With a large dog on the Upper East Side, you stand out amongst the small breed pocket size pooches like a Midwestern tourist at a true New York restaurant. Most city dwellers opt for manageable sized dogs: Maltese, Dachshunds and wee-terriers seem to populate the streets of the UES, their owners carrying their portable pets into Bloomingdales and Duane Reade undetected.

As I attempted to take my 200 lb charge (a visiting dignitary for the week), an English mastiff on a day of errands, I learned very quickly that size does matter. Shunned from stores and accosted by every passerby, marching through the avenue and side streets of the Upper East, it was nearly impossible to do anything with the beast of the Upper East. Oh, how I longed to put this massive beast into the dryer and shrink him to a more realistic size – having him come out a fluffed cocker spaniel. Weighed down with this beast of burden, I tried to find an activity that I could do which would include him for fear, left to his own devices he would tear apart my apartment.

Strolling past the cozy cafés and restaurants along the avenues, I envied the women who lunched with their friends – gently pushing their bugaboo stroller lulling an infant to sleep as their preened and polished poodle sips from an Evian filled bowl under the table. The glamour of Upper East Side doggie mommyhood was not mine to be had.

I was told of local UES dog parks such as Carl Schurz on East End Avenue between 84th and 89th Streets, but selfishly I was hoping to find a place more centered on the humans than their mutts. “Try the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza on 47th Street and 1st Avenue,” a lovely woman walking a golden retriever told me. “There is a wonderful outdoor bar and café there that allows dogs.”

I packed up my big boy’s leash and a bone and shoved them into a bag with magazines and my laptop and walked the extra few blocks south to the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza.

More concrete than a green park, this one block stretch of manicured pavement between First and Second Avenue is lined with benches and trees. Dog owners congregate around a fountain as their pooches, off their leashes got acquainted with one another in the dog hand shake way of sniffing butts.

It seemed a little further south in Manhattan the size of the dogs grows larger when the street numbers get smaller. Here on 47th Street, my mastiff found other large breed pooches to befriend. Labs, a Greyhound and a Great Dane mixed among the small dogs in this harmonious setting. Venturing into the Patio Café, we were greeted warmly and scored a free hot dog roll for my four legged friend. We sat outside, I enjoyed a nice glass of wine at the full-service bar the Patio offers and Fido quite enjoyed the bowl of ice water they brought over for him. As the afternoon wore on, my wine glass got warm and wet with condensation and my magazine stack was depleted, Fido sprawled out next to me, his massive pony size portions unobtrusive to others.

Space is rare in New York City, but here at the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza man and beast alike can take salvation in the open space and libations that are available.