Pretty Pet-Friendly: Easy Ways to Keep Spots Digs Stylish and Spotless


Posted on Mar 5, 2009
By Tanya Turgeon

By Julia Szabo

Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2009
207 Pages
$16.99

My dear Book Hound followers (if indeed such loyalists exist), I must preface this review with honesty.  For the first time, I am biased.  My beloved pit bull, Elsie, is featured on page 60, where she appears to be joyfully being swallowed by a faux fur beanbag chair.  Disclaimer aside, Pretty-Pet Friendly (available March 9th) proves to be nothing less than what we've come to expect from Julia Szabo and her passionate marriage of interior design and pet love.

Pretty Pet-Friendly, by Julia SzaboSimply put, this fresh attempt by Szabo to bring the hipness of pet ownership into the spotlight is comprehensive.  She guides us from room to room, ceiling to floor, addressing practicality (how does one give a Doberman Pinscher a bath?), safety (can a dog eat raisins?), style (is there a better looking litter box?), and comfort (where should a Great Dane sleep in accordance with feng shui?) for a range of pets including dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, lizards, and even a billy goat.

All lifestyles and budgets are considered from do-it-yourself projects, like building a wall-mounted cat castle in a New York City apartment, to having dog pee resistant hand-painted walls in a country cottage.  Szabo further bolsters her years of firsthand experience as a pet owner, dog adoption advocate, pet columnist and resident FetchDog blogger (among many other things) by consulting with a worldly collection of topnotch architects, designers, artists, painters, and veterinarians.

Opening with a quote about how her initial interest in design and animals was perceived as silly, it's quickly obvious how pertinent to today's issues Szabo's suggestions are.  She addresses home health concerns for both you and your pet, low cost and often moneysaving fixes especially important in today's economy, and a whole chapter on green living; such as, bamboo flooring and chemical free cleaners, in an age when anything counteractive to environmental awareness is unacceptable.

Szabo's enthusiasm is contagious and the ideas inspirational, leading to a book that is meant to be more than just read and placed on a shelf, but put into practice.  The inclusion of a detailed resource guide make achieving a harmonious Pretty Pet-Friendly existence perfectly attainable; a welcome opportunity to reclaim the blissfully simple sentiment "there's no place like home."


 


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