‘Put your left hand on your abdomen and move your right hand towards your dog. Breathe deeply… and out… Stroke your dog, feel the fur between your fingers… And when you’re ready, close your eyes for a moment. Breathe in deeply, two, three, four, and out, two, three, four…”
For a moment the noise of the highway that runs along the lawn disappears, the tense hustle and bustle of the city I drove through this morning disappears into the background. My belly bulges with my breathing, my right hand snuggles through the soft fur of my sweet shih tzu Bertus. Breathe in and out. Around me I hear the panting of a pack trying to cool down.
Bertus and I are at the first event of the Amsterdam members-only club Hotdoghouse, a place for hip dog owners who want to let their dog socialize or occasionally need care for their four-legged friend, and enjoy a dog yoga lesson: a relaxed vinyasa flow, but with a leash tied around your waist to which your dog is attached – because the calmer the owner, the more relaxed the dog – it seems.
Well, dog yoga. I didn’t expect that I would ever do something like this – I rarely do people yoga – but as a millennial dog owner in the Randstad, I have noticed that you quickly push the boundaries of what you thought dog ownership would be.
Since I bought (although I prefer to say ‘adopted’) Bertus a year ago, I have taken, among other things, parenting courses with him, an online training course in ‘dog training’.body language learn to read’ and purchased a pet first aid workshop. I also had a custom design crate made for him, put together countless do-it-yourself dog puzzles based on YouTube tutorials, so that I can provide Bertus with enough mental challenges, and I purchased a very expensive device. that plays a soothing frequency when he is tense.
These are all things that we used to not do at home for our dog, but that are starting to feel more and more normal and natural the more I interact with dog owners from my own generation. “People tend to project their own norms and values and what they consider a comfortable lifestyle onto their pet,” explains Ineke van Herwijnen, assistant professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University. “If you feel bonded with an animal, you assume that that animal will want approximately what you want.”
That in itself is nothing new, says Van Herwijnen. Dog owners of all generations have that tendency. But in the case of the urban millennial dog owner, it sometimes results in a true oat milk elite existence for Fikkie, full of typical millennial extras such as a vibrant social life, self-development (for dog and owner), responsible food and trendy accessories.
And so Bertus and I visited dog society Hotdoghouse, the hottest club of the moment for Amsterdam pups and the brainchild of former brand strategist Liselotte van der Lugt (29). “I missed a place where I was with Nelly [Catalaanse herder, 4 jaar] could go outside safely, and I found it difficult to find a good trainer or dog school that suited us. I really needed one really nice place where Nelly could play and which would also be a kind of knowledge institute, so I started such a place.”
Hotdoghouse has a day care service, so that dogs can play all day long with others of their own kind under the watchful eye of professional ‘kinologists’ who guarantee the atmosphere in the group (this costs from 25 euros per day), offers in-depth courses and behavioral consultations (prices depending on the request for help) and has recently also started holding member events so that not only the dog, but also the owner can socialize (participation in a yoga class for members is 5 euros per owner and 10 euros for a dog massage workshop). In addition, the club is playfully decorated with lots of bright pink – a brand that speaks to the target group.
Five months after the opening, more than 250 Amsterdam dogs have already become members and owners are very enthusiastic about the members event. “The vibe is just good here, very cheerful and it is flexible here,” says Bob Rotman (29), one of the owners of Kiki, a 1.5-year-old bulldog cross. He and his partner Theresa Khriesh (28) live in Antwerp and take Kiki especially to the Hotdoghouse in Amsterdam on the days that Rotman has to be in Amsterdam – the company he works for has an office there on the Zuidas. “Hotdoghouse posts updates about the dogs on Instagram throughout the day. Other shelters do not do that, and I think that is a very nice service,” says Khriesh.
If the owner is vegan, then the dog is often vegan too
Liselotte van der Lugt (29)
Rotman and Khriesh came to the members event with Kiki on their free Saturday morning, about 175 kilometers from their home. It just shows how seriously this new generation of dog owners takes the care of their four-legged friend and how the dog is increasingly an extension of ourselves, Van der Lugt notes. “If the owner is vegan, then the dog is often vegan too,” she says.
And if the owner walks the street well-dressed, so does the dog, as can be seen at the event, where the stall of Martijn Dorhout Mees (34) receives a lot of attention from the owners. His brand Gula (named after his own four-year-old Viszla) makes durable, stylish collars (39.50 or 44.50 euros), harnesses (29.50 euros) and leashes (34.50 or 44.50 euros). “I can dress as beautifully as I want, but if Gula walks around with a worn or dirty collar, we still don’t look good.”
The dog is part of the owner’s image, says assistant professor Van Herwijnen. “We also use our dogs to express or shape our identity. You are your dog and your dog is you.”
But is a hip millennial existence suitable for a dog? “It has advantages and disadvantages,” says Van Herwijnen. “This population group is willing to put a lot of time and care into their dog, which is only positive. But if you expose your dog to a lot of stimuli, you have to intervene in time if he becomes overstimulated – and that is sometimes quite difficult to see in your dog.” Van Herwijnen also warns owners against too much ‘care burden’, a situation in which the extensive routine of the animal weighs too heavily on the well-being of its owner.
If you ask the owners and entrepreneurs at the Hotdoghouse event, they can laugh at themselves: sometimes what we do for our four-legged friends goes quite far. But would they want it differently? Absolutely not, because look at them! They are all worth it.