Pamper your pet at 'pupperware' parties

Pamper your pet at 'pupperware' parties

CINCINNATI - Pricey shampoos, treats and strollers for pets are among the products people check out at "pupperware" parties for owners and the pets they're buying for.

The parties, usually held in people's homes, combine the venerable pastime pioneered by Tupperware products with the trend of pet-pampering.

Home parties of all kinds generate $30 billion in annual sales, estimates the Direct Selling Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group. And people spent $36.3 billion on their pets in 2005, according to the Greenwich, Conn.-based American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.

At a recent evening party at the Paw's Palace groom spa in nearby Silverton, about 16 dogs, from poodles to golden retrievers, sniffed around and played with toys while their owners discussed products such as $5 Ulti-Mutt candy bars and Aromutt Therapy shampoos, spritzers and candles.

"I think it's great. There are so many times you go to a feed store or a pet supply store and you don't get to try things out," Candace Gates, 51, of Blanchester said.

Gates bought a $12 bottle of orange mango-scented foaming cleanser for her dog, Roxie.

"She has a tendency to roll in everything nasty she can find," she says.

Entrepreneur Andrew Shure founded Shure Pets, which puts on pet product parties, in 2002 after taking note of how people treated pets as family members and spent freely on them.

His company boasts more than 1,200 consultants around the country, a number that's more than doubled since last year, he said.

Lane Nemeth started Pleasant Hill, Calif.-based Petlane in 2003. Petlane has 500 advisers across the country who sell items including holistic food and grooming, health and safety products for dogs, cats and birds at what the company calls "Pet Pawties."

Gale Wulker, 46, of suburban Blue Ash, put on the party at Paw's Palace as a Shure Pets consultant.

"I'm not into jewelry or cosmetics or cookware, but pets (are) something I can do," she said.

Marilyn Newman, 54, of Silverton, buys something at every pet product party she attends for her bichon frise, Susi. She no longer buys from pet stores.

She uses Shure Pets' emu oil spray and shampoo that she says leaves Susi's fur free of mats. She's also bought spritzers, a reflective leash and collar, and a paw mitt.