Thank You – Invisible Dogs

Thanks to the over 2,000 people who participated in today’s mission in Brooklyn. If you were there, please leave an Agent Report in the comments. I know there are thousands of funny stories waiting to be told. Also leave links to any photos you might have taken. We will be posting photos from our official photographers later today, and we hope to have our video up in a week or so.

Agent Nicholson’s Photos
Agent Sokoler’s Photos

For those of you who were not there– we passed out over 2,000 “invisible dog” leashes and had everyone go for a nice Sunday walk in Brooklyn. If you were anywhere within a one mile radius of the Bergen St. stop in Cobble Hill today, you would have seen all types of folks very seriously walking their very silly dogs.

The invisible dog toy was invented in the 1970s in the Brooklyn factory that served as our meeting point today. No Longer Empty and The Invisible Dog art space were nice enough to loan us the vintage dogs for an afternoon of fun.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Comments

  1. Just a little conversation I’d like to share about the event –

    Old Man: Where’d ya get one of those things?

    Me: One of what?

    Old Man: Those!

    Me: A dog?

    Old Man: No the leash!

    Me: Oh, at a pet store.

    Old Man: No I mean the whole thing…the fake dog!

    Me: How rude! My dog is the genuine article. 100% purebred!

    Old Man: Oh I’m so very sorry.

    • I miss my dog. My favorite was a lady explaining it to her child. She said…. “Yes hon, that is an invisible dog, a very rare breed. lol

      Tried to buy a treat for my invisible dog at a pet store and the guy wouldn’t let us in. He was a pooper.

      At the Barnes & Noble the lady guard asked me what “that” was. I said “My dog”. She advised me in the kindest way that I had to leave the second floor because dogs were not allowed up there because of the café. lol

      • Another moment was in the Trader Joes. We were on line and a lady and her son were behind us. (we had 2 maltipoos, Jessica Simpson dog. Her dog was killed recently by a cyote) This boy just got so involved with the dogs. He would pet the dogs and just yell “…but I don’t feel anything!”

        Cool thing was watching people step around our dogs when they went up to a shelf to get something.

        We got our dogs early and really explored far and wide.

        Thank you IE; one of the best yet!

  4. Many conversations went like this:

    -Can you tell me what you’re doing?
    -I’m taking a walk.
    -Can I ask you why, what this is for?
    -It stopped raining, so I thought it would be nice to take a walk.

    Some people even asked to pet my dog, Max!

    I especially liked when actual dogs tried to interact with Max.

    It was certainly sad to say goodbye to him after our nice walk around Brooklyn.

  5. What a great event! I was the one in the black blazer and gray slacks. Can’t wait to see all the pics/video

  6. We walked around for a bit and allowed our dogs to relieve themselves on the trees for awhile before the cops pulled up alongside us. I couldn’t believe we were getting busted for walking invisible dogs. As it turns out, the cop just wanted to know where we got “those”. Taking advantage of this vague phrasing, we deftly replied that we had got them at the pet store back in New Jersey. Where else would one get a dog? Silly, silly policeman.

    After a while, I allowed my dog to defecate on the sidewalk and cleaned up after him with a ziploc bag.

    My dog changed personalities several times over the course of the day. Disco was at first kind of jumpy and darty, then quite aggressive, charging at other dogs before I could hold him back (he was very strong for a Maltese). After a while, he became a bit friendlier, tending to trail along behind other dogs before I could say “Okay, Disco, come on” and pull him away.

    I encountered three types of people over the course of the day: those who were entertained but confused, those who tried to ignore it all, and those who seemed genuinely annoyed. Overall, though, a fun day.

    I just wish I could’ve kept the dog.

  7. conversation with two burly men as I stood outside a store:

    “What’s with this?”

    “I’m just waiting for a friend”

    “no what’s with the dog?”

    “oh they don’t allow dogs in the store”

    “I don’t understand”

  8. the face people were making when they would see one, and then another was priceless.

    2 girls in a car asked me if it was a boy or a girl, and told me they liked its hair style… I might end up buying one of these dogs to get the girls : )

    fun time overall, can’t wait to do the next one!

  9. Tactic: When asked “Whats going on?” Answer: “Well I’m walking my dog. If they keep asking, Answer: “Well… you see…” And run away as if your dog is pulling you away.

    Four of us were walking through one of the projects and a cop looked at us quizzically as we walked toward him. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Before he could ask us the inevitable “whats going on” I asked him, “Officer, do you know which way the train is?” He clearly wanted to ask about the leashes, but replied “I think it’s that way…” We started to walk away and he said “I hope you pick up after your dogs!” which we replied, “Of course, We wouldnt want a ticket!”

  10. I walked my dog Jabberwock around, we got lunch at a cafe and went in a couple stores (and didn’t get thrown out! They have very lax dog policies.)

    We very nearly caused an accident when a woman slammed on her brakes to lean out her minivan window and ask us what we were doing, and both and SUV and a bus almost rammed into her.

    The best was when people would comment on how adorable Jabberwock was, or let their (visible) dogs play with him. All in all, a very pleasant afternoon.

  11. Thanks for this great event. The funniest part was this little boy kid who was counting all the invisible dogs. I herd him say like 137, 139 dogs then after like after half hour I saw him again and he was still counting. The conversations were funny, some people were like are you guys crazy and only one lady asked if it was a Improv Everywhere mission, i was like idk what are you talking about. A great afternoon indeed.

  13. As with previous missions I’ve participated in, many passersby assumed we were either promoting something or protesting something, but they were befuddled when they couldn’t get a reasonable explanation. I heard a lot of “Okay, but why are you guys REALLY doing this?” Because dogs need exercise!

  14. People’s reactions were pretty amusing, except for one girl who was yelling. She informed me that I was “walking air” and then asked me if I knew what air was. Oh well, you can’t please everyone. Other people were good sports about the dog walking though.

    • I think my sister and I ran into the same girl. She was really upset and then started beating my dog with her umbrella. Her friend was trying to calm her down. Couldn’t have been more than 14/15 years old!

    • I ran into her too! She kept going on and on about how stupid this was and I was just like relax sweetie, we’re all just walking our dogs.

      • I met those two girls and they screamed, yelled and attacked my dog with her umbrella!! I was just sitting in the the park (which I was informed later that dogs were not allowed in the park, very politely may I add) and after the ran off swearing their 13 year old heads off, I got into a conversation with a nice man who ranted on about how the world is falling apart and how kids like that will end up killing someone, or in jail! He never commented once on my dog Rocko, a mutt who looked like a dingo! Thanks IE! I had a great time in NY while on my trip from Toronto, Canada.

  15. One cafe caught on really quickly and wrote all over its chalkboard “invisible dog friendly.” Very fun day!

  16. My favorite moment from today (I had several!) Was when one guy tried to convince me that my dog had bitten him, he wanted my my name and phone number so he could start a lawsuit. I very calmly pointed out the muzzle my dog was wearing and kept walking.

    Also lot’s of children asked to pet him, a guy asked me about the breed, and when asked why everyone was walking around with them I replied that it was Sunday and a lot of people had free time for their pets.

  17. There was this lady who asked if it was some kind of dog handling training? I was like no its just me and my dog.

  18. I was among the first to arrive at the warehouse. My two friends and I were perplexed. We saw a pile of long fabric covered rods but couldn’t make out what they were. Then somebody picked one up and everyone who saw started cheering and giggling. After we were given our leashes, (Charlie Todd himself handed me my leash!), we walked out onto the streets of Brooklyn, ready to have a nice stroll. Almost immediately, we saw people staring at us. Cars stopped and rolled down their windows to ask us what was going on. “We are just walking our dogs!” After a few encounters, we decided to throw the joke back onto the innocent street walkers of Brooklyn. “You know, everyone in Brooklyn has been making fun of our dogs. Its just rude!” Then I decided to take it a step further.
    I walked into one of those tacky gift shops and grabbed a pair of boring looking sunglasses. I put them on and began to wander around like the dog was leading me. That’s right, I was a blind man with an invisible seeing eye dog. The owner of the gallery/art spaced cackled at the sight of my bit and I was getting everything from compliments to hate speak to really funny looks.
    As a result, I am not putting my name. I don’t like hate mail.
    All in all, the day was entertaining and I hope to do more missions soon.

    • oh dude you where awesome lol haha (if you where the only blind man with invisible dog) then i saw you lol I almost went out of character when i saw you could hardly keep from laughing lol that was great!

  19. My sister and I had so much fun….this one guy and a girl in his car pulled over and when I wouldn’t tell him what it really was for, he just kept laughing hysterically.

    Saw the “Invisible Dog Friendly” sign as well as more and more water and treat bowls being set outside stores.

    Also ran accross a couple of mom’s that got really frustrated that we wouldn’t tell them what it was for and mumbled something about “a lot of crazy people in Brooklyn today” to her kids as they walked away.

    What a fun day!!!

  20. The best moments, of course, were visible/invisible dog interactions. There was a LOT of crowd participation- I saw the woman mentioned above lean out her car, ask what’s up, and gamely caution us to pick up after our dogs.

    There were a lot of false guesses as to the “purpose” of what we were doing. People asked me where I got my dog, and I’d mention the animal shelter. They’d nod knowingly, as though they’d figured out my angle. Others assumed it was “some art thing” from DUMBO.

    Court St. was packed, but wandering into less dog-dense areas proved rewarding. A few other agents shared a great moment with me- a cat was peeking out of an apartment window! Fortunately, my dog was very well-behaved. Thanks, IE.

  21. Thanks for another great IE experience. As with others, our stories varied greatly with the question asked. If they asked, “where did we get those?” we tell them about the North Shore Rescue Shelter. If they asked, “what is that?” we would tell them it was a schnoodle – half schnauzer, half poodle. Isn’t it cute. If they asked, “why are there so many people with those?” we would agree with them about just how many people were out walking their dogs this afternoon. Freaky, isn’t it?

    We did overhear a fellow agent spilling the beans. The reaction from the muggle was, “You mean to tell me there are two thousand people in my neighborhood right now f***ing with my mind?” Pretty fun stuff.

