Posh shops went to the dogs Saturday
Jocelyn Bissell, 14, dresses like a dog.Her miniature dachshund, Duke.The pair turned out Saturday for the Bark at Briargate held at the Promenade Shops at Briargate.Each wore a neon green bow-tie and a black leather collar and hat. Bissell’s painted-on whiskers and black-dotted snout won the crowd’s vote, earning the duo top prize in the dog and owner look-a-like contest.The event also featured a pet fashion show, where some of the best-dressed canines in town strutted their stuff. Ronald Oulton, 51, showed-off his 4-year-old pug, Pudge, who sported a black graduation cap.Pudge just graduated at the top of his obedience training class. He can sit, crawl, beg and rollover.Nancy Oulton, walked Pudge’s best friend, Snoop Dog, a tiny 2-year-old miniature pinscher who likes to “sit on her shoulder like a parrot,” she said.Dogs of all sizes – from Great Danes weighing 125 pounds down to Chihuahuas at 5 pounds – rambled through stores and joined their owners at patio restaurants.The little dogs weren’t intimidated by their massive brethren.”He owns the whole house,” Jen Last said of her pint-sized pooch, which can stare down her larger Labrador. “He pushes around our other three dogs. He has his own attitude.”It may have looked like the up-scale shops went to the dogs Saturday, but they can do that any day at the Promenade Shops at Briargate.”We’re a pet friendly center,” said marketing coordinator Deanna DeLarge. Any shop with a paw-print decal on the window is open to furry friends.Saturday’s Bark at Briargate took pet pampering a step further.Owners watched training demonstrations and were treated to doggie goodie bags; for their dogs, of course.





