’ found Honey, a five-year-old Puerto Rican pandemic puppy, and her owner, Per, a member of the class of 1987.
“Hello! What is this, a treat?” Honey climbs up to the camera.
Mira Eashwaran / The Daily Princetonian
DP: Is she friendly?
Per: Yes!
[Honey jumps up to say hello.]
DP: Wow, she’s so friendly. How old is she?
P: She’s probably about five. We got her in about 2020. She’s a pandemic puppy from Puerto Rico. She was so skinny and had a cast on her leg.
DP: How did you get her?
P: [My older daughter] talked to her sister when she wanted a dog, and she said, ‘Just do a PowerPoint. They’ll fall for it.’ And so, she did a PowerPoint. I was dead set against it.
DP: What changed?
P: The presentation was good, funny, and very clever. She did a lot of research, figured out which dog she wanted... Not too many regrets, except when [Honey] gets loose. Every time I trust her and I let her off, it’s a disaster.
DP: What does she get up to?
P: Well, if there’s any wildlife — she’s looking for all the black squirrels around here — she will take off at a moment’s notice, or she’ll pick up food and just chug it down like she was in Puerto Rico.
DP: Do you walk her around campus often?
P: I do. It’s a little quieter than the street. Usually, sometimes more forgiving on the salt — they tend to over-salt the roads.
DP: Is that tough for their paws?
P: Very tough. Can’t go too far without her getting something stuck [in her paws]. We live over past Hoagie Haven, and Sunday mornings we go to Wawa for coffee.
DP: What is Honey’s favorite place to be on campus?
P: There are a couple of little courtyards that have only one exit. I’ll go there and let her off the leash. It’s 1903 [Hall], which is funny, because that’s the dorm I was in. Then, over at the E-Quad, the quadrangle … The waves outside Wawa is her favorite place to run. When I let her run there, she’ll just keep doing circles. She’ll run up and down those little hills. It’s really cute. That’s why we go to Wawa. We were there this morning. She was so excited, started pulling, and I let her off.
DP: How did Honey get her name?
P: That was the name on her tag. My daughter made the pitch to come up with a different name. I forget exactly what it was, but my son decided that he thought it’d be more fun to get that not to stick. We all started calling her whatever. He just kept calling her Honey and kept doing it until we started making mistakes. So, Honey stuck.
Blue poses for a photograph outside East Pyne, her tongue licking her snout.
Mira Eashwaran / The Daily Princetonian
Next, the ‘Prince’ happened upon Lori Dauphiny, Head Coach of Princeton’s women’s open crew team and asked her all about seven-year-old Blue.
DP: So, who is this?
LD: This is Blue, she loves the campus. My partner Ed tours the campus, and she has had her picture taken in front of many of the important structures and sculptures on campus. You can find her on Instagram. She doesn’t have her own Instagram, but she has a lot of pictures on my partner’s Instagram.
DP: Does she have a favorite place?
LD: She likes the Henry Moore sculpture right over there. She also likes those Zodiac heads that are near New South. They’re kind of scary, but she gets her picture taken with them. Whenever she gets her picture taken near a structure on campus, she receives food, so she’s highly motivated to come to campus and get her picture taken.
DP: How long have you had her?
LD: She’s now seven years old. She was one of the only dogs that we’ve gotten from a shelter that was young enough that she was a puppy. She was supposed to be a border collie, but she’s actually a husky and shepherd [mix].
DP: Is there a story behind her name?
LD: Well, she has a partially blue eye. She might slightly be somewhat blind in that eye — we’re not sure. She came from a shelter that goes to prisons and works with prisoners [for] rehabilitation, so that’s how she started. But we took her away from her job, and she’s a family dog now.
DP: Is there a story behind your family deciding to get a dog?
LD: Well, we’ve always taken in stray dogs from shelters. We’ve had some real projects, and she’s one of the ones that’s not. She’s very well-behaved. If I had treats, I could show you all her tricks. She has many tricks.
DP: What can she do?
LD: She can roll over and pretend like she’s dead. She can wave, she can stand up, she can do circles — clockwise and counterclockwise. She’s very motivated by food. I don’t have any. Otherwise, I would do the tricks for you. She won’t do them if there’s no reward.
Loki and Rayla sniff a hand, curious.
Mira Eashwaran / The Daily Princetonian
The ‘Prince’ then chatted with Josh and Ashley to learn about their dogs, Rayla and Loki.
DP: What are their names?
Josh: Right here we have Rayla, and here is Loki … He’s the dog of mischief.
DP: In what way is he mischievous?
J: Especially when he was growing up, he would eat the remotes, just get in trouble.
Ashley: He’s like an anti-hero because he’s super sweet and really friendly, but he’ll get into the weirdest things. Like when he was a baby, he’s the mastermind of taking treats. He’s very good at … what is it?
J: Social engineering?
A: Yeah, social engineering. If Rayla has a treat or toy that he wants, he’s like a master of reverse psychology.
J: Yeah, he’ll grab something that he could care less about like it’s the most exciting thing, and then she’ll get interested in it, and he’ll take [her toy].
DP: Very funny. How old are they both?
J: They are five years old.
DP: Are they siblings?
J: Different litters altogether. Different states, even.
DP: What are their breeds?
J: They are Pomskies, so Pomeranian-Huskies.
DP: Do you guys walk them around campus often?
J: We don’t live too far away, so we’re always here walking around.
DP: Where is your favorite place to walk them?
J: The Mountain Ice Park, over to Marquand Park, and we take them a lot around [Poe Field].
Percy sits for a photograph.
Mira Eashwaran / The Daily Princetonian
Lastly, the ‘Prince’ talked to MJ, Ron, and their young daughter Grace, the family of Percy.
Daily Princetonian: What’s his name?
MJ: Percy, you know, Percy Jackson. We came up with ten different names, and then in the end, [the kids] liked Percy the best.
DP: Does he have a favorite area on campus?
MJ: More confined areas. Sometimes, we’ll let him run and chase the squirrels. I’m afraid of him running off, so we have to go somewhere confined.
DP: How old is he?
MJ: Two years old. A very sweet boy.
Ron: He’s a Cavapoo.
DP: Can you tell us the story of how you got him?
MJ: So, Percy is a very special dog. One of our kids had cancer treatment, so he’s actually a wish dog. My daughter wished for a dog. That’s how we got Percy.
DP: That’s really special. Was he really little when you got him?
MJ: When my daughter was getting treatments in the hospital — just to cheer her up — I tried to come up with an uplifting story. My girl always wanted to have a dog, and it lifted her spirits. One day, the nurse came in and said, “I found the perfect breed of dog.” Because we wanted something hypoallergenic, we had a list of requirements. Then, she said, “I found the perfect dog, Cavapoo!” A Cavalier and mini poodle mix. We saw some of the photos online. My daughter’s wish was actually meeting the Percy Jackson writer and the puppy. Back then it was COVID, [so] he could only meet [us] online. That’s the story for our Percy.
DP: Where are you from in the community?
MJ: We moved from Connecticut around a year and a half ago. We got Percy right before.
DP: What made you come to Princeton?
R: I got a job here — I work for a pharma company. We live in the Riverside area – it’s a nice little walk here.
[We asked Percy to sit while we took his photo, then turned to the little girl, Grace, to ask what she thought of Percy.]
DP: Grace, how do you feel about Percy?
Grace: I feel happy.
DP: What’s your favorite thing to do with him?
G: Play!
Raphaela Gold is a head Features editor for the ‘Prince.’
Mira Eashwaran is an associate Features editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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