What South Valley can boast in agricultural wealth, it can also
boast in dog lovers. Today a growing number of grassroots,
enthusiast-based groups are fostering an organic network where
total strangers are knitted together via one universal thread: An
affinity for canines.
What South Valley can boast in agricultural wealth, it can also boast in dog lovers. Today a growing number of grassroots, enthusiast-based groups are fostering an organic network where total strangers are knitted together via one universal thread: An affinity for canines.
In four separate cities where neighborliness is an exonerated value, pet attractions and pooch-oriented resources are playing an integral role in community bolstering and economic growth – from specialty boutiques, to playful events to rescue foundations that give troubled dogs a second shot.
Pretty Pooches
As early as 8:30 a.m. Albert Frias’ family-owned dog grooming business was bustling with furry clients, gusts from a blow-dryer, the splish-splashing of water and the intermittent “woof.”
A cocker spaniel and terrier mix named Harley were enjoying a foamy lather in side-by-side tubs; tails wagging and inquisitive sudsy heads peering over the edge.
“Just about everybody around here loves their pets,” said Frias as he stood behind the front counter of Sassy Pooch at 411 First St., Gilroy. “It’s a priority in their lives. This is a great community.”
He noted almost every customer is a repeat, like Harley – who’s kept his debonair appearance up with regular appointments at Sassy Pooch since it opened 14 years ago.
“Our business doesn’t do a lot of advertising,” said Frias as he walked passed roomy kennels where semidamp dogs lounged and dried on towels.
A sizable black Labrador mix named Ce Ce sat up to say hello, her silky coat freshly fluffed and full of volume.
Frias said their venue beautifies between 10 to 15 canines a day and around five felines a week.
“Cats are usually pretty good,” he said, downplaying the common truism that cats plus water equals hissy fit.
For kitties that avoid H2O like the plague, he whipped out a miniature mask designed especially for feline noggins, which serves the same purpose as blinders on horses.
As clients filtered in, Frias greeted Gary and Sandy Loesch who entered with Molly – a fetching cocker spaniel with a skirt of hair that touched the floor.
“It’s OK,” said Sandy looking down at Molly. “You know Albert!”
As the Loesch’s exited the storefront, Frias – who is calm, soft-spoken and fitting of the “dog whisperer” profile – bent down and stroked Molly’s face.
“She’s humanized,” he said, smiling. “That’s why she’s shaking a little bit.”
Before they left, Sandy praised Frias and said he’s done “outstanding” with his business.
“Those veggie dog cookies he sells,” added Gary, “we eat them too.”
A small boutique in the front of the store was added on last year, touting doggie spoils such as designer rhinestone collars, organic superfood supplements, household cleaners, beds, barrettes and pet cologne.
Other specialty services include “revitalization” treatments such as an aromatherapy bath, a “pawssage,” facial or de-shedding “FURminator.”
Frias agreed the South Valley’s canine-friendly climate has provided ideal photosynthesis for his business to blossom.
“It’s rewarding,” he said.
Aqua dogs
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a … flying dog?
Or at least, that’s what it looks like for a split second when a dock diving canine is suspended midair like a flying carpet – all fours fully extended before a stupendous water landing in hot pursuit of a toy.
Rhonna Dias, hairdresser-turned-dog-groomer and owner of a mobile grooming service called Doggone Dirty Mobile Pet Wash, formed the local dock diving chapter at 756 Jarvis Lane in Hollister. She rents out the dock and pool to club members and other dock diving enthusiasts.
“I started it because it’s a man-friendly sport,” she said. “I wanted something my husband would do with me and the dogs.”
Since the chapter’s inception on Labor Day weekend, the sport’s infectious popularity has spread among residents like wildfire with official competitions sanctioned by Splash Dogs – a dog enthusiast company – fanning the flames.
“I try to get people involved with things that give them a commitment to their dog,” said Laurie Frazer, a dog trainer at Petco in Morgan Hill who’s jumped on the dog-diving bandwagon.
