Celebrity Hounds

Dear Dog Lady,

When I recently went to New York for business, I had dinner with a client in Greenwich Village. After we left the restaurant, we were walking to find a cab when we had a celebrity sighting of actress Hilary Swank (looking gorgeous), husband Chad Lowe (sporting a buzz cut), and their big dog (drooly and unkempt). Why is it that celebs always have these funky looking pound dogs?

Frederic, Greenwich, CT

Frederic, what edition of Us magazine have you been studying? A star pooch actually posing as a big ole mangy mutt should be a refreshing sight. How nice Swank and Lowe take their dog out for a walk, instead of carrying it around in a Hermes satchel. How lovely the dog was messy instead of draped with rhinestones. And what a good example the Swank-Lowes set by parading a “funky looking” pound puppy instead of a pure-bred perfumed show pony.

The hair stands up on Dog Lady’s neck when she sees paparazzi shots of Tinsel Town dogs carried around like stuffed animals. We may go ga-ga for celebrities who treat their pets like toys, but there’s something very unnatural about the trend. Dog Lady imagines the poufed-up animals would trade in all their red carpet luxuries for one romp and roll on a green carpet of grass.

Posted by Dog Lady at July 20, 2005 12:17 PM