It’s difficult to imagine in these days of fashion-pampered pooches and ubiquitous, heart-tugging, celebrity-driven television and magazine ads from the ASCPA, but just a decade ago, no one had ever heard of a pet fashion show; and the idea of a Hollywood celebrity posing for photos with their shelter-rescued pet was something that hadn’t been seen in a generation.
If shelter animals could talk, they’d wag their tails and shout the refrain, “We’ve come a long way, baby!”
But perhaps the most remarkable thing is just how much of that progress in the very concept of pet rescue being accepted and embraced as a “lifestyle” choice can be traced back to the efforts of one sassy lady — and her emotional bond with her own rescued pets.
“When I started, there was no promotion of animal rescue. You could not find a photo of a celebrity and their pet who was rescued in 1999. It hadn’t happened since Doris Day, years before,” says Wendy Diamond, the founder of Animal Fair magazine, frequent “pet expert” on the Today Show and Good Morning America, and author of the new book, It’s a Dog’s World: The Savvy Guide to Four-Legged Living. “I did the first ever pet fashion show in 1999, now they’re all over the world. Purina wouldn’t advertise [with me] because we put dogs in clothing. And it wasn’t for fashion; it was for animal rescue! It was never about glorifying and making pets accessories.”
Since founding Animal Fair Magazine, which promotes fairness to animals, just before the turn of the millennium, and putting up-and-coming star Renée Zellweger on the cover of the very first issue, Diamond single-handedly coined the concept of “pet lifestyle” — and every bit of it has been about promoting the power and positivity of rescuing the millions of shelter pets that are seeking homes all over this country.
“When I launched Animal Fair, 12 million dogs were euthanized in shelters every year. This year it’s down to something like 5 million. It’s a huge difference, and that’s thanks to Bob Barker, with his ‘Spay and Neuter’ campaign, and everyone who has been promoting animal rescue,” Diamond notes.
But she also focuses on the deeper, intangible effects of pet rescue and what it means to mankind.
“If people can adopt, [then] people can be more compassionate to everyone — people, children, animals. You see how rude people are these days. Adopting a pet can help change that. When you have a dog, you can’t hold a grudge on a dog — and people need to learn to do that with people. Move on! Forgive!” she says. “You are a parent to a pet, because they never grow up. They don’t go off to college and live on their own. You’re 100-percent responsible for them, but in return you get unconditional love.”
“In this economy,” she adds, “people need to go down to the basics.” And as much as she loves to see dogs dressed up at her annual fashion-show fundraisers, her “Yappy Hour” cocktail parties for singles and their pets all over the country and her annual Halloween costume ball for pets that is regularly attended by celebrities in New York City, “Dogs don’t care about fashion,” she notes. “They’re fine with last year’s collar! All they want to do is play, walk, eat and sleep.”
Getting down to basics is a big part of her newest book. Unlike Diamond’s previous titles — including How to Understand Men Through Their Dogs and How to Understand Women Through Their Cats; or even her new contributions to the super-popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series, What I Learned from the Cat and What I Learned from the Dog — It’s a Dog’s World is a soup-to-nuts look at what it means to be a pet owner, aimed at those who are thinking of adopting, and those who are life-long pooch aficionados.
“The book is the culmination of the last decade,” Diamond says. “From coining the term ‘pet lifestyle,’ to lessons on how to adopt a dog, in any breed; how to live with that dog so you both are happy, creating a dog-friendly home, buying furniture in a fabric they can’t scratch or soil; to throwing Bounce [dryer sheets] in the dryer to repel pet hair.”
There’s even some advice many dog lovers won’t won’t want to hear. For instance, “Your dog should not be sleeping with you. It’s bad Feng Shui,” she says.
In short, Diamond adds: “It’s the ultimate lifestyle book when you’re looking to get a dog, and when you have a dog, that will tell you everything you need to know. It’s not a fru-fru book — it’s really a guide.”
Grounded in Goodness
Diamond’s life-altering foray into the pet lifestyle world began while she was in the middle of doing some other very good work: Helping to feed 1,000 people each day with the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City. She noticed that of all the individuals she helped, the ones who were happiest were almost always the ones who had a dog with them.
So in 1999, the single girl living in the big city went out and adopted a dog of her own: A little white Maltese she named Lucky. And almost overnight, her bond with that pup — followed by the bond she formed with an adopted cat named Pasha — turned her life around. “I saw how horrible the shelter was, and how great pets were, and I had to do something,” she explains. “It’s this unconditional love and this feeling when you’re ready to take care of something. I wasn’t ready for children, but I’m a compassionate person and I feel very blessed, and there’s nothing better than giving back.”
Diamond estimates it took a good five years for the Animal Fair concept to really catch on, but she now sells hundreds of thousands of copies of her magazine each quarter, and the cover has been happily graced by pet-rescue advocates like Halle Berry and Charlize Theron.
Her little dog Lucky has had plenty of Hollywood run-ins as well. Since Lucky goes everywhere Wendy goes, about seven years ago she started telling celebrities that Lucky is their biggest fan — and asking if they’d pose for a picture. Lo and behold, the celebrities almost always say, “yes!” From run-ins with Sting to meeting Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato (left) in Washington, D.C. this spring, “I want to remember the moment. I’m at the White House correspondents dinner. I’m not friends with Kim Kardashian — but it’s humorous to me to have my dog in a photo with these people.”
You can find shots of Lucky and a whole slew of very lucky celebs on Wendy & Lucky’s Facebook page.
“I look back on the 10 years of doing this — which is 70 in dog years; I’m an old bitch in the dog business! I just am so fortunate to be able to do it,” Diamond says. “I feel really lucky. If I never do anything else in my life, I feel so lucky to be able to watch this industry grow, and make it better for homeless animals.”
Photos courtesy of www.animalfair.com.