It’s Enough to Make a Dog’s Mouth Water

Call it puppy love.

How else can you explain California’s latest canine creature comfort: distilled water that costs $1.09 a gallon?

Michael Angelo, vice president of FJ’s Blackhawk Supermarket--the Danville, Calif., store that dreamed up the idea--says Thirsty Pup started as a joke, a novelty item for good-humored animal lovers last fall.

But now the doggy drink--which is merely people water with a Thirsty Pup label--is selling out at the Bay Area emporium. Pet owners have purchased more than 1,000 gallons of the stuff, which is bottled by Oasis Water Co.

“It’s just plain distilled water that people drink,” says Angelo. “The pet owners buying it know that. They just think it’s kind of unique because the jug has a dog label on it.”

Thus far, FJ’s is the only California store selling Thirsty Pup, but it might soon crop up on Los Angeles shelves. Says Angelo: “We’re negotiating with a few stores right now,” including Gelson’s supermarkets.

David Assayag, Gelson’s director of grocery purchasing, says he has heard about the product and is eager for a sales pitch in the next few weeks “because if doggy water is going to sell, it will be here.”

Or just about anywhere, says Marshall Meyers, general counsel of the Washington-based Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, the industry’s largest trade association.

“Pet owners will buy just about anything for their pets,” Meyers says. Last year they spent $12 billion, on products ranging from doggie diets at exclusive spas to pet psychology, spoiling the 50 million dogs and 57 million cats in America.

“The bottled water idea just indicates the interest people have in providing certain human food and water items for their best friend,” Meyers says. “Just take a stroll down the pet product aisle at any grocery store and you’ll see all kinds of gourmet-type stuff for dogs.”

Are there any health benefits to distilled water? Dr. Ronald Porter, president of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Assn., says, “There is no question that many people do believe if bottled water is good enough for them . . . then their dog will get the same benefit. But from a human point of view, I am not infatuated with bottled water for myself. I use tap water. Humans have been drinking it for eons here.”

Susan Bright, a Danville homemaker, says she bought the water for her two cocker spaniels, Smokey and Ginger, “because they’re pretty special.” And because FJ’s was having a tasting party in the store’s parking lot to introduce the product.

Smokey and Ginger lapped it up, she says. “It’s such a novel idea and it was such a crack up that I had to get it.”