Dogs get the works

• Local shops devoted to pampering dogs

By Melissa Dribben
Knight Ridder News Service

With a satisfying crackle, Mary Remer spreads the blueprints, drawn by a Philadelphia architect, out on a massive mahogany table.

"Here is where we'll have the pool for hydrotherapy. This will be the common area," says Remer. "We don't really want to call it a 'spa' because that conjures up the idea of luxury. We were thinking of maybe calling it a community center."

Whatever they call it, when it is completed next year, it will be a 30,000-square-foot facility on 8 1/2 acres of prime real estate in Malvern, Pa., dedicated to the complete physical health and psychological happiness of "companion animals."

In a word, dogs.

"I don't know that we'll have singles' nights, but we will have activities to enrich the relationship between humans and dogs and children," says Carolyn Garson, Remer's partner.

Together, Remer and Garson are on the cusp of the newest evolutionary phase of American dog ownership: high-quality daycare.

At last count, Americans owned 68 million dogs. According to a 2001 Census Bureau survey, 36.1 percent of households have them, with an average of 1.6 dogs per. Their owners shell out more than $5 billion a year on dog food and $7 billion on veterinary care. Beyond — far beyond — that, people are tending to their dogs' psychological and physical needs.

In ascending order of pampering, we're talking sensitive training methods emphasizing positive reinforcement; organic, raw-meat and vegetable diets; city parks dedicated to off-leash play dates; civil rights legislation; daycare centers with steam-cleaned artificial turf and 5-1 staff-to-dog ratios; behavioral therapy and psychotherapy; massage (including reiki); manicures (red, white and blue for Bastille Day); dog psychics and horoscope readings; limousine service; Gucci dog boutiques; $200 cashmere sweaters; and leopard-skin hotel beds, sized to fit.

Veterinary medicine, too, has made huge advances, offering genetic testing for such breed-specific illnesses as Von Willebrand's disease (a bleeding disorder) in poodles, and bladder stones in Newfoundlands. The National Institutes of Health announced in May the launch of the dog genome project, which will cost $50 million and be conducted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Orthopedic surgery is done on golden retrievers with hip dysplasia, and pacemakers are implanted in senior animals with cardiac problems. (Lay off those liver snaps, Benji, your cholesterol is through the roof.)

Let's have fun

People are finding new and more satisfying ways to have fun with their dogs. Ultimate Frisbee was obvious. Freestyle dancing took a little more imagination (and $60 for lessons). You know the old joke, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did, only backward and in heels? Try "sidestepping" and the "lateral leg over leg" with four legs and a tail.

Other trends are more respectful to canine dignity.

"The nature of the relationship between people and dogs has changed," says Garson. "We no longer see them as an animal that needs to be dominated."

She and Remer wear matching denim work shirts embroidered with a dog wearing a halo and the name of their training service, What a Good Dog.

"Dogs have intuitive sensitivities we can't begin to grasp," she says, and tells of a search-and-rescue dog she trained who found a body at the bottom of a lake that search teams had thoroughly explored.

Evidence of the elevation of dogs presents itself almost daily. At the end of June, the fifth annual "take your dog to work day" was held, with about 5,000 companies nationwide participating. This summer, Reese Witherspoon costarred in "Legally Blonde 2" with chihuahua Moonie. Moonie, who travels with two trainers and two stand-ins and earns $1,500 a day, is central to the plot, which focuses on the evil of cosmetics testing on animals.

In states as diverse as Tennessee, California and Massachusetts, there are growing — and controversial — efforts to change the legal status of dogs as property, so that humans are no longer "owners" but "guardians."

Raising the nutrition bar

Thirty years ago, dog food didn't even distinguish between puppies and adults. This was the equivalent of the fried-chicken-TV-dinner-for-kids era. Nutritional norms changed. Parents moved on. First to baby foods without preservatives, then to blending vegetables such as fresh steamed spinach with expressed breast milk.

It took a few years for dogs to catch up, but they're gaining.

Kibble is now specially formulated for small-breed and large-breed puppies, dogs with digestive problems, and fat, lazy geezers, sensitively referred to as "less-active mature dogs." Iams dog food, once sold exclusively in the gourmet section of pet stores, is now available in supermarkets almost everywhere.

And the nutrition bar has been raised even higher. Kibble itself is pass´. An Australian veterinarian, Ian Billinghurst, is leading a movement to promote the "biologically appropriate raw food" diet, known fondly as BARF (no joke). Some breeders refuse to sell their dogs to anyone who won't feed the animals real meat and vegetables.