Dias herself claims “participating will result in an addiction and desire to be with your dog and travel all over the country to watch your dog jump off of a dock.”
It’s true – Google “dock diving dogs” and watch the video clips in slow motion on YouTube.
It’s surprisingly difficult to tear yourself away from the screen.
Scores are based on the distance and height of a dog’s jump off a 40-foot dock into an equally large body of water. Each dog gets two jumps per wave, or splash, with the longest jump being scored.
According to some reports, televised DockDog competitions have attracted more ESPN viewers in the United States than the X-Games, which feature BMX bikers executing fancy 360 tailwhips and skateboarders risking broken bodies in half pipes.
After their first go at dock diving, Frazer said she and her friends were smiling so much, their faces were hurting at the end of the day.
“We’ve exchange phone numbers and Facebook each other,” she said. “Everyone knows the birthdays of each other’s dogs.”
More importantly, she added, it doesn’t matter what breed or pedigree of pooch you have. The sport doesn’t cultivate elitist mentalities like that of actor Jane Lynch’s poodle-handler character in the movie “Best in Show,” per say.
“It’s more inviting to entry level people than a lot of the snobby dog clubs are,” joked Frazer, crediting dock diving as less intimidating than bigger, more stringent organizations.
She said going for a dip with her dogs on hot days is a sublime way to spend the afternoon.
“People like to swim with dolphins,” she said. “My idea of a hot day well spent is swimming with the dogs.”
Dias said her self-funded organization is growing and garners throngs of more participants with each event. She also reminded newcomers and spectators are absolutely welcome.
“We kind of bit off more than we can chew,” she joked, in retrospect of how big it’s become. “But we’re happy we did it.”
Best in show
Gilroy’s Garlic Festival isn’t the only attraction that banks a tidy sum of revenue for South Valley.
The Gavilan Kennel Club’s annual All Breed Dog Show at Bolado Park in Hollister rakes in about $265,000 in economic benefits annually to Hollister and the surrounding community according to Katherine Dettmer, Kennel Club president and chairwoman of the show.
Dettmer estimated the venue – which takes place at 9000 Airline Highway and is in its ninth year – garners an average of 650 entries.
“These people come in, they’ll stay in what motels are available, eat in the restaurants, grocery shop at stores on the way in, fill up their cars with gas, fill their motor homes with gas, you know, gee whiz. They bring a lot of money to a community,” she said.
Katherine and her husband Tom live in Gilroy and have been showing dogs since 1990. They’re the proud parents of three idiosyncratic dachshunds and a gallivanting bullmastiff named Buck, who is larger than a Shetland pony.
This year’s show will take place April 29, 30 and May 1. Spectators are welcome, but noncompeting dogs are asked to stay at home. For more information visit gavilankc.org.
A walk in the bark
As she threw the ball for Baxter, her stout corgi/border collie mix, longtime Gilroy resident Nicolette Cockerill said she was exploring the dog park at Las Animas Veteran’s Park for the first time.
“No,” she said, looking down at Baxter as he dropped a slobbery tennis ball several feet short of where she was standing.
“Bring it here!”
Baxter picked it up, then dropped the gravel-encrusted sphere closer to Cockerill’s feet.
“This is a good thing to have,” she said. “I’ll bring him back tomorrow.”
Both dog parks in Gilroy and Morgan Hill have a core group of advocates who take advantage of the leash-free playpens on a regular basis, such as the Gilroy Dog and Poker Society and the Morgan Hill Dog Owners Group.
The off-leash dog park at Community Park on West Edmundson Avenue in Morgan Hill is one of town’s top hangouts.
While the one-acre doggie destination inside Las Animas Veterans Park at 400 Mantelli Dr. in Gilroy has come under fire for not having grass, there’s still plenty of people who appreciate what it offers, such as the community bulletin board that allows park users to communicate and coordinate play dates.
A dog park is also on the horizon for Hollister.
