Design goes to the dogs: Owners sniff out latest trends, create stylish pads for pooc

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Design goes to the dogs: Owners sniff out latest trends, create stylish pads for pooches
By Elaine Markoutsas
Universal Press Syndicate

Throw out the scruffy blankets and smelly pillows. Think stylish pet furnishings that embrace just about every design fashion from cottage toile to rustic lodge, mid-century modern to arts and crafts, period French to Eastern.

Beds for canines are not confined to the obvious oversized cushions - but even those familiar forms are fancier, with fetching fabrics and details. There are metal and scrolled iron beds and wood frames in finishes from cherry to zebrawood to painted pine that include sleigh, trundle and four-poster styles.

Pet houses, beds and food stations often are simply scaled-down versions of furniture and accessories in our own homes, and that comes as no surprise. Many furniture designers also own dogs and get frustrated trying to find dog beds that complement their media-worthy interiors.

Consequently, there are fancy throws for the sofa and the car to protect from spills and odors. There are doghouses that range from Louis XV to pagoda styles and sassy pet cabanas for the garden and poolside. There are pet chairs and sofas, some with drawer storage beneath.

Many designers believe pet accessories and furniture should complement home decor.

"It makes sense," says Eileen Chanin, founder of Calling All Dogs, a Web business she started seven years ago when there were only about 20 or 30 others like hers. Today, she says, there are almost 8,000.

"I'm surprised when you go into beautiful million-dollar homes and walk into the mudroom where the dog stuff sits - and there are plastic bowls," Chanin says. "There's a huge emphasis on the home and everything that goes in it today. Pet stuff needs to be beautiful too."

At Calling All Dogs, she says, "some of our beds are frame-only so people working with decorators can make cushions to match their own fabrics."

One of the more unusual silhouettes on the market, the Wowo dog pod, resembles something from Star Trek. The name refers to a line of pet furnishings and accessories in a choice of five wood veneers. The roofed bentwood bed-on-feet is shaped in an elliptical curve and lined with a fluffy pad that looks like a Greek flokati rug. It's $749.95 at Modern Tails, a luxury pet boutique.

If you're the type to snap up a Ralph Lauren shearling dog coat for $250 to match your own, you might dig a Burberry bed lined in its signature Nova check for $350. It seems right if your doggy sports a $550 Hermes collar or is carried in a $1,770 Sac Chien Louis Vuitton bag.

In fact, the spending potential is staggering. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, nearly 50 percent of U.S. households have at least one dog. In the past five years, the number of products and categories devoted to dogs has taken off.

Donna King, a co-founder of Room Service Home, a mail-order catalog and Internet resource based in Dallas, reports that dog showers and birthday parties have generated a new kind of business.

"People have showers to welcome new puppies," King says. "And they buy favors for dogs attending birthday parties, just like for kids."

Along with the book, 97 Ways to Make a Dog Smile, Room Service Home sells Puppy's First Blankie, a 19-inch by 26-inch fluffy in pink or blue for $49, and a shower gift set, which includes a teething toy, bone, fuzzy buddy and squeaky alphabet blocks in a drawstring satchel for $32 (for dogs less than six pounds) or $39 (more than six pounds).

From retail stores to catalogs to online sources, sniffing out the most fashionable products to make your dog feel at home can be an amazing odyssey.

From Soft Surroundings, you can purchase a pet bed, pillow with tufted faux suede cushion and a ruffled, patterned skirt that is a perfect match to the luxe bedding the catalog sells for humans. Price range for the Verona pet bed is $80 to $165, depending on size.

Fills range from synthetic to real down feathers, and cushions are plush. One over-the-top bed is trimmed with a feather boa.

One of the best sources for dog style is the Pampered Puppy. Launched in 2002 by Angie McKaig in Toronto, it's billed as the Web's largest online monthly magazine and shopping portal devoted to luxury lifestyles for dogs. It features nearly 11,000 products from 17 companies and includes product reviews based on the experiences of Angie McKaig's own diva pug, Merry McKaig.

Just how much you indulge your dog depends on how deep your pockets are. For cottage-style enthusiasts, a white woven-wicker basket topped with a ruffled pink-on-white floral and an old-fashioned chenille cushion is part of Rachel Ashwell's Simply Shabby Chic line at Target; it costs only $29.99.

At the high end, there's a $25,000 Louis XV bed from The Quintessential Pet. It is based on the design of an 18th-century French rosewood and mahogany commode and takes six months to handcraft. Bedding is from Chelsea Textiles, but many customers send their own damasks and brocades.

And getting sent to the doghouse is by no means a punishment when it looks like a Swiss chalet, complete with window boxes. Starting at $5,500, Le Petite Maison custom doghouses are available through Calling All Dogs. Doggie Mansions Co., a custom builder in West Palm Beach, Fla., includes all the bells and whistles in doghouses that cost up to $150,000.

It all gives new meaning to the expression, "putting on the dog."