[News] Glitz and Glamour - The Petrosexual Canine is High Maintenance

[fasteddie]

Brittany travels regularly between the East and West coasts, often sporting the latest fashions by Oscar Newman, a "red carpet" staple. She stays in the best hotels and eats in five star restaurants, with a particular penchant for Vietnamese and Thai food. When she does eat dog food, it is only all natural and holistic. She is groomed regularly, and if she needs medical attention, she is only treated by a homeopathic veterinarian.

Brittany is a petrosexual.

Like the metrosexual, a term first used to describe an urban male with a strong aesthetic sense who spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle, the petrosexual can be defined similarly: an urban (or suburban) canine with a strong aesthetic sense whose owner spends a great deal of time and money on his pet's appearance and lifestyle.

The first step toward attaining this status, advises Sterling Sugar Magnolia, a bull terrier who narrates "The Complete Petrosexual: A Handbook of Style for the Modern Dog," to Nola Thacker, is to find such an owner.

Brittany, a 1 1/2-year-old "teacup" Yorkshire terrier, would probably agree that she has indeed done so.

"We were on Rodeo Drive (in Beverly Hills, Calif.) -- and someone came up to me and told me they'd like to come back as Brittany in another life," says the puppy's equally stylish owner Marti Sheredy, a Neptune resident who works as national sales manager for Patsy's Restaurant in New York, where, by the way, Brittany can't get enough of its tomato sauce.

It's a cold rainy day in January, but Brittany doesn't look the least bit put out. She has a day to relax before traveling to California again.

"Layering is important" says Sheredy as she sifts through assorted beaded and embroidered pieces at Cosmopawlitan, an upscale pet boutique in both Colts Neck and Middletown. Brittany is blinged out in multiple custom-order rhinestone and Swarovski crystal collars, one with several charms hanging off it, a pink-and-black knit hoodie and a matching black faux fur jacket, all of which was purchased at the store.

"I dress my dog how I dress," says Sheredy, who is wearing a chic caramel-color pantsuit with a white turtleneck.

And that's exactly how the petrosexual wants it.

But even the most sophisticated one gets tired, and another important component of its lifestyle is where to rest its well-fed and perfectly groomed self. Writes Magnolia, "Do not, under any circumstances, allow your human to think it is okay for you to sleep on the floor."

"Brittany has many beds, and an animal print couch," says Sheredy.

"Our Doberman -- the hostess here, because no one told her she was a Doberman -- sleeps in her own toddler bed, with flannel snowman sheets," says Kara Snow, co-owner with Audrey de Gaster of the Jackson-based Ain't Misbehaving, a doggie day care and boarding facility for dogs.

And it goes without saying that no true petrosexual would even consider that most archaic of structures, the, gasp, doghouse.

"There's very few dogs who would know what a doghouse was these days, unless it's in the house and it has a CD player and a DVD player in it," says Pam Holzapfel, owner of In the Doghouse, a grooming salon for pets in Wall. In the business for 31 years, she can remember when people used to bring their pets in once or twice a year when their hair got matted. "Now they have standing appointments once a week," she says. And it's not unusual to see them pull up in the family Jaguar or Rolls Royce.

"Pets are definitely being treated more like family," Holzapfel says.

Perhaps better. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Americans spent approximately $35.9 billion on their pets last year, and it didn't all go toward dog food. In fact, a good chunk of it was handed over for day care, because no self-respecting petrosexual would agree to spending his days at home, waiting for his owner to return.

Besides, "Daycare provides the perfect opportunity to meet people in your social set," writes Magnolia.

And Snow admits that business at the day-care facility, which takes in anywhere from five to 25 dogs every day, has "exploded" since the first of the year.

Pets, owned by humans who range from young urban professionals to retired people, literally have the run of the house and all four and a half acres of the property.

Just this past summer, Snow recalls thinking, "I'm outside picking weeds, picking up poop, while the dogs are splashing around in the (kiddie) pool. And I'm like, 'What's wrong with this picture?' "

Absolutely nothing, according to the petrosexual.

Some of these pampered pups don't even have to walk anymore, says Diane Hagen of the Sea Girt-based Paws Pet Boutique, which opened in October, "Fashion bags are huge right now. Dogs are becoming accessories." That is, if they've played their cards right.

Of course, there's also too much of a good thing. Warns Magnolia, "A portly puppy is not a pretty puppy."

Besides, these pocketbooks only will accommodate the smallest of pooches. And when it comes to being a petrosexual, size doesn't matter, says Northup. They can be anything from teacup Yorkies to Great Danes, she says.

And whatever their size, they are being welcomed into places they were never allowed to step a perfectly pampered paw into before.

"Brittany goes everywhere with me," says Sheredy, "she's been in every state, every food store, in the country." The two will be staying at the W Hotel in San Francisco the next day, a pet-friendly place, which is key. "More and more hotels are pet friendly, and travel is so much easier these days with a dog" she says.

And some dogs are even being accepted into places most humans aren't. According to a recent article in the New York Post, celebrities' dogs have been invited to the Sundance Film Festival this year, where they will get "gifts, treats and massage."

But it's about time dogs got their due, and people need to be made aware of all the services out there for them, from medical services to pet insurance to healthy dog food, says Sheredy.

Of course, it's important to remember that they are dogs, after all, although when Brittany starts barking at a deliveryman, it takes everyone by surprise.

And not all of the amenities owners lavish on their pets are as indulgent as they might seem.

Even beds, tulles, jewels and canopies aside, are important for dogs' health. "They're better for dogs -- and their joints," says Northup. For the most part, in their search for pet-related products, "people are actually looking for what's chic and healthy."

Or at least, that's what the petrosexuals would like them to believe.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...03/1006/NEWS02

[nifer]

and i thought we spoiled daisy rotten. this is ridiculous.

[Cookie2]

Well I am guilty of having two petrosexuals! lol Cookie has been with me longer so he has much more clothes than Lola. I love it! He has gotten so used to getting dressed that as soon as he sees me pulling out one of his outfits out of a hanger ,he starts jumping at my feet and jumping in circles. I call it the "It's dress up time and we're going out! " My hubby and kids thought I was nuts because I wanted another bed for him and Lola so of course I got it anyway


Genie,Cookie & Lola