Fitness, Gourmet Chow, Classes for Every Dog
* Andy the Jack Russell terrier is swimming his laps, his little tail slapping the water, his yellow life vest keeping him buoyant. “We just did 10 minutes on the treadmill,” says his owner, Lisa Garton. “He’s a little chubby.”
This is Andy’s gym, the Total Dog, a canine fitness and rehab center on Santa Monica Boulevard just west of Beverly Glen in Los Angeles.
Garton, who works for a Santa Monica plastic surgeon, says Andy, a young dog, “was tearing the house up,” just out of frustration” left alone at Garton’s place in Marina del Rey for the 10 to 12 hours she’s at work. “Animals need activity, or they go crazy.”
She sees the center as “a Disneyland for dogs,” with its paw-stenciled walls and an agility course. But it is also a treatment center, with a staff vet, an acupuncturist and a chiropractor.
A German shepherd, Blanche, was brought to the Total Dog for twice-weekly swim therapy after surgery. At the end of a month, says owner Bruce Whitacre, a West Hollywood independent film producer, she was doing 35 laps, chasing balls and “had just recovered beautifully.”
Her veterinary surgeon, Dr. Edward Leeds of West L.A., often refers patients to the Total Dog for swim therapy.
The Total Dog was opened last year by Annie Wald, a dog lover and owner and ex-bodybuilder.
A monthly membership with unlimited use, by appointment, is $75. Supervised swim therapy is $20 per session, about 20 minutes.
* Mark Beckloff doesn’t even apologize as he reels off the names of Three Dog Bakery’s all-natural, sodium-free, sugar-free, low-fat doggy treats: “Great Daneish.” “Terrier Torte.”
Starting seven years ago, Beckloff and partner Dan Dye have built their Kansas City, Mo.-based doggy bakery into a network of 13 bakeries, including one in Oxnard.
Coming in mid-September to the TV Food Network: “Three Dog Unleashed,” starring Beckloff, Dye and their three dogs.
Mentioning that “we’ve done a two-tiered wedding cake” for a pair of California dogs being wed, Beckloff says, “Everybody thinks we started in California. They don’t think crazy people live in the Midwest.”
* Explaining his mission, Ted Ondrak says, “Let’s say your very favorite thing to do in life is to play the piano. You’re driven to play the piano. Then, all of a sudden, they take your piano away from you.” Instant frustration.
That, he says, is what happens to stock dogs--breeds such as border collies and bouviers des Flandres with herding in their genes but nary a sheep to corral in urban Southern California. Frustrated, they focus on “digging in the yard, chasing squirrels, barking, chasing cars.”
Ondrak, a 40-year-old ex-carpenter, and his wife, Janna, are co-owners of the San Fernando Valley Herding Assn. in Chatsworth, where working dogs come to learn to do what’s supposed to come naturally.
“Probably 75% of our clients are folks who have pet dogs,” Ondrak says, and half of those pets will go on to vie for trophies and ribbons in sanctioned herding competitions.
When a dog comes to the Ondraks for training, it’s first given an instinct test--turned loose with three or four sheep to see if it will instinctively start “gathering” the sheep.
Those that are interested will later work with sheep, ducks and goats in a large enclosure. Says Ondrak, “It’s just awesome to see these dogs do what they were bred to do. There’s no doubt the dog is enjoying itself.”
The instinct test costs $25. Herding lessons are $200 for eight. Business is brisk enough that the Ondraks will soon open a second facility, in Sunland.