    I spent most of the time carrying a small white bag with about ten acorns and some dirt. By holding it away from my body a bit it was pretty convincing.

    The kids, though, were the most fun. They’d never seen these things before, and were totally into it. They’re always a lot more fun to goof with than the adults, aren’t they?

    See you next time.

  22. Me and Noddy wandered far enough where nobody had seen any of his friends, one group of girls wanted to hold the leash for a minute… then the conversation went something like this…

    Girl: Um, how old are you?
    Me: Turning 20 this novemeber
    *look of suprise*
    Girl: Huh.. really now… do you have any friends?
    *which i mentally translated to “did you escape from somewhere?”
    Me: Yeah, in fact one of them is walking her cocker spaniel down that way, I’m going to see her.
    Girl: reallllllly… Okay then, have a good walk, be safe, happy early birthday.

    A pair of sweet ladies were rather insistent on finding out what gimmick it was for…and of course there was the inevitable…”oh so YOU can see him, okay then…”, they were on the verge of getting angry why i wouldn’t tell them.

    Thank you for whoever was on the next corner patiently explaining, he was doing it cause the dog needed exercise, that answer coupled with noddy running in the opposite direction stopped the glares somewhat.

    Was stopped a couple of times, asked what breed, what’s his name etc, finally me and noddy sat at a bench with trophy and his owner.We met a whole bunch of dog owners, invisible and other wise, someone was even kind enough to leave a bowl of water for the poor thirsty dogs.

    All in all not such a bad walk….wish me and noddy had had something to eat before though.

  23. LOL your comments to the Event are hillarious.. thanks for making my night :) Can’t wait for the video ! xD

  24. About 10 mins into the prank, my sister who was visiting from Richmond, Va, my friend and I were walking Rodrigo, Brooklyn and Oso along Smith when an old man in a gold car started swerving all over the road. His driver’s side window was down and he was screaming “Dogs, dogs, dogs! They are everywhere ahhhhhh. What’s with the dogs!” And continued down Smith ranting and raving…. Immediately I knew this was going to be a great afternoon and it was. So many smiles from strangers. What a happy day!

    • I WAS THERE, he had the ugliest face, i was still in line, it pissed me off, i was like why the hell is this guy here yelling this out like if it’s some kind of terrorist threat… i just wished he would shut up and stopped being so dramatic..

  25. My friend and I were stopped by 2 cops who wanted to see some ID because we didn’t pick up after our pomeranians. We explained that we forgot our baggies, and they let us off the hook with a warning. Phew.

  26. My friend Max and I had a nice conversation with a lady:
    -Lady: Oh guys what are you doing? I heard there are rumors of aliens landing.
    -We: What? Why are you thinking that aliens landed in Brooklyn?
    -Lady: Because I think they mesmerized you so now you guys are thinking you are taking a real dog for a walk.
    -We: But that’s what we are doing. Just taking ours dogs for a walk.
    -Lady: So it’s true! They actually mesmerized you! I think someone is calling the police soon.
    -We: But we are just walking our dogs.
    -Lady: I know. Keep up the good work!

    Thanks for the great afternoon, IE!

  27. Lots of people loved to meet my dog Boots and my friend’s dog Alexander. Big hit with the little kids! We even had a van stop and the parents explained to their children that our dogs were invisible, but real. New York Post took our picture after she asked where our dogs were from (the pet store of course!). We had A LOT of people ask us what was going on, “well, just a nice stroll with our dogs, we just got them so we wanted to show them Brooklyn!” This was an awesome idea, it was a total blast and we got some really great looks from people. Lots of tourists took pictures of us on the Brooklyn Bridge. Great job with this, it was hilarious! But I did get rather attached to my dog and miss him already…

  28. I took my little sister, who’s first mission was the most recent MP3 Experiment at Roosevelt Island, and my younger brother, which it was his first mission.

    We had a blast while our dogs were getting rambunctious, sniffing other dogs behinds, climbing up benches and looking in store windows. My dog (Locke) had the bad habit of chasing after the pretty female dogs and their owners.

    People would ask what this was for, and I’d say “It was just such a nice afternoon out so I figured I’d take Locke out for a nice long walk.” Or where I got it from, I’d say I got it as a gift for Christmas. When they said “no, the leash!” I’d say “oh I just picked that up at a Petsmart or Petco or something… I think there’s a pet store down the street if you need one.”

    Silly people… I mean, you can find leashes at super markets these days. Why were they so confused?

    Anyway, I have pictures of my day up on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018616&id=138701072

    If you guys can’t reach the pictures (if they’re private for some reason), let me know and I will upload them to Picasa (I may do that anyway)

    Later!
    Agent AC

  29. We ran into a real dog, who barked at my invisible dog, and freaked out and ran away. We also encountered ‘invisible security’ and the challenge of cleaning up invisible poop all over the floor of Macy’s. Which was amazing.

  30. Oh, one more….lol!
    This one guy actually fed my dog some of the pizza he was eating! And he said he didn’t have any water for my dog but he could give it some liquor! haha

    This other woman we came across was having fun with it but was so curious and was cracking up, yelling/talking to me from across the street. We then asked her where a dog park was and she pointed us in the right direction!

    Also had many people petting my dog!

  31. favorite moments include the guy in cvs who told me which aisle was the pet aisle without me asking and the little kids who joined right in and played with my puppy. also stopped to deal with a blister on my foot and a man asked me what was going on. i explained i had new shoes and had a blister. he continued on with no…i mean with the dog. i said i thought he was being well behaved for a puppy. he asked why so many folks had the same one and i explained that standard poodles are a fairly common breed. he shook his head and then decided to pet my dog.

    oh and of course, the sign on the doggie daycare place was the best: “if you do not have a real live dog – do not ring our bell!” i emailed the photo to one of the agents…hopefully he’ll put it up later.

  33. One guy pulled his car over in the middle of traffic to ask my friend and I where we got “that”. His car came very close to my friends “dog” and he played it off beautifully. He starts screaming “No! you hit my dog! Oh my god!” He lays the leesh down as if the dog was hit and kneels down petting it. The driver just laughed and drove off, so he mimes picking up the dog in his arms and carrying it off. There were so many agents around walking their dogs and people walking, taking pictures, laughing. It was awesome!

  34. The best reactions were definitely from the kids.

    Little girl to another girl: Ahh! There’s another fake dog! One more fake dog and I swear I’m telling daddy!

    Two teenagers: I’m going to follow these people and see where they got those leashes.

    A guy on Atlantic Av: What is this for? What day is it today?
    Me: It’s Sunday.

  35. This afternoon in a nutshell:

    Person: What are you doing?

    Us: Walking our dogs.

    Person: Why?

    Us: Because it’s Sunday and they haven’t been out all week.

    Person: Where did you get them?

    Us: The dogs?

    Person: No, the leashes.

    Us: At the store. Would you like to pet them?

    Person: The dogs?

    Us: Yes, the dogs.

    Person: But…there’s nothing there.

    Us: How dare you. (Walks away)

    Person to friend: Do you think they’re crazy?

  36. I had so much fun, and Corky (a 3 year old Yorkie mutt) had a blast exploring Brooklyn. Plenty of fun encounters, and a few cars that just pulled over to ask “what’s going on?” and a few more to ask where they could get one, too. (“I adopted him – he’s from the shelter.”) Some fun exchanges:

    I was walking by a place of religious service, and it had just been let out. A group of old guys were on the steps. Corky the Yorkie-mutt had just stopped to sniff a tree nearby.

    Old Guy 1 – Lady! Hey lady!
    Me – Hi there! What’s up?
    OG1 – What…what is this?
    Me – He’s a dog. His name’s Corky.
    OG1 – But I mean…what IS this?
    Me – A dog. I got him at the shelter.
    OG1 to OG2 – It’s a dog. Do you see it?
    (OG2 shakes head.)
    Me – He’s very friendly. (pats near Corky’s head)
    OG1 to me – Do YOU see it?
    Me – Of course. He’s right here. He’s black and brown. (wiggles leash a little)
    OG1 is taken aback – He’s…he’s moving.
    OG1 to kid who walked up – The dog is moving.
    Me – I think he likes you.
    OG1 – Can I touch him?
    Me – Sure. He’s friendly.
    (OG1 bends down.)
    OG1 – I…I don’t feel him.
    OG1 to group – Do you see the dog?
    (Everyone in group is either bewildered and giggling or shaking their heads.)
    Me – Maybe he’s shy.

    *****

    Another guy was talking on the phone with his dog on the leash. Corky walked up and started sniffing around. Guy on phone says “And now another invisible dog is sniffing my dog’s butt.” (Never thought I’d hear that in my life.)

    *****

    There was a cat in front of one of the houses, and he came up to Corky to get acquainted. Here’s a picture:

    http://twitpic.com/jetsr

    *****

    A lady I walked by said “This is good idea! Everyone in neighborhood has dog! Now people get dog and you don’t need to pick up after dog. Very good idea!”

    *****

    A guy stopped at a stop light rolled down his window and said “I had one of those when I was a kid.”

    *****

    Thanks for the fun afternoon outing!

  37. We took Jetsam and Flotsam (twin Shih-Tzus) on several adventures during their time with us, including touring an actual pet store, a visit to an Italian Ice stand, trips through two separate parks (both of which unfortunately had “no dog” policies – but Jetsam got a drink from the water fountain anyway), and a shopping excursion through the local Target and Payless Shoes.

    The Target employees had great reactions, as did several people who stopped their vehicles to lean out the window and ask us about our dogs. On the walk back from Target to the warehouse, we encountered one man who, after petting both dogs, adamantly tried to tell us that one of them was actually a cat.

    Overall, we had a wonderful time exploring the neighborhood and talking to its residents. Thanks for a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

  38. I met Hope Davis whilst walking with the invisible dog, and told her she was awesome in God of Carnage, and she went ‘Thanks! Can my kids pet your dog?’ and then they all did. Pretty awesome.

