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On this site, we’ve lamented the fact that PETA (or as we like to call it People for the Unethical Treatment of Animals and humans–PUTAh) has already won.
In “,” we summarized how Americans treat their pets better than they treat other humans. We blame Paris Hilton and other vapid celebutantes for splurging on $1,200 Burberry rain coats, $300 aromatherapy sessions, and gazillion dollar plastic surgeries for their metrosexualized dogs. And we blame vapid Americans who copy the vapid celebs’ every silly trend.
Today’s New York Times details the latest such absurdity, Country Clubs for Dogs. No, these are NOT kennels. Check out the pics below. They are actual country clubs and spas for dogs.
Here are some of the excerpts from the article, “A Dog’s Life, Upgraded.” Has America gone mad?:

When Top Dog [Country Club]’s owner, Jean Beuning, hired a contractor three years ago to install a tiled, in-ground, heated swimming pool for dogs, the builder initially told her that she was out of her mind, she said.
But Ms. Beuning had heard that kind of comment before, particularly in the fall of 2000 when she left her job as a regional vice president for ExecuStay by Marriott to open a dog kennel, which she describes as a “Club Med for dogs.” . . .
Depending on the kennel – or hotel or spa or resort – a dog’s activities can include hiking, swimming, listening to music, watching television, dining on gourmet meals and getting a pedicure, complete with nail polish. . . .
Heated tile floors and high-tech ventilation systems are de rigueur. . . . And even as the prices for such pampering rise – in some instances well beyond $100 a night – dog owners are lining up to give their pets what they view as the perfect vacation. . . .
If a dog stays in the $50-a-day “ambassador suite” at Club Bow-Wow, a staff member sleeps overnight in the room. Dogs that opt for the “presidential suite,” also $50 a day, spend the day in the office of the center’s owner and manager, though they aren’t quite interns.
Other luxury kennels offer services from pedicures to parties for pets, charging as much as $185 a night. . . .
Inside the suites [at Top Dog] are custom-made wrought-iron beds with orthopedic mattresses and tapestry covers. (And just like the beds in some hotels for humans, the dog beds can be bought for home use.) . . .
And before lights-out, around 9 p.m., Ms. Beuning or one of her employees reads a bedtime story over the sound system. The stories, written by local schoolchildren, may tell of dogs “chasing kitty cats in their dreams,” she said. . . .
“The priority here is always about the dogs,” she said. So her center plays soothing music – classical, with a good helping of Frank Sinatra mixed in . . . .

At Holiday Barn Pet Resorts, dogs are offered

special events like turkey barbecues for Thanksgiving and weekly tailgate parties during college football season. . . .
At Mazzu’s Canine and Feline Hotel in Philadelphia, Jenee Mazzu offers a luxury pet hotel for “the discriminating pet owner.” A night in a suite costs $155 to $185, depending on the size of the room. (The largest is 7 feet by 7 feet.)
The daily rate includes the “personal suite, platform bed, comforter, toys, TV/DVD, two walks, one 40-minute jaunt to the dog park, feedings, unlimited bottled water, climate-controlled facility, daily maid service, 24-hour on-site care,” the Mazzu’s Web site says. For an additional $25, Mazzu’s will serve the dog a filet mignon dinner.

Don’t these people know that the dogs are animals? “Stepford Dogs”? “Canine Feng Shui”?:

A Dog’s experience in a boarding kennel depends largely on the dog’s personality, said Mr. Cohen, the pet behaviorist. “People are trying to push dogs into Stepford dogs,” he said, noting that many dogs enjoy socializing with other dogs but that some do not. “I think they’re individuals.” . . .
Carol Boerio-Croft, who has two locations in the Pittsburgh area for her Cozy Inn Pet Resort and Orchid Spa, has built her kennel business on what she calls canine feng shui. “Cozy Inn’s mission is to create and provide a loving, sensitive, healthy, safe naturally controlled environment for our guests; take care of them completely: mentally, emotionally, medically, spiritually and physically,” she says on her Web site. . . .
With that in mind, she offers an indoor swimming pool and whirlpool, a choice of full-body, Swedish or sports massages, and hot-oil treatments.

We were right. Pets are the new humans. Humans–the new pets.