NEWS! (updated, Sunday edition)

Biggie-Z, pup reporter here, with LOTS of news to report! My beat's been very busy, so here are the top stories: 

VOTE FOR CHANGE: VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, FOR BIGGIE-Z!!

First of all, I got nominated for the Dogs With Blogs Awesome Blog Award for July! (Thanks Nanook and Pooka's mom)  Voting ends next week, on July 26. At the time of this post, Faya the Airedale is... well, she's way ahead of me in votes. I attribute this to the prevalence of Airedale dog blogs. I figure they're just dyed-in-the-fur Airedale voters no matter what. So I'm going to have to build a rainbow coalition of dog bloggers if we're going to have a chance of winning this. But we kuvasz are not known for being sprinters anyway. We're more the strong, silent type.  Anyway, you have to be registered and signed up at Dogs With Blogs in order to vote. Drop me a comment if you need me to help you get registered... 

And I was sort of kidding about the "Vote Often" part. We're not in Florida anyway, so unless Booker wants to give me a hand with the hanging chads, we have to win this one fair and square! 

I WON AN AWARD! WOO-HOO!

My big buddy and Gentle Leader commiserator, Mango, gave me the Arte-y-Pico award. 

Rules:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award-winning, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link to the "Arte y pico" blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) To show these rules.

So I give the award to: Pacco, Booker, Huck, Balboa, and Peanut, because he could use a little cheering up right now.

I know this sort of sounds a little like a chain letter but what the heck, I don't get that many awards and this one came from Mango, who I'd give the award to but I can't give it to him since he gave it to me so the next best thing I can do is pass on the award to 5 other winners. 

Phew!

And for our last and most dramatic news, and MY Story of the Year: 

ONE YEAR OF UNDERCOVER WORK PAYS OFF IN MIDNIGHT RAID

In the last year I have used my cover as a "puppy" to great advantage when monitoring the neighborhood. Last summer, when I was tiny, I'd bring my humans up to strangers in the neighborhood so they'd start talking while I stood around just ... observing. Also, "potty training" was a perfect excuse for my frequent reconnaissance strolls at all hours. Pretty soon I noticed some strange goings-on in the freight entrance of our building including lots of men coming in and out (but no women) and a couple large men at the door. 

Using "puppy socialization" as my opening, I brought my humans to visit them. They first told me that the 5th floor was being used as a photography studio and that there were pretty "models" coming in and out. But then who is doing "photo shoots" at midnight on a Saturday night? I brought my P-Daddy along to sniff things out. Occasionally there would be a few women leaving in ones and twos, and I tried to bring P-Daddy along to sniff their ... motives. Momma and I also made friends with the Friendly Neighborhood Crack Dealer. We weren't 100% sure he was a crack dealer. Maybe he only dealt other stuff. But he and his posse loved the fact that I was called Biggie, and I was able to observe their behavior without anyone thinking I was anything but a puppy out on a potty walk. Later they said it was a "private party space" and then after that they said it was a "private club." During all this time, the bouncers would be so distracted by my puppy cuteness that they didn't notice the unmarked surveillance across the street. 

Finally, last Thursday night around midnight, all our work paid off as NYPD Vice raided the joint. They blocked the the WHOLE STREET off, and there were about 10 unmarked police cars and 3 paddy wagons double-parked on my street.  When I went out for my late night "walk" to see how the raid was going, there were several plainclothes vice cops standing around on the street watching the entrances to the nearby buildings. Some people who lived and worked on the street were standing outside watching what was going down. I stopped to chat with the cops who were blocking the street, and they said they'd got about 100 people in there. I took a walk up and down the middle of the street, greeting and thanking all of the cops who had helped to make this raid happen. We also saw a few not-so-bright ladies who must have been late for work, because they were downstairs getting questioned while everyone else was upstairs with all the police. (Note to late-night professional ladies who want to avoid questioning: If you see the street to your "office" blocked off by the cops, just turn around and walk the other way.)

Friday night I took another tour around and it was much quieter. There were a few men who were looking at the freight entrance to my building, trying to get into the club. By Saturday there were no more, thanks to the press coverage by the New York Times, NY Post, and NY Daily News (photos may be borderline NSFW). My next surveillance project: the underground club on the other side of my building. 

Detective Biggie signing out!