  39. Not an agent, but live on Smith Street and hence saw dozens of you today. Some of you were fantastic, like the first woman I saw, who realistically and dramatically pulled her aggressive dog away from and me scolded it. A couple of women asking Boite en Provence if they could sit at the window seat with the dogs was cute.

    But after that? Maybe it got boring for the dog walkers? I saw so many people not paying attention to what space or weight their dogs would have, not doing anything but walking and chatting with other dogwalkers, paying no more mind to their dog than they would to an umbrella or other lifeless dangling object. I walked through two dogs, annihilating both and must have knocked several others over with my grocery bag, but the owners didn’t even notice. So, after the initial visual effect, it was a little bland, especially since there were dozens of dogs on Court and Smith Street — I hope other parts of Brooklyn got as much love.

  40. best interaction for me was when Squash and I were walking by a four-year-old and her mom. The little girl asked her mom “what is that?” I responded quickly, “It’s a chihuahua!” As her mother started laughing, she just stared me down with an evil look to make sure I knew she wasn’t amused. That was my only negative reaction the whole day. What a great time!

  41. I walked my maltese Shmoopie up the avenue with alot of stares. One encounter was with a little girl. I stopped near her and asked her if she wanted to pet my little dog and she shouted at me, “There is no dog there!”. Her mom laughed and I told her Shmoopie was wagging her tail to be friends and again she shouted at me, “There is no dog there!” I told her Shmoopie wanted to be her friend anyway and continued walking.
    It was alot of fun interacting with other dog owners this afternoon!

  42. I’m so very sorry we missed this. My five year old, who desperately wants a dog, would have loved it. Alas, we had a previous plan we couldn’t break.

    I’d love to get her an invisible dog for Christmas. If anyone knows where we might find one, would you please post?

    Thanks!

  43. My Dogs name “is” Cofi a three years old rottweiler. Several people ask me for the name and what kind of dog it was, so i was sticking to the same name and age. People ask me a lot “where did you get it?” i answer. I have him since it was born a friend gave it to me.

    Picture time!!

    Two times people stop me and ask if they could take a picture of my dog. Many people took pictures from cars.

    Kids like Invisible dogs!

    A two years old and his mom stop me to pet the dog, she fallow the plan, confirming the existence lol and the little boy look confuse (then she say no baby is a joke, and i sort of walk away cause i don’t want this kid to have problems growing up lol).

    Some guy insulted me :/ haha

    While crossing the street a guy stop the car in the middle of the street and his girlfriend ask me “Where did you get it?” and i said “a friend gave it to me” the guy said “Not the dog you idiot the leash!” i am guessing he was irritated because he had ask several times already haha, but hey he said not the dog? who is the idiot? lol

    Lots of smiles and laughs. :)

    I got a lot of people laughing. Since my dog was pretty strong i would say, i always walk as if the dog was pulling me hard, so my arm was way in front of me. People like that a lot :)

    Lucky Cat moment!

    I try to walk in areas where i didn’t see anyone else, i was lucky enough to find a cat walking on the sidewalk, and my Cofi went crazy! i yelled at him “Cofi stay!! and grabbing the leash with both of my hands it got some attention lol

    My first mission was great :)

    It was a funny mission and the first one i participated. I was pretty exited to be part of it, ja ja not the easiest or craziest but i really enjoy the 2 half hours i walk my beloved rottweiler, my Cofi <3 .

  44. Had a blast–My friend and I went pretty far afield, and got our leashes pretty early, so we were sort of an advance team–Lots of people walked by saying “cute dogs” (some sarcastic, some not), and we said “thanks so much!!” As the afternoon went on, more and more folks got in on the joke, little kids would pet them, it was adorable (we walked by a girl’s birthday party on Henry, the girls were shouting out of the ice cream parlor “1-2-3-What is that FOR?!?”–They loved it).

    We were very responsible, so my friend had to hold my dog when I went into the bank. This cracked a bunch of people up. “You can’t take it inside!!” “Yep!”

    Some people got REALLY upset, though. “What’s that about?” “Just out walking our dogs” “No, really, what, is it an experiment?” “I don’t know what you mean.” “You won’t tell me, fine, whatever.” Chill out, people!!

    And we loved the guy who leaned out the window of his car? “What breed is that?” “A pug.” “And yours?” “A jack russell.” “Ah, thought so.”

    And the mom who said “ooh, That’s my favorite kind of dog.” “Thanks!”

  45. I spent most of my time some distance away from the epicenter, and it was great. There were a lot fewer of us out there, so even after an hour I was still running into people who were new to the whole idea and quite perplexed. I didn’t run into anyone who was particularly mean about it, but there were definitely some folks who didn’t get it. Great fun, thanks everyone.

  46. I only regret that they didn’t tell us about the subject in advance. I would have liked to walk my real dog along with my invisible dog.

  49. What I found interesting was how little interest most real dogs showed in the invisible dogs. Probably because there was nothing to smell!

  50. So many memorable moments!

    My favorite moment though, was right at the beginning when not many were walking around yet and we were walking in front of two boys (8-13) with a baseball bat and a tennis ball. After hearing them speak softly behind us ‘look those people must be crazy!’, I let my Princess Victoria wander off behind me, completely unaware to me of course, and try to catch the tennis ball. The boy took the ball quickly, I noticed and I told him to be careful because she loves those balls, and then told him it’s ok to pet her – she doesn’t bite. The boy looked at me for a few seconds perplexed, and then kneeled down to gently pet her head. Fantastic.

    Great day to walk your dog.

  51. One man actually kicked my dog. I said sir that is no way to treat a dog that is animal cruelty. He said there was no dog. I said sir you are sadly mistaken I have had him for over 3 years, you must be a cat person.

  52. Norman the Norwich Terrier had the best time with my group’s dogs. I swear he invisibly marked every fire hydrant and parking meter in Park Slope. Amazing, though, he never had to go #2…

    My favorite experience was a mom with a 4 or 5 year-old who approached me and Norman and said to her son, “It’s okay, honey, he won’t bite, you can pet the doggy–see, he’s friendly!” She was stealing my line and I loved it.

  53. Walking the dogs was so much fun. I loved seeing everyones reactions. They kept asking why everyone was doing this, I just kept saying I was walking mine because he needed to get out of the house for a little exercise and he needed to go to the bathroom. Cleaning up there poop, still a mess.

  55. Lady: Is this some kind of art experiment? I’ve been seeing this all day.
    Me: No…they were just giving out free dogs on Bergen Street.
    Lady: Huh?
    Me: Yeah…
    Lady: So you got an invisible dog.
    Me: Um, invisible…?

  56. Walking my dog was great. His Name was punchy. I took him to the pizzeria and also to the bank. Along the way little kids kept asking to pet him and I let them. Two people asked why everyone had invisible dogs. And i just came up with International Walk your dog day. Favorite Quotes from a girl talking on the cell “I don’t know what’s going on, everybody has an invisible dog and i feel left out!”

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/26772044@N08/3960143501/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/26772044@N08/3960919788/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/26772044@N08/3960910682/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/26772044@N08/3960910254/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/26772044@N08/3960909900/

  57. I think there was some doggie discrimination – one woman was sitting on her stoop with her kids, and she asked another agent if her kids could pet his dog. Less than a minute later she yelled at me to please not let my dog relieve herself on the tree, but to use the hydrant down the block. Unfortunately, my dog was a beagle, which meant we had to stop and smell EVERYTHING.

    I looooved watching little kids pet the dogs, although I did have a three-year-old boy inform me disgustedly that there wasn’t really a dog there. My sincere attempts to convince him that there was, he was just invisible, were fruitless.

    Several people asked what “This” was all about. I replied by looking confused and asking “what do you mean?” They’d gesture to the dog and say “THIS,” to which I’d reply, even more confused, “my dog?”

    By the end of the day passers-by were used to the dogs – they’d grumble about our lack of plastic bags, yell at us to pick up after the dogs, or talk to them.

    All in all, a very fun day :)

  58. Some jerk at CVS kicked our dog Cha-Chi in the head. So I had to nurse him back to health while my friend went inside to buy something. But this was by far my favorite encounter during today’s mission:

    Lady: Is this some sort of art experiment? I’ve been seeing these things all day.
    Me: Uh, no. They were just giving out free dogs on Bergen Street. This is Cha-Chi.
    Lady: So that’s your invisible dog.
    Me: Um, invisible…?

  59. I took the train down from Fairfield Connecticut.

    Met Nicole as I was walking out of the Gallery and we went on to walk for two hours with our dogs while talking of many many topics.

    It was a wonderful Sunday which gave me the opportunity to meet the wonderful Nicole.

    Thanks again IE and Charlie for the great time and great connections that these events create. This was my fourth mission and I hope to be in many more. When is that female mission coming? I have an idea for it but not sure how it would be executed.

    One woman with a bike became quite angry when we would not give her the answer she was looking for. I’m not sure what she wanted, we were just walking our dogs. Otherwise it was just a great collection of reactions and brought out conversations with people who would normally never talk to each other.

    Thanks again,
    Agent Liza

  60. Had a blast watching all the ‘dog walkers’ today. Funniest scene – a guy tied his real dog (sorry guys) outside Starbucks on Court St – came out and started freaking out about how he had just left a leash tied to the bench and now there was a real dog attached to it. He said ‘so THAT’S how dogs are born’. It was a fun time – people talking to each other – mostly enjoying. I confronted a couple of girls in Trader Joe’s who were bringing dog’s in there – they said they were guide dogs and got a bit huffy when I asked them if they had permit cards.

  61. I loved once it got going this guy was on his cell phone saying to someone, “Dude, there’s like 80,000 invisible dogs walking around!” HAHA!

  62. Most people were interested in knowing names, pedigrees, and most of all, where the dogs were from. Cars just remained at signals while drivers waited to hear what in hell was going on – and it took quite some honking to make sure they moved. Lots of smiles, thumbs up, and compliments for my dog Tashi – it was sad to have to give him up.

