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 is a professional photographer known for hilarious portraits of his weimaraner dogs.
  They are good companions for an artist.
  They are affectionate, do not drool and they have style.
  His current weimaraners, Fay Ray and Battina, are like world- famous fashion models--they are lean and supple.
  William's relationship with them is unusually tender.
  It is easy to see how he can get them to slip into florid housedresses or scratch each other's backs.
  William's first world famous dog, Man Ray, died in 1985.
  Fay Ray is now familiar to artists and among children who watch "Sesame Street".