Shop till your dog drops

When it comes to shopping for their pets, dog owners turn into typical shopaholics trading secrets on where to get the best buys – not necessarily the cheapest stuff. Because like shopa-holics, they are not the smartest of shoppers; they are, however, one of the most indulgent groups of people. I mean, what dog really needs a Burberry raincoat? A Louis Vuitton carrier? A Swarovski tag, or a tux, for that matter? Some dogs probably don’t even want them but their owners do, and in the pecking order of the world, that’s what matters.

When our dog Alley was pregnant, I would dress her up in a tank top with a sequined heart on the back. Freeway, on the other hand, would get colorful bandannas or ribbons that she always tried to remove by chewing off. My husband said the neighborhood dogs were laughing at them for their silly getups, but I didn’t care. I said the other dogs were just envious of their fashionable style, but it did get me thinking. Do dogs know they are pampered? Do they compare notes when they get together?

This attitude of pet owners – of wanting to spoil their pets, treat them like babies and give them the best whether in food, medicines or accessories – has produced a growing industry in the country which, several years ago, would not have been viable.

Today, you see pet stores expanding their inventories from the old staples to the new must-haves. Tiendesitas, that huge tiangge village in Pasig City, dedicated a whole section called Pet Village to cater to owners and their pets.

Actor Michael de Mesa’s K9 Couture is a perfect example of how owners want to express their love for their pets apart from the million of hugs they give. As the name implies, the store does customized clothing and accessories for pets. The bestsellers are the bling collars – Swarovski crystal-encrusted personalized tags on leather collars that are priced quite reasonably (P60 per letter plus P100 to P180 for the collar).

Michael’s business partners Julie Reyes and Twinkle Zamora design the clothes, which include collections for summer, rainy season, formal and casual wear. Twinkle designs costumes for the dance group Hotlegs and the Bellestar Dancers, which explains why the clothes are very girly and with lots of flash.

"Unlike in other stores, our dog clothes are locally made because Twinkle has a pool of dressmakers, and we do customize clothes on request," Michael says.

The most interesting outfits they’ve done so far are a wedding gown for a Shih Tzu and a barong tagalog for a Mini Schnauzer. Just imagine what you can do if you had the money, the dogs to dress up, and the time to indulge your fantasies – perhaps a scene straight out of The Godfather’s wedding sequence with the Godfather part acted by a Great Dane, or why not Maggie Cheung’s 50-plus cheongsams in Wong Karwai’s In the Mood for Love?

Michael says the idea for the business started when they became friends with breeder Jay Mendoza and his wife Doreen, who own Animals and Things also in Tiendesitas. "They encouraged us to push through with the business, so we started with bazaars. Our first one was with PAWS in Eastwood City in October 2005, then we joined the first pet expo at Tiendesitas, and the orders were overwhelming!"

So overwhelming that people would come to his house to look at the merchandise, and when they put up their online store (www.k9couture.com.ph), they would get orders from as far as Davao, Cagayan and Baguio.

Michael says his love of dogs started when he was a young boy. At one point, the whole Eigenmann clan had 17 dogs, divided between him, his brother Mark, sister Cherrie, and parents Rosemarie Gil and Eddie Mesa. Michael’s own sons have also inherited his love of dogs – Ryan has Siberian Huskies; Jeff, a Huskie and a Pomeranian; and AJ, a Mini Schnauzer. As for Michael, he has four furry babies – Marshall, a Shetland Sheepdog showdog; Boogie, a Shih Tzu that thinks he’s a floor polisher; Chanel, a Yorkshire Terrier; and Tiffany, who’s probably the most expensive Teacup Chihuahua you can find.

"We want to share with others the happiness of having dogs and also to educate people on the responsibilities that come with ownership," he says. "These are the creatures that give us joy, make us happy when we’re down and they’re the only ones that will give us unconditional love."

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Karl Tan, owner of the store Doggieland, knows of this unconditional love of dogs. He has 20 Labrador Retrievers who jump up and down when he gets home. As his wife says, "Two or three dogs are nice, but 20? Our house looks like a zoo now."

Karl’s kennel, called Caldwell, has produced champion dogs. He credits his show dogs for his idea of putting up the first doggie supermarket in the country. "Six years ago, I couldn’t find a place for specialty supplies for the show, other stores had very limited inventories, so I decided to open a store for all these hard-to-find products."

Mostly premium brands, these pet items are sourced from the States, Japan and France. From France comes Royal Canin, the only brand of dog food designed for specific breeds. There are dog foods for Shih Tzus, Labs, Chihuahua, and others, apart from the generic food for small, medium, large and giant breeds.

"They realized that even if dogs are of the same size, they have different needs, so they collaborated on the formulas with breeders. It’s very breed-specific, even the bite of the food, like for boxers, the shape is wavy because they’re prone to getting lockjaw. When I went to their plant in France, I saw how they have sample teeth of each breed. They also have specific foods for different cat breeds. When we started, the store wasn’t stocked with too much products because we wanted to wait for people to give us feedback on what they want us to carry."

The first Doggieland was on Wilson St. in San Juan, then Karl opened another branch in Mandaluyong, this time with a grooming salon – his people were trained by the owner of Crickette’s, one of the first full-service pet grooming salon – and a pet hospital on the second floor called (Vets R Us) which is owned by young veterinarians whose experiences range from exotic animals to common pets.

"It was a new concept in the country when we first opened," Karl, former president of the Labrador Retrievers Club of the Philippines, says. "My dream has always been to have something like America’s PetSmart here, but maybe we’re not yet ready, the market is too small for that."

One thing that Karl says he will never have in his store is dogs for sale. He finds it cruel to leave them in their cages 24/7. "Even if I’m a breeder, I don’t sell animals in the store; people come to my house and look at the kennel. Dogs should be running around. When you leave your store for the night, they’re left alone, kawawa naman."

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For pediatrician Dr. Edeliza Ganipan, swapping a career in medicine for a business in doggie retail was a decision that didn’t require as much hand wringing as people might think.

"People always ask me what the difference is in taking care of babies and taking care of dogs as a groomer," she says. "It’s more challenging dealing with pets because they cannot complain, unlike babies who cry when they’re not feeling well. Kids don’t bite – well, okay, some kids do."

PetSpan, like Doggieland and K9 Couture, also sells clothing for dogs – they have cute cheongsams you should check out – and accessories for oral hygiene, coat brushes, medical supplies, underwear for when they have their period, and treats.

It offers full-service grooming, including doggie manicure (they have nail polish specifically for dogs), and teeth cleaning. PetSpan also has a "bed dryer," where dogs can relax between grooming because some breeds require hours and hours of brushing and de-matting. The dryer is a box with regulated warm temperature so they won’t shiver after a shower and then the finishing brush is done with a turbo blower.

Dr. Benipan was a practicing pediatrician in Taiwan before coming home two years ago and starting her business. She may have traded human babies for dogs, but she’s quite happy with her own menagerie – a remarkable trio of tiny dogs (Mini Schnauzer and Chihuahua) and the giant of dog breeds (Great Dane).

So, when dogs are feeling down, does shopping give them a buzz, too? I bet it does.