    I had to use my special invisible gloves with napkins to clean up after my dog. I was asked by many to make sure I did it properly – apparently invisible dog poo is a big problem in Brooklyn :)

    The fact that many shops made their premises “dog friendly” while we walked around was pretty awesome. Most kids wanted to pet our dogs (only one seemed to purposefully want to harm mine), and I remember talking with some other dog-walkers at Starbucks about how people just didn’t seem to see the point.

    We had people getting their dog water at Starbucks, and making a real effort to ensure the premises were not spoiled.

    All in all, brilliant fun. Brookyln never saw what was barking all afternoon :)

  63. It was so hard to keep from laughing sometimes. My favorite encounter was in Barnes & Nobles, where this one man came up to me to question the dogs:

    Men- “I have to ask what is going on?”
    Me- “I’m trying to find a Book”
    Men- “No, I mean the leash with the dog, where did you get it from?”
    Me- “Oh I bought it at Petco, I’m sure they have it at others but this one was from the one by Union Square”

    Never have I seen a guy more stomped and perplexed before lol.

    I went with a friend, we named our dogs Clinton and Hiliary, Clinton was a friendly snoodle. Got stopped by numerous people wanting to pet them, compliment the dogs, and take pictures. Even a bus driver was looking in awe of the dogs. One lady who couldn’t figure it out called us psychos!

    Good day for dog walking in Brooklyn!

  64. We encountered many odd stares and crooked smiles this afternoon while walking our dog Fluffy, an invisible three legged mutt we rescued from an ad off CraigsList. . . or so the story went.

    Most of the Brooklynites we encountered simply smiled, children yelled to their parents they wanted one too and two girls after photographing Fluffy asked if it was ok to pet her.

  65. My dog’s name was Duncan, and some lady somehow got into a conversation with me and my friend about having a child and the responsibilities of a kid.

  66. How come every passerby I encountered was totally mean to me? This also wasn’t a very fun event to go to alone =/

    • i have to agree with you on the alone part, i too went alone, but thats just more of a reason to meet new people.

      • I went by myself too. I really didnt meet anyone, but did talk to a couple people from time to time. In a way it was better to be alone because there where too many people walking invisible dogs together lol Lets try to get together one the next one!

      • I’ve been in Brooklyn for ten years, and work 75 hours a week at a construction company. Excuse me for taking two hours to have fun. Brooklyn needs less pissants like you.

  67. People got so frustrated when we wouldn’t tell them what this was for.
    “Where’d you get those?”
    “What, our dogs?”
    “Yeah, those.”
    “Jersey. We do things differently in Jersey.”

  68. Man with child in stroller: Why are you walking an imaginary dog?
    Me: (very offended) What do you mean?
    Man with child in stroller: Your dog…it’s imaginary.
    Me: How would you feel if I called your child imaginary?

  69. Bo and I had a great afternoon checking out Carroll Gardens with our 1 and 1/2 year old cocker spaniel, Dagger. I loved that local businesses got into the event putting out water bowls and “pet friendly” signs. The best experience was in Carroll Park. Several people were out walking dogs and we watched as little kids were drawn to this. One particular boy (see link) was enthralled with an invisible dog which he chased around the park and, in return, seemed to let chase him. We even had a little girl walk up to us, pet our dog and tell us she couldn’t see him.

    Pretty quickly into the mission we began seeing dog references all over the Smith St. area. We spent a lot of our afternoon snapping pictures of Dagger in front of these dog reference. Check out our pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043298&id=32000439&l=0122df2e30

    Thanks to IE for selecting a really fun event and to all the on-lookers for their priceless reactions.

  70. Once as Agent Lanz and I were walking down the street with our dogs (mine was Scooter, a Jack Russel Terrier; his was Tundra, a five-month-old Siberian Husky), we overheard a woman on her cell phone:

    “Hey, remember those videos I showed you of this group called Improv Everywhere doing the No Pants Subway Ride? Well, they’re here now, and they’re out walking hundreds of invisible dogs.”

    We found it difficult to contain our laughter. Fortunately, it was a side street, so there weren’t any other people around to tell.

    I was surprised at how many people were asking if it was some kind of protest. Some thought it was related to businesses not being dog-friendly, others thought it was related to people not cleaning up after their dogs. We informed them that no, we were just walking our dogs. Was there a protest? We hadn’t heard about it.

    The only time I broke character was when a woman came up to me and kicked Scooter in the collar. I didn’t have the gall to get angry and ask her what was wrong with her for kicking my dog. Oh well.

  71. My boyfriend and I participated in this and it was tons of fun! We had many people talk to us and a lot of stores were dog friendly. Even the old bookstore.
    Some people asked where we got our dogs and either we would say the pet shop, or down on Bergen Street. At one point I thought I was clever and said PetCo. Unfortunately they asked which PetCo.
    One person asked me how much I paid for my Rottweiler. A few people in cars even asked what was going on. One person liked my dog, another was the PetCo conversationalist.
    Another person knew that it was for ImprovEverywhere and that threw me off guard. Boo.
    This was tons of fun! And very clever.
    I feel bad though, since a bunch of people stole some of the leashes at the end of the day.

  72. whenever anyone said that our dog wasn’t real, I simply replied that we didn’t like to speak ill of the dog where she could hear.

    we were also legitimately rejected from one restaurant on the grounds that there were no dogs allowed. they didn’t break the charade so neither did we!

    so much fun! thanks guys!

  73. My favorite moment today was walking down a rather empty block and several girls came up to me asking if “that” was free and where everyone was getting them. I responded by asking what they meant by “that”… the leash? my dog?…oh they meant the dog…After a few minutes I informed them that i went to a breeder and picked one up and he was quite expensive but worth every penny. The girls looked at each other and stated “oh my god she’s crazy she thinks it’s real. lets just go”

    Thanks IE for a fun filled afternoon!

  74. I felt a bit like a celebrity because people were asking me if they could take a picture of me and my dog, Reggie. Other people were (not-so) surreptitiously taking picture with their cell phones. There were a lot of people who pretended not to notice me and my dog, but as soon as they thought I was out of ear-shot, I’d hear them commenting about what they thought was happening.

    A young girl asked me where I got my dog. I answered from the pound. Her eyes just got really wide and she walked over to her dad. As I walk away, I hear her say to her father in a loud voice, “EVERYONE is walking their INVISIBLE dogs today.”

    A woman asked me if there was a dog show going on. I shook my head and said, “I don’t know. I’m just out walking my dog.”

    Another woman told me that she had seen several people walking dogs just like mine. My eyes got really wide and I exclaimed, “Really? Wow! My dog’s a mutt, I didn’t think there were many dogs like mine.”

    My longest conversation was with a man who asked what I was doing. I insisted that I was just out walking my dog. He asked if I lived around there. I had already decided that my cover story would be that my boyfriend did in case people tried to trip me up by asking about things in Brooklyn that people who lived there should know. I walked away, but curiosity got better of this guy and he chased after me to question me further.

    “I’m just curious, but does your boyfriend have the same qualities as your dog?”

    I had a confused look on my face, “What do you mean?”

    “Is he as transparent as your dog? He isn’t real.”

    I immediately corrected him and said, “My boyfriend is real. My dog is real.” Which is true, my boyfriend is about as real as my invisible dog.

    I had a fantastic afternoon walking my dog and interacting with people with other (real) dogs and invisible dogs. I saw that a store really got into it and had a sign out saying that invisible dogs were welcome. I got a huge kick out of seeing people sitting in cafes with their invisible dogs, texting while walking their dogs, sitting on benches with their very obedient invisible dogs, and being pulled along as their invisible dogs chased after birds and squirrels.

    Fantastic mission! Can’t wait to do another one.

  76. Some cops stopped in front of me and my sister as we were about to cross the street. A crazy lady was complaining to them about all of the dogs. They said they would give us a summons if the invisible dogs got off the leash :D) lol

  77. Lady: Thats not a real dog, thank you very much.

    Me: Dont say that about my puppy please, i love him very much.

    Lady: Well im gonna bring my cat over here and shes gonna f*ck up your dog, than well see whats real and whats not.

    Me: *walks over to police officer* Officer that lady is threatening to harm my dog.

    Officer: (to Lady) Maam, please dont harass the dog, the dog is doing nothing to harm you.

    Best conversation ever, that was definitely the highlight of my day. Cant wait to participate in another mission.

  78. It was my first mission and I had a great time, I keep hearing a lot of people on their cell phones “Their are invisble dogs everywhere” And people just kept asking whats going on. I remember as we passed by one person he said “Oh my gosh there’s an other one, mashugana!” Towards the end, serveral reasturants had posted signs such as “We are dog friendly” and a few had left out “Invisible dog water” Another when we walked into a reasurtant one person said “No dogs allowed.” Then he said “I have been wanting to say that all day!” It was an amazing time.

  80. I was the first person to get a dog and one of the last to give theirs back, and my hands are killing me. I don’t think those things are designed for 2-hr continuous use.

    I got stopped by two police officers and asked what was going on/what we were doing. I answered that I was walking my dog, and told them that I got James (my dog) at a pet store. They spent a few more minutes trying to get a straight answer out of me before driving off in a huff.

    I also got interviewed by a lady who said she was with some Swedish news group. Anyone else?

  82. I remember one little girl was counting all the dogs, “82, 83, 84, 85, 86….” It was one of the funniest things of the day!

  84. In the neighborhood park, a woman leaned out and started warning a small crew of invisible dog owners to “curb those dogs, curb those dogs.”

    Also, I enjoyed a man with his kids who was walking to a friend’s house, and started to ask questions about “what we were doing” and “what this was all about”, very quizzically. Then, after he saw how much fun the children were having, decided to play along and got “bit” by an invisible terrier…

    The best interaction by far, however, was with a man with a real dog, leaning up against a bar, watching all of us parade by with our beloved unseen pets. He looked at us for a while, then called out “Those are your Facebook dogs, right? Like your Facebook friends–you can talk with them, but you never have to see them!”

