Call it the Paris Hilton Effect. The hotel heiress and her Chihuahua Tinkerbell have made teeny-tiny dogs the latest celebrity fashion accessory. If it barks and you can stick it in your purse or carry it in your arms, consider yourself on the cutting edge of a trend.
When Tinkerbell disappeared recently and Paris offered a $5,000 reward for her return, it made the national news. So did her reappearance. But “The Simple Life” starlet isn’t the only one whose miniature dog has become a media hit.
You can hardly open an issue of People magazine without seeing celebrities with their toy dogs. Britney Spears was shopping at Whole Foods in Santa Monica, Calif., with Lucy, her Maltese, on one arm. Ice skater Kristi Yamaguchi owns a Toy Fox Terrier named Piston. Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Mira Sorvino, Kelly Osbourne and tennis star Venus Williams all have much-photographed petite pooches.
“The style of the times is small dogs,” says Bash Dibra, a New York dog trainer whose celebrity clients include Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Neve Campbell and Ron Howard’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. Dibra is the author of “Dream Dog” and several other books. “These dogs have a brave heart, and they’re a loyal friend.”
It’s not exactly a scientific poll, but screensavers.com reports that toy dogs are now more popular than perennial favorites golden and Labrador retrievers. The free site, known as something of a pop-culture barometer, bases this surprising statement on 20,958 downloads of 56 different dog screensavers. Its two top dogs are the Shih Tzu (which weighs 10 to 16 pounds) and the Chihuahua (2 to 6 pounds).
The American Kennel Club says that the popularity of small breeds has been rising slowly but steadily, but the golden retriever is still at the top of the list for purebred registrations. The question is, however, whether most people are going to register a dog they plan to carry around in their purse.
“They’re being bred smaller and smaller because there’s money in it,” says Gail Miller, the AKC’s director of media relations.
The cost seems inversely proportional to the poundage. People routinely pay thousands of dollars for teacups and some toy breeds, while you can get a golden retriever–55 to 80 pounds–for $300.
And they’re spending money on them too.
The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association estimates that spending on pets has doubled in the last 20 years to a projected $34.3 billion in 2004.
“People tend to look at small dogs as accessories of their own,” says Mike Campbell, owner of the newly opened Doggie Styles in Beverly Hills, Calif.
He carries cashmere and silk sweaters and T-shirts for pets that run from $20 to $150. Little leather booties cost $70. Necklaces for dogs, not to be confused with collars, are made with Swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls and will set the owner back $30 to $150.
Tinkerbell, eat your heart out.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
