While I was in Brooklyn visiting my daughter and granddaughter, we went each morning to a dog play and exercise community in Fort Greene Park, which opens up a huge stretch of parkland to off-leash dogs every morning.

This was a testament to the adaptability of dogs  and the love and responsibility of some dog lovers. There were at least a hundred people there with dogs,  and it was clear that the dogs had adapted to their life in the city.

When I lived in New York City (I lived there at three different times in my life) the notion of dogs in the city was controversial and widely frowned upon.

People didn’t like dog poop on the sidewalks – there was a lot, nobody picked it up then – and many people thought it cruel to have dogs in confined urban spaces. People who walked dogs and didn’t clean up were fined heavily when caught, and very few apartment houses accepted dogs in all.

In Emma’s neighborhood three different new condo and apartment buildings actually have dog play areas build onto the basement, the roof, or on lower floors. Most apartments happily accept dogs.

The old resistance to dogs have changed. Dog owners are a powerful political force in the city, and few politicians will mess with them.

There are dog poop receptacles everywhere and many city parks have off-leash running times. Emma’s dog Sandy had some regular pals she hooked right up with and the dogs took off and roamed widely and freely through the dog areas of the park, which are huge.

The dogs were surprisingly well-behaved, they all came when called, treated one another respectfully. Emma said there are occasionally some yahoos with untrained or aggressive dogs, they are quickly shooed away by the vigilant and surprisingly responsible dog owners.

I know there are many dangerous and poorly trained dogs (and people) in the city, hundreds of children, mostly in poorer neighborhoods, undergo facial reconstruction and surgery due to dog bites. In the upper class sections of the city, that seems  rare.

Class and money seem to permeate every aspect of American life.

Dogs have been living with people for more than 14,000 years if you follow the cave drawings, they are the most adaptable of all animal species, they have figured out how to live with people, and they are smart enough to know what they need to do to survive in a world where many species are being wiped out or are dying from climate change.

Sandy gets to run with her pals once or twice every day, in all kinds of weather. I was happy to see how healthy and content and well trained the dogs in the park were on the two mornings I saw them.

Dogs are moving ever more steadily and deeply into American lives.