  85. Four of us agents got two leashes and took turns.
    Of course, the dogs kept changing personalities (and names) depending on who was walking them. They at least stayed a consistent size– the one with the red muzzle was named Loco Bongo, or variations thereof, and was either a chihuahua or a daschund… the pink-with-black-polka-dots muzzled dog we decided to make a great dane or a saint bernard. Later she became, simply, a “Great Bernard”.
    The most disarming question to ask folks was the direction to the nearest pet store. Some would bust out an absolutely flabbergasted expression and ask “For what??”
    This was a great neighborhood to do the mission. We also ran into the crazy umbrella girl. She had already seen lots of these and was going ballistic. She ran up to poor Loco and smacked him with her umbrella. Agent Oak leapt to his aid and told her to leave our dog alone. She screamed back, “Ain’t shit there!!!” As we walked away she stormed on, “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?”
    Soon thereafter we passed a lady with her daughter. She rolled her eyes at us and we heard her mutter “Girrrl, I ain’t on that. That ain’t no dog.” We liked to pull the what-is-up-with-the-people-in-brooklyn-today card. Lots of people got on the defensive once we said that.
    Another lady was with her two kids and her own dog when she asked us, “Are those free??” We said “Well, they’re adopted. Aside from the shots they were free, yeah.” She was about to start inquiring further when her sons began petting the Great Bernard. She dropped her questions and smiled.
    Agent Oak’s most ingenious ploy: don a pair of sunglasses and have the dog lead him down the street. He changed the way he walked slightly…. it was a perfect illusion! We dropped it after a few minutes because we realized blind-walker dogs don’t really do much. We got a lot of looks nonetheless.
    Finally, we saw another pair of agents being interrogated by two policemen. We arrived just in the nick of time, and began introducing ourselves and our dogs, completely ignoring the cops. Nothing they could do! Just as we walked away the crazy dog-beater girl walked our way. She was still screaming! I informed one cop that she had been beating dogs and yelling profanities at people all afternoon and that she should be watched. I heard her scream back to me, “Shut up!!!!!”
    But the best question came back on Bergen Street where one lady asked some nearby agents, “Is that a dog or a baby?” I couldn’t restrain my laughter.
    An excellent afternoon, mission accomplished!

  88. 2 friends and I walk past an old lady with our 3 “dogs”

    Old Lady (Completely serious): “OH MY … A GHOST! IT’S A GHOST!”

  89. As I was walking Tiffle (my Pug) down Atlantic Ave, listening to my iPod, I was approached by a woman in full islamic Hijab (I could only see her eyes):

    Woman: Excuse me.

    Me: Yes?

    Woman: May I ask, what is this?

    Me: I’m sorry, what?

    Woman: What does this represent?

    Me: I don’t know what you mean.

    Woman: What are you doing with that?

    Me: Oh, he’s actually not mine.

    Woman: What?

    Me: He’s not mine, I’m just dog-sitting for a friend.

    Woman: What does this represent?

    Me: I’m sorry, what do you mean?

    Woman: Everyone has these, is it a protest?

    Me: I don’t know, I’m just out walking my friend’s dog.

    Woman: What is today? Is today significant?

    Me: (As I start to walk away, pulled by Tiffle) Um… September 27th? I don’t know what that might be, sorry!

    ***********************

    After I handed in my dog at around 4:10, there will still plenty of people walking around with dogs, and I found myself in the unique position of being able to play the innocent bystander. I asked some other apparent bystanders if they knew what all of this was, and they said “I don’t know… freaks of nature!” Lastly, as I was leaving, I asked a cop if she knew what was going on. She seemed to know about Improv Everywhere, sort of: “I guess they do stunts like this all the time. I don’t know what this one might be for though; maybe a protest against dog-walking or something.”

    This was first mission, and based on how awesome this one was, it will certainly not be my last.

      • I’m actually not on Facebook, but it was awesome riding the subway with you to and from Brooklyn! Hopefully we’ll meet again at another mission.

  90. What a great experience. I saw that woman almost get hit in the intersection as she was DWB – Driving While Befuddled.
    Favorite moments included my son running through the park trying to stop his dog from attacking the piegons – much to the chagrin of the old man feeding them.
    The looks on passersby – and some of the clever answers given to their questions.
    Q.Where’d you get that? A. A shelter on Long Island.
    Q.What’s it’s name? A. Misery
    Q.Why do you call it that? Because she’s SUCH a bitch. (took a second for that one to catch!)

    Also the guy who loudly mourned his dog getting runover. Well played.
    And beautiful afternoon for a walk with our pets. Thank you for this. See you at the next one!!!

  91. I, for one, found it a little disturbing to have a grown adult look me in the eye and tell me that he was walking his rescue dog. It was cute seeing everyone out and about, but give me a break, not one of you guys even made an attempt to clean up after your dogs. I really hope there were plans for a clean up crew, but they must be invisible because I have not seen anything.

    • I did clean up after mine :)

      He didn’t seem to be in the mood to do it much more than once though, seemed more interested marking his territory all over the place and play with all the kind strangers around..

  92. So, we had many interesting conversations and run-ins. At one point we had two people run away from us –literally– because they thought we were crazy.

    Favorite scene of the day:

    Metro PCS employee to Max: “Where’d you get that?”
    Max: “At the shelter”
    Metro PCS employee: “There’s no dog!”
    Max: “Of course there is! It’s a shitsoo.”
    Metro PCS employee: “No way! *slaps ‘dog’*”
    Loren: “OMG! Did you just slap his dog?!”

    *4 other agents come across us*

    Loren: “This man just slapped his dog!”
    Metro PCS employee: “But, but, but… there’s nothing there!”
    All agents: “We’re gonna’ report you! Animal cruelty!”
    Metro PCS employee: “*feeling helpless* You’re all crazy!” *leaves*

    Haha. I loved it! It was a great mission :).

  93. I had many people lean out of car windows to tell me that my invisible poodle, Sprinkles, had a delightful coat. A few asked how old she was.

    Everyone’s commitment to detail was fantastic — I walked past a cafe to see that there was an invisible dog seated under the table in the window, and a bowl of water had been set out for it.

    The whole experience was an utter delight.

  95. The answer for what we were doing: “There’s a dog lovers convention at the Marriott. We’re just taking a break.” And of course, where we got it, “the petshop.”
    Walked to the Brooklyn ice cream factory with another agent, where our two dogs enjoyed watching four wedding photo shoots in progress. This gave us an idea for another IE scene… stage a ridiculous number of weddings in a popular location like (apparently) the Brooklyn waterfront or the Central Park fountain.

  96. i can’t believe anyone was stupid enough to think any of the agents were serious!
    here’s my story:
    i got there at 2 to see a line that was, unsurprisingly, at least 6 blocks long
    i stood there for 20 minutes until i overheard someone explaining what the mission was. after i found out, i was very disappointed that it wasn’t “stand in a really long line and lie to everyone who asks what you’re waiting for” which would’ve been HILARIOUS.
    after i realized there were probably 1000 more people than leashes and that i was at the back, i decided to go home. on the way home i got an idea for a similar mission:
    1000 whoopie cushions on the subway.

    • If you’d like that (stand in a really long line and lie to everyone who asks what you’re waiting for), here’s a video of people who actually did that (in Amsterdam):
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wzEyHSM-IE
      It’s a line formed by a monument that is normally totally accessible for public, and all these ‘innocent bystanders’ were actually made curious and got in line as well.
      (Sorry, this is a sidestep to the actual mission at hand, but couldn’t resist such an easily fulfilled wish.)
      Too bad you didn’t hung around for this one, though! It sounds like you missed a really good mission. And you actually should have known that IE is always well-prepared.

  97. I am a middle-aged woman who was wearing a pink raincoat and a large striped floppy hat. I am usually afraid of dogs, but mine was very well behaved, except around other invisible dogs. Several people asked me where I got my “dog” and I made arrangements to give it away (not the leash) to one of them later, but they never showed up.

  98. This was so much fun, so many people actually got mad at me because I kept telling them it was such a lovely day to walk my dog on this sunday afternoon when they asked me what am I doing. My favorite part was when someone asked me what is this for in the pet store near Bergen and Smith and I said nothing special can’t a man walk his dog on a nice sunday afternoon, his reply, you must be taking some intense stuff, some pretty funny stuff. Loved it.

  99. Aw, sounds like a great mission! Good work everyone! I hope IE are doing something the next time I happen to be in New York!

  100. Had lots of similar encounters. Really enjoyed one with an older man trying to taunt another older (somewhat crazy and homeless looking) man into petting my dog. They made us wait to take a picture, and when I told him that “you’re tone is making Link antsy and we have to leave,” he looked amazed and turned to his buddy saying, “you hear that, making his dog antsy, ain’t that sumthin else!”

  101. Highlight of the day for me had to be when my friends dog got run over and we tried to save it, preforming cpr and ringing my hands in grief, thanks to the fellow dog walker who hugged me after that.

    In addition to that, my dog chased two bikes really hard today, literally causing me to spill on two separate occasions, one very publicly in front of the dunkin donuts intersection. what can i say, it was wet and my Labrador “gordon” (also known as gg) loved chasing bikes.

  102. Man, oh man! I was out of town, I can’t believe this went on in my neighborhood and I missed it!
    Agent Todd -at this point, Commander Todd-, once again you surpassed yourself. Fan-freakin´-tastic!

  103. Our dog, Spotless, drew a lot of comments. A woman asked where we go him, Abby said we imported him from Germany. She said, yeah, that’s what everybody’s saying.

    Another woman asked us in broken English what the purpose of doing this was. We told her the dog needs to walk, so he can go to the bathroom. “I no understand.”

    It was sad to have to give Spotless back. GREAT FUN!!

  104. I went alone today and actually had a great time. It’s amazing how many people you meet just walking a dog!

    My pooch was a micro-poodle, and anytime someone complained that they couldn’t see him I was sympathetic: he is a very small dog.

    MTA Guy: What’s this all about?
    Me: You mean all the people out walking their dogs today? I know! It’s weird. Guess that’s when happens when it’s Sunday and the rain stops.
    MTA Guy: …yeah, right. So what’s your dog’s name?
    Me: Schrödinger. Schrodie for short. You can pet him, he’s friendly.

