Ultimate Creature Comforts

Christmas is big business for stores such as a.k.a. Spot in Arlington, where Hooper bought Noly's coat and Lauttamus spent $150 on her Puggle's gifts. Popular items this season include a line of organic cotton toys called SimplyFido that sell for $16 each and a $52 doughnut-shaped dog bed available in more than 50 colors.

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Many shoppers come into the store to buy presents for other people's pets, owner Lucy McCausland said. She obliges by wrapping the gift in candy-cane tissue paper and a red bow. Some customers even request that she take off the price tag.

"Like the dog's going to know what they spent," McCausland said.

At the Posh Pooch in Bethesda, pet presents don't just mimic those for humans -- they're one in the same.

One of the hottest gifts this Christmas has been a reversible blanket with rose-colored fabric on one side and optional faux fur on the other. It comes in several sizes, with the smaller ones designed for dogs and the larger version for their owners.

"Forget Fido, get one of these for yourself!" store owner Leslie Rosenthal said she wrote in a newsletter to customers.

Shoppers have also clamored for the Canine Genius line of enrichment toys, she said. The bottle-shaped toys hide treats that dogs can only reach by pulling and tugging in the correct order. Several toys can be linked together to make the puzzle more difficult for "your dog's individual problem-solving level," the Canine Genius Web site reads.

Rosenthal said some customers spend several thousand dollars at the Posh Pooch during the holidays, with one shopper buying fake pearl necklaces for all of the Labradors in her life. (The pearls are strung with wire to make them extra durable.) Rosenthal said the rush begins in October when cool weather sets in and lasts through the holidays.

"Everything that we have is pure luxury for dogs," she said. "Customers will walk in the front door and just scream, they're so excited."

But are our pets that excited? Can they recognize the difference between a pearl necklace and beat-up collar? Does it matter?

"He knows something is up because he's getting more treats than usual," Lauttamus said of Ruben.

Tracy Ryan, an associate professor of advertising research at Virginia Commonwealth University who has studied pet gifts, said owners have three main motivations, which mirror the roles we take on when giving to each other.

Most commonly, owners want to make their pets happy, or they feel a responsibility to provide for their pet's needs, she said. But a surprising minority of people gave gifts to compensate for a guilty conscience, such as not walking the pet enough or not being able to spend time with it.

Ryan also found that pet owners pay close attention to whether their friends and family include their treasured pup in their holiday lists. Gifts from others are signs that they understand and acknowledge the pet's role in the owner's life.

"If a dear friend or family member fails to give the pet a gift," she said, "well, let's just say it's noted."