If somebody will create the list of the top
pranksters of modern time, Joey Skaggs should probably be considered to be one
of the best, if not the very best. A performance artist, Skaggs is responsible
for the 1976 Village Voice article "Cathouse for Dogs" which
introduced a new business into the community, a Doggie Brothel. For $50 a pop
your pooch can be sexually gratified. Skaggs is also responsible for the
Hippie Bus Tour of Queens, Fame Exchange with John and Yoko, Celebrity Sperm
Bank, Gypsies against Stereotypical Propaganda, Windsurfing from Hawaii to
California, Fish Condos, Bad Guys Talent Management Agency, Brooklyn Bridge
Lottery, Maqdananda: the Psychic Attorney, and the notorious Rudy Doody
happening in Washington Square Park. In this post, we will present his the most
famous prank “Cathouse for Dogs”, while some of his other pranks will be
reviewed in the future publications.
"Cat House for Dogs," said an ad in the Village Voice,
"featuring a savory selection of hot bitches..." Along with this ad,
a press release was sent to the media saying that if your dog graduated from
obedience school, if it was his birthday, or if he was just horny, for $50 you
could get your dog sexually gratified. This was not a breeding service, but
purely a sexual pleasure service.
The phone rang off the hook as hundreds of people called to talk to New
York's first and only dog pimp. Surprisingly, not only were the calls from
bonifide customers willing to pay $50, but there were just as many calls from
people who wanted to have sex with dogs or watch dogs have sex with other
people. Dog pimp, Skaggs, recorded all of these incoming phone calls.
When contacted by the news media, Skaggs got together 25 actors and 15
dogs and staged an elaborate performance in a SoHo loft -- a night in a
bordello for dogs. The performance featured models posing with female dogs in
look-a-like outfits, and actors posing with the male dogs waiting to view the
bitches. Friend Tony Barsha played a bogus veterinarian on site who, when
interviewed, explained that the female dogs were injected with a drug called
Estro-dial to artificially induce a state of heat. If a bitch was already in a
natural state of heat, she would be given a contraceptive called Ova-ban, so
there would be no fear of fatherhood.
A lecture was given on dog copulation techniques and customers filled out
questionnaires about their male dog's age, medical history, and bitch
preferences and hostesses served cocktails. A staff photographer was there to
take a token photo of each dog getting it on, and a dog groomer to primp the
dogs before and after sex.
The video crew members, representing Midnight Blue, New
York's first late night cable TV sex show, thinking they had shot every kind of
sexual perversion known to man, were totally grossed out by the site of female
dogs humped by male dogs for money. To be sure their viewing audience "got
it," they got down on all fours and shot the humping dogs from a dog's eye
view. Of course there was no actual copulation at any time. As anyone who's
ever owned a dog knows, any horny male dog will hump space once his mojo kicks
in.
The performance was covered on television and in the press. This added to
the public clamor and outrage. The SoHo Weekly News covered the
story twice. During the second interview, a week after the first article had
appeared, the writer suspected it was a hoax. But it was such a good story, he
complied with Skaggs' request to continue the ruse.
When WABC TV called, saying they wanted to do a documentary on the
Cathouse, Skaggs refused to take them to the facility, saying he had gone
underground due to harassment, but instead provided them with the previously
shot video of the Cathouse for Dogs (this done after Skaggs clued in Alex
Bennett, Midnight Blue producer, who gleefully went along with
the hoax).
The WABC TV piece aired, painting proprietor Skaggs as a sleaze-bag dog
pimp exploiting innocent dogs for money. This helped to enflame more
authorities, including the ASPCA, the Bureau of Animal Affairs, the NYPD vice
squad, the Mayor's office, and various religious and humane organizations, who
were thus compelled to send out a drag net to bring down the dog whoremaster of
Greenwich Village. Finally, a subpoena from the Attorney General's office,
complete with $2.00 for cab fare, was delivered to Skaggs' door.
On April 1, 1976, in answer to the subpoena, Skaggs called a press
conference at the Attorney General's office. He announced it was a conceptual
performance piece, that the whole thing was a hoax. He was forced to give and
swear to a deposition and the case was dropped.
WABC TV never retracted the story, leaving millions to believe that
somewhere in New York City there still exists a bordello for dogs. When asked
about this later, the WABC TV producer insisted that Skaggs had said it was a
hoax to avoid prosecution, and expressed bitterness because the documentary,
which had been nominated for an Emmy Award, had been knocked out of the
running.
The dog bordello was the subject of much debate in the media for a long
time thereafter. The myth continues to this day. In a book called The
Total Dog Book, by Louis L. Vine, D.V.M., (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
there's still a section that says that somewhere in Greenwich Village there is
a cathouse for dogs.
While Skaggs’ brothel for dogs was a deliberate prank, it inspired more
practical, while not very successful, attempts to establish such business. For
example, Karl-Friedrich Lentze's dream has been killed by Berlin city council.
Lentze is a German artist who decided to start a business, brothel for dogs, in
2003. This could have been the start of a new era for animal sexual liberation,
but the Berlin city council has denied Lentze's application for a business
permit.
“Most dogs in this city get only a five-minute walk on a lead each day,”
Karl Lentze told reporters in Berlin. “That’s not long enough to sniff
another canine, let alone indulge in a bit of fun. Our dog brothel will
allow them to release their frustrations and will suit the fast-paced modern
life of their owners too. For £30 they will be able to leave their pet at our
brothel for the afternoon so it can have sex with one of our bitches on heat, while
they make their own calls.”
The council has decreed that dog sex is for the purpose of reproduction
only, and encouraging recreational sex would just make the animals harder to
manage.
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