Dog Houses For The Pampered Pooch: "A Second Home?"

Photo of Hugo, a California French Bulldog, emerging from his eco-friendly home, by Drew Kelly of  The New York Times

We know that there are tons of luxury pet products on the market, including "McDog Mansions" for those who can afford such things, but we also know that those luxury goods (as much as we love them) are more for the human owners rather than their beloved canines. This article in today's Home Section of The New York Times  includes a photo spread of some pretty fancy dog digs, but most of the dogs don't actually use their mini palaces-they tend sit vacant as indoor or outdoor adornments to the "main house', as the family canines pursue more , well, dog-like pursuits, like rolling in the grass (or dirt) and chasing squirrels or balls.

According to this article, "Doghouse design tends to be popular with architects and homebuilders who sometimes refer to it as 'barkitecture' and donate their creations to charity auctions that raise money for animal shelters." But nonetheless, the $5,000-$25,000 that owners typically spend on a specially designed dog house for their best furry friend, gives new meaning to the term "In the Dog House"-what creature, two or four-legged, wouldn't want to be banished to one of these stylish homes?

What do you think? If you had the extra cash, would you spend it on a designer dog house? Like Hugo's parents acknowledged (see photo above), "It's hard to get a dog to love the doghouse...he'd rather be in our bed."

P.S. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update on Pedigree's "Write a Post, Help a Dog" campaign, with photos aplenty from the BlogPaws conference! An don't forget to write your post by midnight on Saturday, June 30. Each post will result in Pedigree's donation of one 17 pound bag of their dog food to a shelter in need, so please take a few minutes and write that post and join our bloghop - a hungry dog will thank you!

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