Our Annual Dog Issue: September 2026

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Editor’s Note

Wishing it was a Dog’s World

I have always been a fan of cartoons in The New Yorker magazine, many of which touch on dogs. One of my favorites shows a man in a comfortable armchair reading a book entitled “How to be your own best friend.”
His dog, sitting nearby, is scowling at him.

Anyone who knows the magic of dog ownership gets that one – because dogs are their best friends. Always overjoyed to see you, always happy to be with you, always ready to listen, and always ready to fight to
defend you.

Another New Yorker cartoon I love depicts a wedding line, where guests are shaking the hands of the bride’s relatives. In the receiving line is a dog, shaking hands with a somewhat surprised wedding guest. A woman standing to the side says to her friend: “Well, they consider him a member of the family.

That’s another thing any canine owner gets: the dog is a member of the family, period. They eat with you, sleep with you, travel with you, and losing a dog is as painful as losing a relative – sometimes, oddly enough,
even more so.

pooch cartoons is of three dogs standing together, meeting under the shade of a tree. One looks a little disgruntled. The caption reads: “Speaking personally, I haven’t had my day, and I’ve never met any dog who has.”

That explains, just a little bit, why we publish a special Dog Issue each year. It’s our chance to give dogs their day. Coral Gables is a community filled with dog owners, each crazy about their pets. None of us (yes, I own and adore a dog) wants to see any harm come to our animals, and nothing rouses our indignation
more than seeing a dog mistreated – or abandoned, alone and frightened. It speaks to our sense of justice in the universe, that any creature so purely innocent and transparent in their affection and loyalty (they all just want “to be good”) should be wronged, bullied or harmed is a mortal sin. Nothing is more repugnant than cruelty to animals.

Fortunately, there are many here among us who understand this ethical imperative. And nothing is quite as heartwarming as flipping through Instagram videos and watching the endless parade of people of all
ages sharing affection with their dogs. As one canine lover put it to me, this gives us hope for the human race.

JP Faber
Editor-in-Chief
Coral Gables Magazine