The Food and Drug Administration is not entirely comfortable with the rise in raw-food diets for domestic pets, which it says may pose a public health risk to the owners handling raw meat. It is seeking industry guidance. Devotees, needless to say, are undeterred.

So much to write about

Cameron Woo, publisher of the Bark, a quarterly newsletter about dogs that has 75,000 subscribers, was not a dog person until the creative marketing department he worked for in Marin County, Calif., allowed workers to bring their companion animals to the office.

"I never understood the appeal and affection people had for dogs," says Woo, 47. Then his friends gave him a mixed breed, Nellie. "I said, OK, we'll give it a week. We never looked back." He and his partner, Claudia, now own three dogs. The Bark, which began as an advocacy tool to press for no-leash parks in Berkeley, attracts writers such as Amy Tan and Peter Mayle, and publishes in-depth articles about dog blood banks and dogs that help environmental biologists track endangered species.

"We thought we'd run out of material in a year or two," says Woo. But six years later, the publication remains flooded with ideas. "We see all the time how transformative companion animals can be to individuals. All the wonderful work they're doing in law enforcement, search and rescue, service dogs who help the disabled. Studies are showing how pets have a calming effect on people, lowering their heart rates and blood pressure. They also help people connect to one another, in an increasingly mechanical and digital world."

In response to those who protest the pampering of dogs when many children do not receive that same kindness, love and care, he says, "It's an issue that comes up often. And it's understandable. But it's not an either/or situation."

Attention and love, he argues, are not finite resources.

Call it proper, not luxury

If this seems a little over the top, it's all relative. A Miami dog daycare center holds "bark mitzvahs." One in Rockville, Md., offers storytelling hour, when caregivers actually read soothing prose to "tuckered-out pooches."

The daycare Garson and Remer will offer is not aimed at the rhinestone-collar set. They see it as a reasonable kindness, even proper care. Animal behavior experts have long known that a great many of the behavior problems dogs develop are linked to separation anxiety and the neglect that results when these animals are left alone for eight or 10 hours a day. They are social creatures, who need company and — especially with larger breeds — regular, vigorous exercise.

Garson, a former nurse with an interest in alternative medicine, has 14 years' experience raising and training labrador retrievers. Remer is a breeder of English bull terriers and a professional dog trainer. The two women have 12 dogs, including one gravely ill puppy with a zinc deficiency.

The women have no problem with people who love their dogs to excess, but they are also aware of the need to care for less fortunate dogs. A portion of their profits goes to training dogs from shelters to make them easier to adopt.

Local shops devoted to pampering dogs

Hawai'i loves its pooches, too.

Take Jen Kunishima, who, every day, treats her 7-year-old golden retriever, Ipo, to specialty heart-shaped biscuits made with Okinawan sweet potatoes.

"Animals give us so much unconditional love," said Kunishima, owner of Hawai'i Doggie Bakery & Gift Shop. "Spending time with them and doing things for them ... really makes your life complete."

The boutique — which sells matching Hawaiian-print shirts for dogs and their owners, fresh-baked biscuits, and birthday cakes for canines, among other things — is just one of scores of local businesses devoted to making doggie tails wag with delight.

The Yuppie Puppie Grooming Salon in Salt Lake offers services that rival some of the trendiest spas; an aromatherapy massage with natural oils, for example, may be ideal for busy dogs in need of winding down.

"The most popular thing that we do, as far as service, is the puppy cut," said manager Leilani Cabebe. The puppy cut package ranges from $43 to $100 (depending on the size and condition of the dog) and includes a bath, haircut and styling, ear and teeth cleaning, nail polishing and massage.

It's important for people, no matter how busy they get, to remember to pamper their "unconditional companions," said Cabebe, who often has her two rottweilers groomed at the salon.

"I live in a condominium building, so for me, it's just a way to get them out of the house," Cabebe said.

Dogs in need of more than just a quick getaway may want to visit Ko'olau Bed & Biscuit, a boarding facility that accommodates dogs of all sizes.

At $19.50 a day, dogs are offered individual suites, meals and a run of the facility's 7,000-square-foot yard.

In addition to pampering pooches, taking care of their general physical health through proper diet, exercise and grooming is essential, said Cheryl Chang, of the family-owned Kahalu'u business.

"I think people need to take care of their own dogs like they would their children," Chang said. "They're family."