doc_text: Woof.; In this house, man and dogs speak as one.
  Their relationship is unusually tender.
  One need only listen while Wegman murmurs to Fay Ray and Battina, her 1 1/2-year-old daughter.; On Valentine's Day, for example, he said, "I'll take them out and play with them longer."; "But I don't want to be known as a dog zombie," said Wegman, who did go to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show without the dogs.
  "I go to movies and have friends and play sports.
  I swim, play tennis and wind surf."; Battina begs to differ.
  "When Bill leaves, Batty howls," said Andrea Beeman, an assistant to Wegman.; Man and dog; Their home is one floor of a former Orthodox synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
  During a recent visit, it was possible to see how the artist gets two even-tempered, relaxed, normal dogs to slip into florid housedresses or scratch each other's backs.
  The three simply adore each other.; "I'd never heard of Weimaraners," said the artist, who was born 47 years ago in Longmeadow, Mass.
  His life with Weimaraners began in 1970, the year he bought a new video camera and Man Ray, a puppy that cost $35.; Wegman had never photographed dogs before, but Man Ray was a perfect subject.; "He was gray and neutral," the artist said.
  "I could do him as a dog, a man, a sculpture, a character, a bat, a frog, an elephant, an Airedale, a dinosaur, a poodle.
  I never got tired of him."; A dog's life; Had he been a different breed he would have been a "character actor," Wegman said, "like Lassie."; When Man Ray, who had become world famous, died of cancer in 1981, at the age of 11 years and 8 months, the artist mourned.
  "I dreamed that he came back to life," said Wegman, who spent three years living without a dog.
  "It was kind of liberating, the years I didn't have a dog."; In 1984, however, he got another Weimaraner, which was stolen.
  Yet another dog died of Parvo, a virus.
  In 1985, he got Fay Ray, who is now a familiar face not only among artists but among children who watch "Sesame Street."; As a breed, Weimaraners combine "a lap-dog sensibility with a hunting capability," the artist said.
  They curl up on his lap, but since they are pointers, they can hold a pose.; They are also good companions for an artist.
  They are affectionate.
  They do not drool.
  They have style.; Like world-famous fashion models, these dogs are lean, supple and fit.
  In Wegman's home, which comprises 2,000 square feet with 20-foot-high ceilings, they live a life unencumbered -- one assumes -- by thoughts of fame or fortune, and seldom hunger.
  ; Each morning Wegman feeds them Eukanuba dog food, which he considers the best around.
  "It's the highest in protein."
  he said.
  He often adds a spoonful of plain yogurt or cottage cheese.
  The dogs eat again at 6 p.m.; The house is designed for both human and canine comfort.
  There is nowhere that Wegman goes that the dogs do not.
  The yard is a run of dirt and concrete.
  If their master does not play with them, the dogs just scratch, sniff, get bored and go to the door to wait for him.
summary_text: William Wegman's two Weimaraners serve as both companions and artist models to the artist.
  The breed is affectionate and can hold a pose.
  The mother-daughter dogs live with Wegman in his home, a former Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
  The 47-year-old artist began his association with Weimaraners in 1970 when he acquired a puppy, Man Ray, for $35 dollars.
  He quickly learned that the breed makes perfect subjects.
  When he died at the age of 11, Man Ray was world famous.
  One of Wegman's current dogs, Fay Ray, is now a familiar face both with artists and among children who watch Sesame Street.