Bad hair days passe for primping pooches

[bigdoglover]

Misty Harris, CanWest News Service

For most, the hair of the dog is a hangover cure. For master wigmaker Ruth Regina, it's a career opportunity.

Having helped shape the appearances of everyone from Elvis Presley to The Beatles, the Florida woman is now trying her hand as a canine coiffeuse. In recent weeks, the eighth-generation wig aficionado has created custom hairpieces for a chihuahua, Maltese poodle, basset hound and pug, each with the hope of lending tress appeal to the four-legged clients Vidal Sassoon forgot.

"My friends have dogs that are carried around, one of them in a Chanel carrier," says Regina, an industry veteran of more than half a century.

"They wear workout clothes, booties all different, darling things for doggies. And I thought, `Why not a hairpiece?"'

One can only assume "bad hair days" are about as weighty an issue for dogs as the scent of their own behinds. But Regina is hoping their fashionable owners will see her product through Vogue-coloured glasses.

Her inaugural line of hairpieces includes clip-on Buddy Braids, a Rover Rrrug straight hair that gives the appearance of bangs and the Peek-a-Bow-Wow, a sexy fall that covers part of the dog's face a la Jessica Rabbit.

Edging toward the ridiculous is the Yappy Hour, a lightweight wig designed with hairless breeds in mind. With openings for ears and an elastic band to hold it in place, dogs can go from Sinead O'Connor to Diana Ross faster than PETA can organize a protest.

Depending on the type of hair used and the complexity of each design all of which are still in the non-commercial testing phase prices will range from about $20 to "hundreds of dollars."

"I find the older dogs are more complacent and will just sit there," says Regina. "Little dogs, puppies, are more frisky but we're managing quite nicely. They like to pose and enjoy the attention."

And if anyone knows about working with attention hogs, it's Regina. Her star-studded resume includes eight years as head wigmaster and makeup artist for The Jackie Gleason Show, 14 years as beauty director for the Miss Universe pageant, and custom hair and makeup work for seven U.S. presidents, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Jennifer Lopez, Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell.

The biggest difference between making wigs for celebrities and making wigs for dogs, she says, is that the latter clients bark more.