Dogs Collar the Market in Pet Pampering
It’s come to this: Dogs can now have birthday cakes and biscotti concocted just for them at a specialty bakery. But it doesn’t end there. The delicacies also meet specifications that would delight a dietitian: no sugar, no salt and, please, carob instead of chocolate.
Three Dog Bakery, a canine-centered patisserie set to open this month in Corona del Mar, and later in Pasadena, West Hollywood and Santa Barbara, is just the latest purveyor in an expanding luxury pet-care market.
It joins the all-natural, allergen-free dog food delivered to the doorstep by an Anaheim outfit. And the holistic veterinarian in Corona who treats pets with aroma and color therapy.
You could call it extreme pet ownership. But the pampering of pets, once considered an activity of the lonely soul with money to burn, has gone mainstream, especially when it comes to dogs.
Although dog ownership has increased only slightly, pet owners are lavishing rapidly increasing sums on their animals, encouraged by an exploding array of aggressively marketed goods.
Overall, spending on pets rose nearly 33% in two years, reaching $22.7 billion in 1996, the most recent year for which figures are available.
“The pet food industry has suddenly become one of the fastest-growing areas of the food industry in the last five years,” said John M. McMillin, an analyst with Prudential Securities in New York. “Companies are making more money selling to pets these days than they are selling to people.”
The trends in spending on dogs reflect human fashions. If people are eating fat-free muffins, their dogs get sugar-free, low-sodium treats. If the owners buy food at organic markets and consult naturopaths, their pets eat natural foods and receive holistic treatments.
“As the public has become more health conscious . . . it has reflected itself down to their dogs, cats, birds fish and reptiles,” said Doug Poindexter, executive vice president for the World Wide Pet Supply Assn. in Arcadia.
The newest regional entry in the field is Three Dog Bakery, the first California licensee of a growing national chain that makes biscuits and personalized birthday cakes for dogs, along with such preciously named products as Snickerpoodles and Scotty Biscotti.
The puppy puns don’t end there.
“We’re just literally salivating at the bit to get open out there,” said co-founder Daniel Dye, who launched the Kansas City-based business eight years ago with partner Mark Beckloff.
The two set out on an aggressive marketing strategy that included taping their own program for the Food Network, and appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s show.
Three Dog, which also sells dry dog food, is actually the grandparent of pet bakeries. Omaha-based Bone Appetit Bakery opened two years ago and plans to use franchises soon to expand into California, selling Down Boy Bagels, Cinnamon Rollovers and Bark Assure breath mints. And in Ojai, Franimals is already dishing out canine fortune cookies and bagels.
In Anaheim, Canine Caviar Inc. delivers “gourmet” pet food to homes.
Jeff Baker, who founded the company two years ago, projects sales of $485,000 this year. Next year, franchising agreements should boost revenue to $3 million, he said.
Baker, 29, said a Jakarta businessman has agreed to order 32,000 pounds of the product monthly.
The company now has franchises operating throughout Southern California and is negotiating with potential franchisers in other states and nations.
“We have 27 people waiting, and that stretches anywhere from Seattle to Florida,” Baker said.
The issue isn’t always luxury. A 20-pound bag of Canine Caviar chicken and rice costs $14, less than a bag of, say, Iams premium dog food, which sells at the Irvine Petco for $22.99
The company touts its product as an “all-natural, allergen-free pet food that promotes a longer and healthier life for your pet.” Besides, one could say it prevents hernias linked to hefting 50-pound bags from the supermarket.
That trend toward natural canine health extends into the veterinary profession.
Huntington Beach veterinarian Don Lundholm now uses homeopathy, acupuncture and herbal therapy when he treats his patients.
“We used to call them quacks and weirdos,” he said of people who started offering such procedures years ago. “It’s like many things, you pooh-pooh what you don’t know.”
Dogs now are treated to options that once were limited to children--Halloween costumes, birthday parties and day care--as well as those traditionally enjoyed by adults.
At Hollywood Hounds in Los Angeles, pedicures are basic. Dreary-haired dogs also can have their locks lightened. Before they leave, pet owners pick up a “prom dress” or tuxedo for their dog.
“The fun thing about dogs is people just love to anthropomorphize them,” said Karen Winkler, a pet product designer with The City Dog Designed Co. in Allentown, Pa. “People are just craving anything new that will separate them from the masses.”
And when the dog starts to stress out from the excitement, losing hair or itching for no apparent reason, it can be seen by canine psychologists.
In a sense, Long Beach (people) psychologist Jana Martin said, it’s all an investment in the owners’ emotional well being.
“A lot of people are lonely,” Martin said. “You can talk and talk and talk to a pet. And they never tell you to be quiet.”
Times librarian Sheila Kern contributed to this story.
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