Tammy Ballew, founder and president of the Hollister Dog Owners Group said plans have been approved by Hollister’s city council to break ground in the next couple of months for a dog park near the intersection of San Felipe and Fallon Road near the airport.
Ballew also pointed out HDOG, which has roughly 200 members, hosts the popular Dog Days of Hollister at Dunne Park between West and Sixth streets. The annual event includes a wide turnout from pet-related advocates and services, a “Rescue Row,” breed specific groups, vendors and a contest with awards for attributes such as “best bark,” “so ugly, they’re cute,” “funniest pet trick” and “waggiest tail.” This year’s Dog Days of Hollister will take place May 21.
Where heroes are made
Sharon Hanzelka, along with facilities manager Kate Davern, specializes in transforming canine recruits for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation at Sundowners Kennels at 8190 Honeycomb Lane off Hecker Pass Road in Gilroy. Their 14-year professional training establishment has sent dogs by the dozens – a majority of which were once homeless or scheduled to be euthanized – on to be working companions of firefighter handlers.
In November, a Sundowners’ graduate named Pearl was named dog of the year by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“People just give up,” Davern said. “These are dogs who want to be doing something. They’re sick and tired of being bored.”
With a little elbow grease, unconditional love and some serious patience, the Search Dog Foundation program at Sundowners offers unruly underdogs a second chance.
Davern said rescued canines are always taken care of, regardless of whether they become search dogs.
“The more people are aware we need wild, crazy dogs under 2, the better. We’ve got a potential job for them,” Davern said.
“We get them all the time,” added Hanzelka. “Dogs that look near death. And now they’re search dogs.”
Pearl, a 4-year-old black Labrador retriever and former shelter dog, was recently deployed again after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Japan on March 11.
Homes for the homely
San Martin resident Frazer kicked her canine compassion up a notch in 2008 when she and her daughter launched Bow Wow Adoptions. The nonprofit organization lends a helping hand to down-on-their-luck dogs with dim chances of finding a home, while offering a clean start and new hope. The program creates online profiles for the dogs, along with shuttling the pooches to adoption fairs.
“We go to different animal shelters – mostly San Jose – and pick up dogs on the ‘needs rescue list,’ ” Frazer said.
She explained this list includes dogs that have either mental or physical issues.
Or, in the case of a certain basset hound/Shar-Pei mix, “I’m pretty sure he could be a world’s ugliest dog contest candidate.”
If the dog is plain unlikable, “which is the case of a lot of them,” Frazer said, she’ll finds ways to make them likable, doggonit.
“They just need to be loved back into a routine,” she laughed.
Whatever the problem may be, Frazer said the dogs are looked after until she deems them “free” of adoption-hindering issues. Sometimes it’s a day, she said. Sometimes it’s a year.
“I can’t believe how many people move down here because of their appreciation of animals,” said Frazer. “Being able to have more land and animal-friendly neighbors attracts people to this area. Animals knit us together down here.”
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LOCAL HOT SPOTS
– Sassy Pooch: 411 First St. (408) 846-0808
– Bow Wow Adoptions: Visit bowwowadoptions.com; call (408) 427-1117 or e-mail info@bowwowadoptions.
com
– Doggone Dirty Dock Diving: Next events are June 4-5; April 9-10; July 2-4. Visit doggonedirtydockdiving.
com or e-mail rh****@ih********.net
– Gavilan Kennel Club: Visit gavilankc.org or call (888) 500-1150
– Sundowners Kennels: Visit sundownerskennels.com or call 847-3825
– Dog Parks: The Gilroy Dog Park is located inside Las Animas Veterans Park at 400 Mantelli Drive; the Morgan Hill Dog Park is located at Community Park on West Edmundson Avenue. For updates on new developments in Hollister visit thehollisterdog.webs.com
– Morgan Hill Dog Owner’s Group: Visit morganhilldog.org
– Dog Days of Hollister will take place 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 21 at Dunne Park in Hollister between Sixth and West streets
