The life of Rover: From pizza to day care, Utah businesses pamper pets

From behind the counter of Ma & Paws Bakery, J.R. the Jack Russell terrier has a special vantage point of all the yummy things coming out of the oven: chicken taquitos, beef cheddar tacos, chicken pot pie.

Luckily for this little guy, the treats are made specifically for J.R. and all of his canine friends. Ma & Paws is a dog bakery, specializing in making healthy snacks for dogs with allergies or other health issues.

Diane Sanders and her husband started the store nine years ago after losing their wire fox terrier to kidney failure. The bakery now offers fresh-baked, whole-wheat treats, made with all natural ingredients and no preservatives, and carries several different lines of healthy dog food.

For $10.50, the bakery, at 1217 E. 3300 South, will also bake a personalized birthday pizza for pooches on their big day.

"We're here because we want to support the health and well-being of the animals," Sanders said. "I'm not here to put them in rhinestone collars or fur coats."

Not, she quickly added, that there's anything wrong with that. Sanders' regular customers are people who love their pets and want to take care of them, which often means decking them out in fancy collars or letting them spend their days at a local "pet resort."

In 2007, Americans will spend some $41 billion on their pets, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Most of that, the nonprofit trade group estimates, will go to food ($16.1 billion), supplies ($9.9 billion) and veterinary care ($9.8 billion).

To those in the business, it's clear that pets, particularly dogs, are becoming more and more like family. Especially, Sanders said, for young professionals without children or empty nesters.

"The family dog is taking on a whole different interaction for them," Sanders said. "These are dogs that are considered a viable part of the family."

According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, 63 percent of U.S. households — or 71.1 million homes — include a pet.

Nowhere is the family pet dynamic more evident than at Little Dogs Resort & Salon in Murray, where each day more than 30 "pet parents" drop off their pets for doggie day care.

"They just don't want to leave their babies home alone all day, so they drop them off at day care just like they would a little kid," said Little Dogs' co-owner Ruth Shirah.