Dog Museum Opens Feb. 8

Sit! Stay! Dog lovers and art fanatics have a new destination in NYC when the Museum of the Dog opens in midtown.

Nearly 200 canine-theme artworks will be on display, including paintings of White House dogs, 18th century figurines, when depicting dogs in art became popular,  and a 30-million-year-old dog fossil.

Interactive exhibits teach about the traits of nearly 200 breeds, and there’s a 15,000 book library of all things dog.

Likely the most popular feature will be the the “Find Your Match” kiosk lets you snap a photo to discover which breed your face resembles most.

Get discount tickets now for The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in Madison Square Garden, Feb 11 and 12.  It’s the 143rd consecutive show — making it the second-longest-running sporting event in the United States, behind only the Kentucky Derby.

Discount tickets are $35, which is nearly $20 less than the walk-up price.

A two-day discount pass is $60, which is nearly $30 less than the walk-up price.

On the top floor of the dog museum, there will be an interactive puppy training exhibit.

“We have a very sophisticated work where we took a 10-month-old Labrador Retriever and put her in a motion capture suit and had her go through her basic obedience drills,” museum director Alan Fausel told the American Kennel Club. “Then we transferred that to a screen where you can actually train the avatar of that dog in real time through voice and hand signals.”

The museum officially is called the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog, and it’s housed in the AKC headquarters office building a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal, in a glassy and glossy street-level space.

The dog museum opened in NYC originally in 1982, then moved to St. Louis a few years later.  But like a loyal pooch that wandered off, it has found its way home again.

To mark its homecoming, the first exhibit is “For the Love of All Things Dog.”

Artwork includes Christine Merrill’s painting of George H.W. and Barbara Bush’s dog Millie, and by 18th century so-called “dog artists” Sir Edwin Landseer, Maud Earl, and Arthur Wardle, who also painted cats, and one of photographer William Wegman’s whimsical images of Weimaraners in humanlike situations (in this case, canoeing)..

The museum is in the Kalikow Building at 101 Park Avenue, where the American Kennel Club headquarters are located.  AKC hopes the new dog museum will attract 100,000 visitors a year.  But only human visitors are welcome.  Except for Service Dogs, dogs are not allowed in the dog museum.

Tickets will cost $15 for adults and $5 for children under 12.  Find more information here, on the museum website.

Woof.