    And then I tried to explain Schrödinger’s Cat to him, and ended up just sounding really nerdy and lame. I guess naming my dog Schrodie was nerdy and lame to begin with.

    Everyone I met fell into one of three categories:

    1. befuddled but friendly
    2. totally indifferent
    3. played along without batting an eye

    As I strolled by a hospital, I saw a few stressed faces crinkle into smiles. One woman called out, “I used to have one just like yours!” One guy asked if I was lonely.

    A gentleman in his Sunday best stopped and said “They’re a great breed, aren’t they? So quiet and well behaved. Hardly eat anything.”

    One father coaxed his young daughter into petting my dog. “Look, see? There he is! Look at those big ears!” A woman watching from a storefront said, “You tell him, ‘Daddy, you’re a liar! I know I don’t see nothin’!'”

    Favorite moment: a jogger with her (visible) Great Dane was waiting at an intersection when we approached, and for about two seconds the dog actually behaved as though a smaller dog had come up to it! And then it looked *really* confused. I couldn’t keep from laughing all the way down the block. Really wish that had been caught on video!

    Thanks IE for putting together a mission for anyone & everyone to participate. And kudos to the agents who went all-out. Every time I saw your dog chasing after squirrels, or getting picked up, or being scolded, you kept me from chickening out.

  105. My favorite personal convo of the day:

    Woman: Excuse me, what’s happening?

    Me: We’re just running some errands with our dog.

    Woman: No, is this one of those mob things?

    Me: What?! I’m SO NOT in the mob!

  106. My favorite was the mother sitting on the stoop with her young kids and their friends. They had obviously noticed something going on and decided to get out and watch it and have fun playing along with us.

  108. My favorite moment was when I was standing outside the smoothie store.

    Guy: Are they giving those out for free?
    Me: No, I had to pay for the smoothie.
    Guy: (wandering away disgustedly) Man, *everybody* is in on this.

  109. I found the variety of responses to be pretty interesting. I had an extended conversation with a nice woman at Dunkin Donuts about my dog and my friends’ dogs, and she played along very convincingly. Then there were the people who were totally confused and walked away with a “huh” look on their face. And there were the ones who wanted us put in insane asylums. “They need doctors” was my favorite whispered remark from these people. But regardless of the response, the reactions were all satisfying.

  110. My friend was very happy to kick three of these puppies. I did the yelps and the people across the street laughed. The dog walkers were very upset. LOL!

  111. What a great experience. Thank you, IE. My favorite moments were:
    My son being pulled by his dog around the park chasing pigeons – the old man feeding them was pissed. Whaddayagonnado?
    And lots of great looks and lines yesterday.
    Man: Where’d you get that?
    Invisible dog-walker: (holding up coffee cup – “Starbucks!” then walked away.)
    ALSO: Woman playing along: “Awww..he’s cute, what’s his name?”
    A: It’s a female and I call her “Miserable”
    Q: How’d you come up with that?
    A: Because that’s the kind of bitch she is.
    Took a minute for that to catch – but great!

    Lots of other great ones to – Oh – and at the end of the day, the guy whose invisible dog got “run over.” That was quick thinking – very funny scene!

    Freakin’ awesome!!! I’m so glad we made it out. that was our first IE experience. I look forward to many more. Thank you for you using your imagination to create these “positive New York moments”
    Cheers!

  112. What an amazing day. Shows what can happen when people collaborate in good spirit. Thanks from No Longer Empty to everyone who participated and special thanks to Keith and Lucien.

  113. A lot of fun moments. We stopped at a place on Smith for some beers. We asked for a table and the host said, “No dogs inside, I’m sorry! But you can sit outside at the tables around the corner, and the dogs can play.”. We tipped him well.

    Also at one point our dogs started interacting with a confused visible Corgie (sp?). Another agent came by and asked the owner what kind of dog his was. The owner said it was a Corgie, and the agent said, “Oh. Mine’s a Corgie too.”

    A really fun time overall. We named our dogs and their personalities (Lucy, the most well-behaved, Ophelia, the ill-behaved Labradoodle puppy, and Mahmoud, the small, dictatorial but ultimately needy miniature Doberman. Great mission!!

  114. It was a mix of positive and negative reactions. People with children would have their kids play with my dog while other people would pretend to kick it or start yelling out negative things as we would walk by to get attention. I had a great time watching reactions and interacting with our dogs and real dogs alike. Until next time…

  115. I had Vinnie, while Agent Suba walked with me with Sugar.

    Favorite exchange:

    Woman: Why do you all have those?

    Me: Companionship.

    Woman: Why are there so many people walking them?

    Me: It’s a popular breed, I guess. Purse dogs were a big thing, and I guess invisible is the new fad.

    Woman: Fine, don’t tell me. (walks away muttering) Weirdness.

    Also I told several people I adopted Vinnie from a store called ‘Clearnines’ at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Street.

    Thanks everyone, we had a blast!

  116. Oh, what a tickle yesterday afternoon was!I came in from New Haven, CT to participate and as I knew it would, the mission details made the travels more than worthwhile. My little invisi-cairn terrier (a rare breed indeed!), Lulu, and I had a grand time strolling the streets in Brooklyn. The people, dogs, and other invisi-breeds we met! Brilliant.

    I was struck by a few things – 1)how many people played off that what they were seeing was completely within the realm of the norm… 2)how many people had pet theories regarding the motivation for the urban prank: “is this part of a campaign?” “Where’s the nearest pet store? Are you all promoting it?” “I know! Those aren’t invisible dogs but invisible iguanas!” “Is this an animal rights demonstration? Are these, like, ghost dogs?” 3)how many people were obviously dying to ask what was going on, but somehow couldn’t – so sad! 4)how good humored most of the “un-leashed” folks were about the hijinx and 5) the glee factor, I love anything that promotes glee!

    After some serious puppy strolling in the streets, I worked up quite a thirst and stopped by CVS. There were a few other folks with invisi-dogs waiting to pay, we struck up a conversation, one woman working at CVS got involved and said with amusing sincerity – “I’m sorry, we really don’t allow dogs in here…”

    Another young family with a black Labradoodle was debating asking what was going on as I was crossing a street. Finally they plucked up courage – and asked. They asked what breed my dog was and what her name was. When I answered – Cairn Terrier and her name is Lulu – they all chorused “Oh my gosh, our dog is Lulu, too!” So, the Lulus got to share a moment. The Labradoodle actually came over and sniffed the empty harness!

    Thanks, Improv Everywhere, for creating such carnival fun for participant and observer alike!

    Here are some photos, bear with the iPhone camera lack of quality:

    http://picasaweb.google.com/quinnerrr/ImprovEverywhereInvisibleDogExperiment?feat=directlink

    Agent Robin and Lulu signing off…

  118. After purchasing ice cream in a bodega where the cashier ignored the dogs altogether, we were stopped on the street by a woman who had already encountered other invisible dogs. She asked how much they are. I said well I got my puppy at the pound, but I heard that the leases are available online for $5.99, or any pet shop has leashes. She was confused and irritated but laughing.

  121. As a resident of the neighborhood who saw this all yesterday, you just looked stupid. We guessed immediately that it was an improv everywhere stunt. Congrats on confusing old people and moms.

    You all walked around looking smug with your stupid leashes. Nice work idiots.

    Holy sh*t you really blew a lot of minds yesterday, man! Keep up the amazing work!

    • You figured it out right away? Sweet! Keep up the amazing work.
      Seriously though – i wasn’t smug at all. I was pretty miserable and cynical. Too bad you didn’t stop and talk to me. We have alot in common. Lots of small children seemed to get a kick out of it. But making kids happy is dumb.
      g-r-r-r-r-r-r-r (that’s my angry growl)
      Now go zip up…your coolness is showing ;-)

  122. Yo! You may remember me as the dude with the ears hat.

    I saw this frantic lady on the phone trying to explain to her friend that a bunch of insane people were wandering around Brooklyn. There was also a kindly old woman who said that she had never seen invisible dogs in forever. Can you say “kitsch”?

  123. A man was talking to himself as he walked passed me saying, “All these people are walking around with invisible dogs like its normal… and they say I’M the crazy one!?”

  124. There was this young girl walking around that asked what was wrong with us and tried to tell everyone that past by with an invisible dog that they were crazy.i told the girl it was sad that she couldn’t see all the cute puppies walking around and she just rolled her eyes and left. i did see the young girl again still yelling at people walking the invisible dogs.

    so many people stopped to ask what was going on so my friend and i just said that it was a nice day to walk your dog. To the question of where i got the invisible dog i simply replied that i had adopted him that afternoon from a shelter.

  125. You people are incredibly lame. Pat yourselves on the back some more for being extremely annoying. If it was a decent idea, I would at least give you credit for that.

    • Not surprisingly the negative comments start showing up only minutes after the mission is featured on Gothamist– home to the most cynical commenters in the world!

      • People who are from Brooklyn don’t like when smug assholes move into their neighborhood and pollute the culture with lame stunts like this.
        Move back to wherever you came from originally. Brooklyn was better before you moved here and ruined it for the rest of us.
        Someone needs to put your hipster/yuppie ass in place. Go choke.

  127. I tend to like the stuff you guys do, but this one? Really? Saw some of you guys and this doesn’t come close to some of the cool stuff you’ve done. What’s next? Backwards outfit day? Silly hats on the subway? You’re all better than this.

  128. Two children pet my dog…one said that he was very nice. The other was very nervous because he couldn’t feel anything.

  130. I just remembered another story.
    There was a guy who seemed to be a Constitution worker playing along.

    Waiting to cross the street.
    HEY YOUR DOG. CLEAN UP AFTER IT.
    I apologized and told him I forget a bag to pick it up.
    He kept pushing.
    YOU GOTTA CLEAN THAT UP.

    I grabbed a paper bag from white castle from the ground nearby.
    Pretended to pick up dog crap and then through it in the waste basket.

