It's a Dog's Life

  • MICHAEL GRECCO FOR TIME

    Chihuahua Pete relaxes on a leopard-skin dog bed as his chow is delivered

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    OPI Products, a human nail-care company, has expanded its market with Pawlish, a dog nail polish that has been tested on humans and, at $9.95 a bottle, comes in colors such as Yuppy Puppy ("a shiny silver for pampered pets") and Mutt's New ("purple glitter for the whole litter"). Pet therapists and masseuses charge as much as $75 an hour, and veterinarians offer dog acupuncture. Two weeks ago a defibrillator was even installed in a dog with heart problems.

    People are now so attached to their pets they are finding ways to bring them everywhere: carrying them to restaurants in strollers or Baby Bjorns, taking them on vacation and even to work. "People want to expand the world we share with our dogs," says Bark editor and co-founder Claudia Kawczynska. Some of the nation's top hotels have developed dog perks. Raffles L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills, Calif., offers room service for pets, with a menu that includes tuna tartar with anchovy essence ($19), poached salmon belly with frothed milk ($23) and caviar with hard-poached eggs ($98). Upon checking into the Beverly Hills Hotel, a dog is met by a greeter who escorts him to his room, where he'll find a pink doggie bed, pink tennis balls and a biscuit jar filled with bone-shape cookies with the dog's name (given at the time of the reservation) written in pink icing, all for a flat fee of $250 a stay.

    For a recent monthlong visit to New York City, Ali Dickson drove from L.A. because the airlines deemed it too cold to allow her German shepherd, Summer, to fly in the cargo bay. She stayed nearly exclusively at Loews hotels, which offer doggie room service, Loews Loves Pets bowls and mats, and a dog passport to document her travels. The valets in Nashville, Tenn., had bones for Summer, and they let her owner know whether other dogs had checked into the hotel and what floor they were on. "She loved the hotel. When she got in the room, she would gallop around and get up on the bed. She was like a kid," Dickson says. "I got her the steamed vegetables one night, and another night I splurged on the doggie filet mignon. I felt bad she was stuck in the car all day. "

    Some people don't even want to go out for the night without their dogs. At Completely Canine in Miami, Tuesdays and Thursdays are Yappy Hour (find a dog lover and you've found a pun lover). "Dogs need parties as much as we do," says Linda Monterrey, who attends with Gidget, a scrappy, petite Chihuahua mix. At Manhattan's Doggie-Do salon (seriously, they love puns), owners can hold dog birthday parties and bark mitzvahs (you believe me now?) with printed invitations, gift registries and a game called ice hockey, in which dogs chase a slippery liver snack frozen in a block of ice across the floor. Apparently it's not easy to come up with a pun for a frozen-liver game.

    Even in the post-dotcom age, many businesses allow dogs at the office, and DreamWorks has gone a step further by providing a dog run for its employees' pets. People in Boca Raton, Fla., who need to be separated from their dogs during working hours but feel guilty about it can send their pets to day care at Camp Canine, where, for $22 a day, the dogs can play to exhaustion and then watch videos such as 101 Dalmations. "It's like children's day care. They get time outs and treats," says owner Lisa Schettino, adding, "Some of the dogs are cliquey." And for those who are forced to leave their dogs overnight at places that used to be called kennels, there are now Canyon Ranch — style options. At Tappen Hill, in the wine country north of San Francisco, $36 a night will get a pup access to heated floors, two swimming pools and lots of scheduled activities.

    To solidify the point that the dog has emerged — above expensive restaurants, home furnishings and even security — as the status symbol of the times, Martha Stewart's company will launch this fall a weekly pet-keeping show with Marc Marrone as host. No one in the canine cognoscenti will want to miss the episode on how to brush a dog's teeth.

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