Pet Spotlight: Meet Shih Tzu Puppy Jean-Claude Van Damme

We met Jean-Claude Van Damme, an almost one-year-old Shih Tzu puppy, and his owner, Clinton Hill resident DeeDee Cohen, on a sunny day in Fort Greene Park.

Cohen said she bought Jean-Claude, nicknamed J.C., while her mother was visiting from Israel. “She knew I really wanted a dog, and we were walking by a pet store and saw him,” Cohen said. “I couldn’t find a dog under 20 pounds to rescue, because I travel.”

Cohen said she has already taken him to Puerto Rico. “He was a little panicked at first, but he eventually fell asleep.”

Cohen has lived in Clinton Hill for four years, and grew up in the Jordan Valley in Israel. After serving in the Israeli army, then traveling, she settled into the nabe and now works as a waitress in a Middle Eastern restaurant in Williamsburg.

“He’s obsessed with kids,” Cohen said of Jean-Claude, just as a local mom and her toddler son stopped by to play.

“Who says you can’t buy love?” Cohen said. “I bought it.”

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