    Twas fun’

  131. A couple of really funny dialogues happened today as I was taking my Poochy for a walk.
    ———-
    “Hey you!, Am I missing something?”-guy in a moving truck
    “Yeah, a dog!”-me
    ———-
    “Hey I like your dog!”-me, to another Agent
    “It’s not a dog, it’s a cat, can’t you see?”- Agent
    “That’s one ugly cat”- me
    ———-
    “Hey, you! Where did you get that?”- Lady
    “Um.. the dog?”-me
    “No, the leash!”-lady
    “Oh, petco!”-me
    “Are they giving those out for free?”-lady
    “Um..no, I’m pretty sure 100% off sales still don’t exist.”-me
    ———-
    “Those are from the 70’s you know”- Other Lady
    “What, dogs?”-me
    “No, the leash. It’s a toy.”-Other lady
    “Oh, no, I’m pretty sure leashes have been around for centuries. I think they were first dated back to ancient china.”-me
    ———-
    “I like your invisible dog” -Man
    “Just because my dog is just a little smaller than other dogs doesn’t mean you can consider invisible” -me
    “But there’s nothing there…”-Man
    “Where do you get off?”- me
    ———-
    “Hey, why are you just carrying leashes around?” me to a couple walking real dogs.
    *Weird looks from the couple.*
    ———-
    “I’m going to have to write you up for not carrying around pooperscoopers for your dog.” -creepy guy
    “Oh no, you got us!” – my group
    “Next time that happens, you should lie about having bags in your pocket. It’s not like they’re going to check anyway.” -creepy guy

  133. Alot of funny things happened. One was when the mission first started. I went into a Chinese restaurant. The hostess asked me what I was doing, and I just said I was walking my dog. There was a little tree my dog Jerry was sniffing. The hostess whispered something into a waiter’s ear and then like 5 employees were just staring at me. The owner asked what I was doing, I told him I was walking my dog. They all looked at each other like I was crazy, and then I just left, leaving them befuddled.

    Another time, a guy came up to me and he said “Look! I have asked 30 people whats going on and I can’t get a straight answer! PLEASE! Can you tell me whats going on??!” I just said, “What do you mean? Im just walking my dog” And he looked up at the sky and screamed “THATS IT! I GIVE UP! THE WORLD HAS GONE MAD!”

  134. This was so fun! I especially loved how so many adults were so perplexed and frustrated about not getting the answer they wanted, but the kids were SO INTO IT, saying “PUPPY” when we passed by. Hilarious.

    One woman asked, “are you actors?” We go to an acting school in the city, but of course we looked very confused, and she just sighed and said “Yeah, yeah, you’re actors but you don’t know what that has to do with walking your dog. Alright. Fine.”

    There were also a lot of people asking where we got “those” from. “My dog, Buster?” was the usual reply.

    Not gonna lie – I felt a little sad when I had to give Buster back.

  136. I’ve been a big fan of Improv Everywhere, but this bit was retarded. And I apologize to my retarded friends for comparing them to a bunch of mindless dilettantes with nothing better to do. You all should look in to volunteering.

  137. I had a blast with my dog Katie. She and a real dog ran around in circles sniffing each other. It was great. There was also a store that left out a bowl of water and one of biscuits for the invisible pets. Katie communed there with some other friends who needed treats. lol

  138. One conversation I had:

    Crazy Guy: That your dog?
    Me: Yeah.
    Crazy Guy: Oh. I use Zoloft.

    I guess he meant that instead of walking around with an invisible dog, he chooses to heavily medicate himself.

    • I walked by and overheard you telling someone that on your cell. I thought that was the funniest thing I had heard all day, and even lied and told people that it had happened to me. Yeah, I’m lame.

  139. Chunky was a bichon yorkie with a spotted collar, and this one dog froze when he saw my Chunky, then just freaked out as if to say “YOU KNOW-YOUKNOW WHAT? WTH?? WHERE.ARE.YOU!!” and just kept going on and on…

    yeah, we wandered off onto clinton and people were just like “no seriously”- and i lived in this area as a kid, i know how conservative carroll gardens can get.

    it was kind of sad when a mother asked us from across the street where we got the dogs, and i said from the pound about a year ago, and her child just broke down in tears… it was kind of awkward :(

    the best was the italian family in black suits in Sal’s pizza saying “THEY’RE ALL MORONS, those artsy people, look at them!”
    “Well, they’re REAL dogs, thank you very much” I said, walking out with my tray. They were shocked.
    good times

  140. I walked one train station back and took my dog on a train. People inside thought that I’m crazy. Not until they walked out with me on the next stop and saw hundreds of people walking invisible dogs. You could read on their faces that they started questioning their own sanity :)

    • Next time get in the tracks and lie down.
      All of you hipster assholes think this is so cute. Maybe stunts like this were amusing on the quad of your liberal arts college or in your bumblefuck nowhere home town. In Brooklyn it makes you looks like smug assholes. Your ruining the city.
      I hate you all.

  141. We had 25-30 of us from our dorm at NYU come to take part in this. It was some hilarious stuff! The reactions from many of the people were amazing, and it was so worth walking around in the 100% humidity.
    Some of the reactions from the little kids were priceless. Another great event by Improv Everywhere!

  142. I hate what this neighborhood has become. I grew up on smith street in the early 90’s and people had some common sense. Over the past 10 years a wave of hipster and yuppie scum has contaminated a neighborhood I used to be proud of. You people are why I’m ashamed of being from Brooklyn. Maybe stunts like this were funny on the quad of your liberal arts college, but in Brooklyn it makes you don’t look like a pretentious asshole. Try doing something with your lives other than living off of mommy and daddy’s money. Embrace the community you move into and don’t try and change it. Believe it or not, some people liked this neighborhood before the yuppie/hipsters invaded.

    You all make me sick. I hate you. Move back to whatever state you are from.

  144. The girl handing out the invisible dogs assumed that the fellow in front of me and i had arrived together, and only gave us one leash. I ended up walking around with him for two hours, talking about very random things that seemed relevant at the time, as he showed me around brooklyn and made me realize how much more i had to explore (considering i just recently moved to manhattan for college from tennessee). I am now hoping to move next year, and dont feel so out of place (i liked brooklyns vibe a lot :).

    though i’m usually really awkward, it was nice walking around with a total stranger in a strange environment.

    Our bulldogs name was Giuseppe, he was such a good boy. a little fat though, I tried to explain to Dan that he needed to stop feeding him so many peanuts.

    Thanks, and can’t wait for the next mission :)

  145. I had lots of amusing run-ins with the invisible dogs.

    The dog-owners were amazing at keeping up the act, and I was totally confused by the “invisible dog convention,” as my husband and I termed it. Later, when I found out the scoop (no pun intended), I was totally jealous that I didn’t get one!

    I blogged about the bizarre and fantastic day here:
    http://doubleawk.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/invisible-dogs-in-brooklyn/

    Really well done, everyone! Thanks so much for a fun afternoon in my neighborhood!

  146. One of my first interactions was asking an older gentleman with two visible dogs, where the nearest dog park was. While he was explaining to me, in stone-cold seriousness, that it was quite a distance away, his own personal K-9 unit decided to attack my well-behaved phantom pooch. We both restrained our beasts and luckily, Sparky got away without a scratch. Phew!

  147. I had such a great time! I held my leash really high because I had a Great Dane. Amazing how many people picked up on it.

  148. Idea: very cool
    Execution: very lame

    Like 90% of the people we saw walking around our neighborhood were not acting like there was a dog on that leash. They were just holding them and walking, not once getting pulled to a tree, stopping and telling the dog to sit while waiting for a light to change, etc. It really made me sad to see so many people half-assing what could have been a very cool performance.

    To the 10% of you we saw really giving it your all, congrats! You added a fun change of pace to our normally quiet ‘hood.

  149. My friend and I walked into a nice little Italian restaurant with our dog Gonzo, a slightly malnourished Italian Greyhound (his choice obviously). I asked the cute Polish waitress if it was alright to bring our dog in there. Her eyes bugged out a bit, but she said “sure, we love dogs!” After sitting us down, she brought over a water dish for Gonzo. Which attracted a lot of other invisible dogs walking down the street. As we were leaving the place (after leaving a nice large tip for her graciousness), I saw her standing outside the restaurant, yelling at a girl walking her invisible dog to pick up after him, that she didn’t want her customers getting grossed out by invisible poop. If I was a guy I would have proposed to her right there.

  150. One woman pushing a carriage got pissed.

    – what’s up with all the dogs? what are you doing?
    – the sun came out…just walking my dog.
    – OH. THANKS A LOT. YOU’RE REALLY A FRIENDLY NEW YORKER…
    – (takes 5 steps and turns back) YOU’RE DOG JUST BIT MY BABY!

  151. It was so much Fun.
    My Dog’s name was Rocco and he was a
    High Bred Pitbull Terrier who liked to chase squirrels and pigeons.
    He also had a sparkly gold leash which everyone wanted to have.
    The reactions were people thought we were crazy were very interesting.
    Things like
    “You guys be smoking that wrong kind of weed”
    or
    “Those shrooms must be kicking in about now”
    or
    “Ima Bring out my invisible cat”

  152. I got “dog” early on so I had the better part of two and a half hours to wander the streets of Brooklyn.
    The reactions early on were terrific, but i think what was most rewarding was the interactions with people that were already worn down.
    I was approached probably twice on every street.
    I stuck to my story stating simply that i thought everyone was out walking their dogs because of the unpredictable weather, and nobody was sure if the rain would hold off. Most people would either walk away frustrated that they couldn’t get more information out of me, or simply nod that it made perfect sense.

    One of my personal favorite moments was towards the beginning of my walk passing a bar and a man came out and had to take a double glance, and proceeded to count his fingers as if trying to figure JUST how many drinks he had.

    So much fun!

  153. I was the last person, age 6, to return my dog, Ginger, a dalmatian. Thank you so much for letting me keep her and her leash. She enjoyed the movie we went to and only one person said, “No dogs allowed in the theater”.

  155. What a awesome project my sister and I got such a kick out of asking people what it was all about and getting hilarious responses. Nice way to bring strangers together.

