What areas of Manhattan have the most dog owners?  For example, Upper
East Side, Upper West Side.

Is there a "typical dog owner" in Manhattan?  For example, double
income families with kids, singles, elderly?

Most popular types of dogs?  Small v. Large? Etc.
How much money do Manhattanites spend on their pets and on what?

List of "pet boutiques" in Manhattan.  When did they open? Have any closed?

I need research on pet owners in Manhattan and high-end stores that
cater to them.  Are there any areas with lots of dogs, but fewer
stores?  Too many stores? Not many dogs? Etc.  Facts and figures are
good, and please give source material.  Thank you.

A tip for researchers with Nexis access:

This will help answer PART of the question:

Try to dig up the fun article in the NY Times that featured statistics
culled from applications for dog tag licenses in NYC.  I'm pretty sure
it was published in the last two years, might even be last year.  It's
not 100% accurate because many, many people never get tags for their
dogs, but it's a good start.

The article has a lot of info in it like how many NYC dog owners there
are, percentages of where they live, which breeds are popular uptown,
downtown, even which dog names show up more frequently in certain
neighborhoods.

Here are some excerpts from an article that me be of interest:

The New York Times
October 24, 2003

"Although the licensing records show that 10021 on the Upper East Side
has more dogs registered than any other ZIP code in the city, across
Central Park, all the ZIP codes of the Upper West Side are among the
most popular for dog ownership, but no particular breed stands out as
dominant."

"Over all, the most common type of dog licensed in the 2003 fiscal
year, which ended on June 30, was a mixed breed. This was followed, in
order, by Labrador retriever, German shepherd, Shih Tzu, pit bull,
Chihuahua, Yorkshire terrier, cocker spaniel, Rottweiler and Maltese."

Good luck!

-Anthony

Anthony, that's just the kind of information I need.  If you can get
me more like that, if there's anything more recent, that would be
great.  Thank you.

Miany and Anthony --

1.  The Times article that Anthony quotes from is probably the same
article I mentioned above.

2. Miany -- there is a brand new dog magazine in New York that you
should get ahold of.

It is, in fact, called THE NEW YORK DOG and it is the "Vanity Fair" of
dog magazines.  Here's the link:      http://www.thenydog.com/magazine

3.  Finally, I'm not a dog owner, but I have friends who are.  We all
live on the Upper West Side next to the 72nd Street Dog Run in
Riverside Park.  So here, just for fun, is an unscientfic survey
conducted on the phone a few minutes ago for you:

Nobody knows why, but Wheaten terriers are really popular Upper West
Side Dogs.  Also Labs and Golden Retrievers (the latter two are also
the most popoular across the country.)   Up & coming West Side breed: 
Bernese Mountain Dog.     "Max" is apparently the most popular dog
name in the U.S.   However, there are no dogs named Max who frequent
the 72nd Street Dog Run.   Last week Emma, a friend's Bernese Mountain
puppy, ate my Canon Elph camera case.
Camera survived.  This concludes the survey.

Thank you.  I subscribe to that magazine and it's been helpful.  Could
you ask your friends if they buy clothing/toys/beds, etc. for their
dogs?  If so, which stores do they frequent?

OK, I spoke to Bernese Mountain puppy owner.  He says he and his
friends buy dog toys and supplies at local neighborhood pet stores
here on the Upper West Side, but they also do a lot of ordering ONLINE
-- like dog beds.

He says the best online catalog is Doctors Foster & Smith.

He did buy a Burberry plaid dog leash at the Burberry Store on 57th Street.

He says the best upscale doggie boutique is Karen's for People and
Pets on the Upper East Side.  You probably know about that one.

He does patronize Fetch, a cute store with stylish leashes, dog bowls,
etc. in the West Village.

The newsest doggie boutique on the West Side is Canine Ranch on West 72nd Street.  

He also said to tell you that Bed, Bath & Beyond has opened a branch
on the Upper West Side with a new dog section.   And Old Navy now has
dog stuff as well.

By the way, twice a year is the legendary Dachsund Parade at
Washington Square Arch -- so you could probably get all the dirt on
dachsund owners and how they shop in one fell swoop.

Hope you find this helpful.

Oh, one more thing.   I did ask him your question about neighborhoods:

"Too many stores? Not many dogs? "

He says that doesn't happen.  If there aren't enough dogs, the stores
have gone out of business.

I do all my doggie shopping online. I found a store that's totally
awesome and I've ordered from them alot. They have good customer
service and always call me to verify sizes and stuff - Labs are so
unpredictable in collar sizes and what-not. :-)

It's www.petendipity.com and they have breed specific things for
Labradors (and other breeds, but that's my favorite!)

Anyway, good luck!