By Colleen D’Angelo

In a perfect world, every dog would have a home and every home would have a dog. One look around our city and it’s obvious Dublin has a passion for pooches. From doggy day-care centers and palatial boarders, to spa treatments and designer clothing, we love to pamper our pets.

Mutts & Co. (7549 Sawmill Rd., www.muttsandco.com) opened on Sawmill Road more than two years ago. Owner Deborah Vitt explains, “We moved here from California and couldn’t find a place to wash our three big dogs or buy holistic food for them, so we started our own company.”

Guests can use the facilities to wash pets themselves or have animals professionally groomed for healthy skin and coat. Mutts & Co. uses a chemical-free line of grooming products with essential oils, such as lavender and jasmine, which are calming and beneficial. In the spa, dogs can enjoy a Dead Sea mud wrap, sweet sugar scrub or have their nails painted. The store stresses the use of holistic products to assist pets with allergies, infections and overall health.

Moochie & Co. (5043 Tuttle Crossing Blvd., www.moochieandco.com) opened its first of 11 stores at The Mall at Tuttle Crossing in 2004 and is thriving. Treats and toys at the store promote interaction with pets. Favorites are non-toxic bubbles that won’t pop when they touch the ground and puzzles that encourage pups to locate the treats underneath. Moochie & Co. also regularly hosts rescue events at its mall locations, which create excitement and help pets find new homes.

Rescuing and helping our furry friends is a popular objective in Dublin.

Almost Home Dog Rescue of Ohio (www.almosthomeohio.org) is a Dublin organization that has placed more than 400 collies and Shetland sheepdogs (“shelties”) since 2003. Founder Cheryl Rakich grew up watching Lassie on TV, loved collies and wanted to help. Her Senior to Senior Program has been successful in matching senior citizens with elder canines, both of whom are often overlooked.

“We give them a senior dog and pay for all food and medications. Everyone keeps active and healthy by walking and playing more,” Rakich says. Almost Home is always in need of volunteers, especially foster homes, where dogs stay until they are placed with a permanent owner.

Dublin resident Ann Roseberry is a foster mom to dogs from the CHA Animal Shelter (3765 Corporate Dr., Columbus, www.chaanimalshelter.org). Usually, her family houses puppies for two to three weeks, but their first foster dog stayed with them for nine months.

“He was a rottweiler named Brigg who was skin and bones, with parasites and Addison’s disease. We fell in love with Brigg, helped him heal, and were going to keep him until a couple contacted us to say they wanted to meet the dog,” Roseberry says. Brigg was happily adopted, and the Roseberrys still receive updates on his life and health.

Some Dublin residents make a career out of their love of dogs. Debbie Bricker, a Dublin pet sitter for 12 years, has cared not only for dogs, but also cats, parrots, lizards and hedgehogs. With so many pets in Dublin, there is a huge demand for trustworthy care, but the job isn’t easy.

“You have to be reliable, organized and available all day long, seven days a week,” Bricker says.

Deanna Osborn breeds Australian labradoodles, a combination of Labradors and poodles, at her Dublin home. Five years ago, she imported her first dogs from Australia and she has shipped puppies to waiting families as far away as The Netherlands. The pooches are hypoallergenic, intelligent and well suited as service dogs used in therapy or seizure alert programs (www.uslabradoodles.com).  

For dog owners in search of a social outlet for their dogs, Nando’s Dog Park in Darree Fields Park (www.dublin.oh.us/recreation/parks/dogpark.php) has large and small canine areas, benches and picnic tables. The city also designed a box to store donated plastic grocery bags for re-use in pet waste removal.

Just outside of Dublin, the private Companion Club Dog Park (6306 Home Rd., Delaware, www.columbusdogpark.com) has annual memberships or guest passes to visit its off-leash grounds with 11 acres, a pond, wooded hiking trails and an agility course. All pups must provide proof of vaccinations before entering.

Pet safety is also an important issue locally, both for the animals and their owners. The Dublin Community Recreation Center offers classes for children, which teach them how to properly interact with dogs. For extra information, www.wagn4u.com is a great Web site that lists classes in canine CPR, pet first aid, bee stings and seizures.

Keep your pet in mind when it comes to fire safety, as well. Visit www.aspca.org to order your free pet alert sticker, which notifies firefighters on how many and what type of pets are in the house in the event of an emergency. Kyle and Trevor Marcinick of Dublin took this concept and went one step further. The boys recently used their birthday money to buy and donate pet oxygen masks to the Washington Township Fire Department.

Colleen D’Angelo is a contributing writer for Dublin Life.