Meet the good boys and girls at Freddy's Dog Fashion Show

The annual community event returned to South Slope for the first time since Covid so neighborhood dogs could strut the runway

By Stephanie Keith

The true dog days of summer usually land around August, but last Saturday it was blazing hot and South Slope was populated with prancing and panting pups.

Good boys and girls lounged in blue kiddie pools as their humans clung to the shade while sipping beers in the shade of a single tree on Fifth Avenue. No excessive heat warning could dim the excitement of the return of the Freddy’s Bar annual Dog Fashion Show, which attracted a couple hundred people to watch the hounds strut their stuff on a DIY red carpeted runway.

Kissing booth with Cha Cha the dog (Stephanie Keith)

Spin a wheel to win a dog grooming prize! Adopt one of seven puppies! Pay $3 to get a smooch from a pooch named Cha Cha in the kissing booth!

Saturday marked the official return of this annual event for the first time since being cancelled during Covid. Originally inspired for the love Freddy’s co-owner Donald O’Finn had for his dog Xena, the event has evolved from being “just” a dog fashion show into full-blown celebration of the dog-owning experience, with participation by Bark Slope Salon, Badass Animal Rescue and Abby the Dog Mom, who runs a dog-walking and boarding service.

“I couldn’t explain how close I was to that dog, and when she passed, I wanted to do something to honor her memory,” he tells Brooklyn Magazine. “I felt like I could do something for Xena and at the same time do something fun that the community needed.”

The dogs benefited too.

People check out the dogs at the Badass Animal Rescue booth (Stephanie Keith)

“We’re here doing an adoption event that’s bringing awareness to our organization and the dogs we’re rescuing,” Krista Almquist, from Badass, said. “So far we’ve have two adoptions and hoping for more.”

Some two dozen doggos strutted the catwalk (dogwalk?) in multiple categories as judges gripped their pencils and squinted into the sun. Poet and Freddy’s booker Tracey McTague joked that her dog Mackenzie, a gigantic Great Dane with a tiny sailor hat cocked to one side, was the harshest judge on the panel. Another judge, musician and Freddy’s regular Pat O’Shea, said, “If you’ve ever seen the Oscars, you know what could go wrong. So I take dog judging very seriously.”

McTague and Mackenzie, a Great Dane and Fashion Show judge (Stephanie Keith)

There were many different styles of strutting on the runway. Some dogs made it down on their own, some were coaxed by treats. Others simply ran away. Each time the dog actually made it to the end of the runway, there was a collective roar from the supportive crowd. At the end of the day, it was Sawyer —a rescue who is part chihuahua, Yorkshire terrier and cocker spaniel, sporting a pinata costume — who won Best in Show.