  156. I met Agent Wakeley not long after leaving the warehouse, and we starting walking our dogs together. After people began to ask about them, we decided we needed a cover story, and fast. So…

    Spectator: “Where did you get that?”

    Us: “The dog? We brought them here from Seattle, we just moved here last week.” (Agent Wakeley actually was from Seattle, though he had been in NY for somewhat longer.)

    The funny part? That explanation seemed to satisfy a lot of people. The Pacific Northwest must be a rather mystical place to New Yorkers.

    We had children who were confused as to what exactly they were supposed to be seeing (especially if their parent [playing a long with the joke] asked them what a nice dog it was.) There was a car that told us (after we convinced them that we were just walking our dogs) that they had just pooped at the corner and that we had to pick it up. Perhaps the most interesting were actual dog owners, whose attitudes varied wildly, from irritation, to apathy, to good-natured (and occasionally even played along, we had one dog who was trying to sniff the butt of our invisible dog.)

    Some people really just couldn’t handle it though, including more than a few people giving us pitying looks as we passe dby. But, by and large, people laughed and joked with us, and we managed to bring more than a few smiles out of the people we met. Mission accomplished!

  157. i was working that day (uncle louie’s on smith and atlantic) when i seen 2 people walk by with the leashes i broke my neck to look and then saw another 5 people haha i started to believe i was the crazy one. i was taped in the video hope to see it soon my friend actually took a couple of pics heres the link to the photobucket account its all on check it out :]

    http://s945.photobucket.com/albums/ad297/unclelouiegirl123/

  158. A conversation..

    Mother: “May I ask..What’s going on with this?” She points to Freddy, my dog. She’s with her small son who seems intrigued by my and Agent Ayre’s dogs – Sparky and Freddy.

    Agent Daddona: “With what?”

    Mother: “This. This!” Again, she points to Freddy (he’s a little offended by all the pointing)

    Agent Ayres: “Our dogs?” The mother nods in response. “Oh, we’re just taking them for a walk.”

    Mother: “No, no.. What is this for?!” She’s getting annoyed now.

    Agent Daddona: “They’re our pets. The weather cleared up so we decided to get together to take them for a walk.”

    Mother: “Whatever.” She tugs at her son and they walk away.

  159. My friends arrived at 2:10 and had to stand the huge line curving around the block. I remember the first moment when I saw a fellow agent walk by with his invisible dog. I actually thought it was a new kind of walking aide for the blind! It was only until we saw 10 or so other people about that people around me started guessing that this was the mission. Even though I was an agent myself, I actually didn’t believe that was the real mission for a while – it just goes to show how surprising must be for people who have no clue what’s going on!

    We worked out our back stories while waiting in line. I had an English bulldog named Daniel, who was quite stocky and a bit out of shape. If anyone ever asked where we got “those,” I replied that Daniel was from a breeder upstate, while my friends’ were from the shelter.

    Our favorite moments were with people who tried to get us to “just drop the act and tell us what’s going on,” or said, “But I don’t get it. What does it symbolize?” to which my friend replied – “Just walking a dog…”

    Three little girls started walking next to us and asked us if she could hold one leash for a while. They all wanted invisible dogs of their own. After we took our dogs back, the three of them used their own creativity and started holding out their little umbrellas like leashes, and told us stories about their dogs too. “My dog’s name is Marigold!” They walked alongside us for a good 5 blocks, making little barking sounds and running around with their pet umbrellas.

    • Another boy kept insisting that our dogs weren’t real. Finally when we got up closer to him, he reached down and swiped his hand under the leash, and yelled victoriously, “See, I KNEW it wasn’t real!”

  160. My son and I were wandering the neighborhood with “Miley” and “Lily”, and it was all fairly serene and reasonably predictable.
    But then, we wandered up to Atlantic Avenue, and it all became much more exciting. Cars were pulling over, including one guy who asked “Is this an Improv Everywhere thing?” I had to tell him, and we was bummed that he was missing a chance to participate, right in his neighborhood.
    Then a cab driver pulled over and started laughing and yelling to us, and I really couldn’t understand a word he was saying.
    And then the best part: an MTA bus pulled over to the curb and the driver opened the door and said “What’s the deal with those?” I said “With what?” She said “Why is everybody walking those things?” We said “It finally stopped raining.” She laughed, and as she pulled away, all the people on that side of the bus were laughing and waving out the window. A great New York monment. BTW, I didnt see anybody get on or off the bus, and I’m not even sure there was a bus stop there. I think she actually stopped a transit bus just to ask about the prank. It was hilarious.
    Two people did stop us and ask if this was some kind of protest, and, two days later, I still can’t think of something that I’d protest by walking an invisible dog around a farily quiet neighborhood.
    Our thanks to the organizers and all who participated. It was our first mission, and great fun.

  162. LOL This is funny !!! I enjoyed all of the comments, especially the blind guy !!! I used to have one years ago and it sure was a fun thing for a while ! This event/mission looked so cool and a simple & fun day ! Thanks for the laughs !

  163. Oh come on, enough with the negitives, I think most of us had fun, hey even some reasurants played along. What really terrible thing happened by us having a little fun? Its just improv everywhere doing its job. You people hate us for walking an invisible dog?

    • It sounds innocent enough.
      Sure.

      But, you are annoying the hell out of people who would rather have a peaceful weekend.

      We don’t hate you for walking your invisible dogs.

      We hate you for forcing us to play pretend with you.
      We hate you for forcing us to give you attention.

      I want to walk down the street free from having to act out a scene with a drama school reject/graduate and their invisible dog.

      Can you understand that you waste people’s time?
      And, that more than a few people might not enjoy that?

      • Dude, chill. If you get annnoyed by us having fun, ignore us. Because nobody is interested in listening to your whiney crybaby objectin to fun.

  164. First I saw the leashes and thought that perhaps my eyes were doing something really weird!! I asked one women if I could take a picture of her dog; she told me that it was a cat. I said “you walk your cat?” She said yes, but that she’d been getting a lot of strange looks. What fun!!

  166. I liked when the role of the odd man out switched and about 5 of us are standing around with our invisible dogs and a visible dog walks by and we all just stare in wonder and ask… What the heck is that… where did you get it… what is it for…
    Great day thanks so much!

  167. I wish somebody could tell me how to properly define what a “hipster” is. I am never really sure if I am one or if I’m not and should be angry at the actual “hipsters” for destroying my Brooklyn neighborhood. If I am one than I’m sorry for my evil ways. If I’m not one then die you zany hipster ass-hats!

  169. You guys suck.

    You are a nuisance. New York City is not your college quad. It is not your playground.

    It is neighborhoods and families and businesses.

    One of you simpletons went into a Veterinary Clinic with your “dog” and got in the way of real business being conducted. As well as distracting vets from helping REAL animals.

    The rest of New York does not think this type of nonsense is clever or cool. We do not wish to be forced to play pretend with you. We do not want to acknowledge your desperate pleas for attention.

    We do not care if you did not get enough attention from your daddies and mommies.

    You need to understand that a great deal of the people witnessing your invasion of their usual peaceful weekend were bristling with anger beneath the surface.

    Crappy basement theaters were made for this type of stuff, for two reasons:
    1. So the rest of the world does not have to see you.
    2. To protect you from the rest of the world.

      • You cannot ignore it when you jackasses are shoving these things in people’s faces.

        The worst part were the morons who went into Vet Clinics, distracting people from doing their job of actually helping real animals is not cool.

        Not cool or fun or funny at all.

        • You are not putting forth a very good arguement. After all, if a real dog REALLY needed immediate attention, the vets would do their job. From the way you keep going on and on, one would think that you don’t now the meaning of ‘fun’.

  171. This one is not easy for me. I’m not that imaginative, so it’s really hard for me to visualize that there’s a dog there. But I notice a new place to chill if I ever get bored. There are so many real dogs in that section.

  172. I walked my dog with a friend and we got many different reactions. A customer at Duane Reade was pretty upset at the fact that his sister’s well-trained dog couldn’t come in the store but ours could. An ignorant girl asked us if we knew we were walking air. We said we were walking our dogs. She didn’t like this response and proceeded to hit my dog with her umbrella as I yelled at her to stop abusing my dog. Some people were really into the idea and would pet our dogs and talk to them. Some people wanted to know if we were doing this to raise awareness for some organization. Our response to any question regarding what we were doing was that it stopped raining and we just decided to bring the dogs on a walk. We told them we were happy to see so many people in Brooklyn walking their dogs as well. We even got different responses from non-invisible dogs. Some were very curious and interested in interacting with our dogs while others just stared as if caught off guard. We brought our dogs into a pet store, but in Barnes and Noble we were told that we had to remain on the first floor because dogs weren’t aloud on the second floor. When we tried to bring our dogs into a furniture store one of the employees jumped up literally 5 seconds after we entered and told us that we would have to leave because they didn’t allow dogs. We told people we got our dogs at local humane societies and that the leashes were from PetCo. My dog was an Akita named Thadeus. My friends was a Husky named Scruffy. They were both very friendly dogs.

  174. OOOOOHHHHH MMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSHHHH, that sounds so fun, I wish I woulc’ve known about this!

  176. My dog, Fifi (it was a “he”, btw) was a chiweener (Chihuahua and weener dog mix).

    He was seriously the most ADHD dog I met (i still have a blister on my finger from shaking the leash all day). hahahha awesome times!

  180. Hi, however much I search in Internet I don´t find absolutely anything similar to an imaginary strap to the sale. I have searched in Spanish, in English, as invisible dog … and nothing of nothing … I FIND TO THE SALE ANY IMAGINARY STRAP IN ANY SITE. Can help me? Some key word, the brand(mark) of these straps, his technical name…something. I am feeling sick of seeking and asking and nobody knows anything. He would be grateful for it to you indeed, I take it searching for time, I am from Madrid (Spain); though if they sell them in Australian also it is worth the information me.
    Many graces in advance.
    Thank you, a greeting and happy year.

    • My Spanish is awful – the English phrase you want is “invisible dog LEASH.”

      They are on amazon.com, but I don’t know about shipping.

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