Get to know some of the shop dogs of Adelaide: Here are six of our favourite
EVERYONE loves a shop dog. Here are six of our favourite cute canines who head with their owners to work in the CBD each day.
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EVERYONE loves a shop dog. Here are six of the city’s hardworking (or not) 9-5 dogs (listed in no particular order, because there’s no way we’re playing favourites):
Lenny, The Men’s Room, 109 Hindley St
THIS five-year-old fella is pretty relaxed and pretty chilled.
“Some might say lazy,” his owner Adam Newman says.
When you’re treated like royalty, why wouldn’t you be?
The British bulldog is somewhat of a local celebrity, always hanging out in the doorway of Adam’s Hindley St barbershop and hardly batting an eyelid as passers-by take snaps and stop for cuddles.
He’s got “a sackful of girlfriends” and even has his own calendar.
Everyone loves him.
“Regular customers stop and ask where he’s been if he hasn’t been in the shop,” Adam says.
“Today a lady walked past and said, ‘I’m just looking for Lenny is he OK? I haven’t seen him lately.’ I say ‘yes, yes, he’s fine, he’s here’. He’s the star of the show.”
Buck and Tina, King Pawn Pawnbroker, 304A King William St
BUCK, a one-year-old Boston terrier and Tina, a three and a half-year-old English Staffordshire Bull Terrier, do everything together.
Their hobbies include sleeping and dining at the cafe next door.
“They go to Borsch Cafe ... if someone doesn’t finish a breakfast they’ll get bacon and sausages and things like that,” owner Ben Baker says.
Ben works downstairs at the pawn shop, while his wife Cathy works upstairs in her design studio Dew Creative.
Tina is technically the upstairs dog, but she’s too social.
“She loves to be down here with Buck. They’re like adopted brother and sister,” Ben says. They love pats, too — of which they get plenty.
Gracie, Council of Objects, 16 Ebenezer Place
ONLY seven months old, Gracie is a shy little dog who spends most of her days curled up behind the counter next to her human, Elise Short.
Elise found Gracie through the site Pet Rescue and went all the way to WA to save her. “She just sounded perfect,” Elise says.
“She had the right temperament.” Customers are welcome to bring their own dogs into the shop and sometimes, Gracie will duck her head out to say hello.
“She pops up now and again,” Elise says.
Rocket, Arthunt Studio, 250 Pirie St
THIS four-year-old British bulldog spends her days snoozing by the window or following her owner Tamara Huntington around the studio.
She’s a sweet little thing who enjoys sucking on her favourite pillow and chewing on paintbrushes.
She also hates loud noises — when Tamara whips out the hairdryer to blast over wet paint, Rocket will dart over to the opposite side of the room.
Sometimes she’ll run out and jump on customers, but she’s usually quite mellow.
She did escape across the road once, Tamara says.
“The old mayor Stephen Yarwood brought her back. He found her at the Tivoli.”
Oscar, O’Connell’s Bookshop, Station Arcade
HE’S a refined dog, young Oscar. The three-year-old Whippet — named after Oscar Wilde — is a gentle soul who spends his time curled up quietly in his oilskin bed, pausing to appreciate the finer things in life.
Ben O’Connell likes to spoil him, as do the customers.
“There’s a lovely woman who comes in once a week and gives him some chicken breasts she chops up for him,” he says.
“He’s pretty fussy on the food front ... he will only eat premium things and doesn’t like to drink out of a bowl — he likes his water from a fountain.”
Ben has heard Oscar bark only twice. He’s so quiet, customers don’t notice him at times.
Of course, there are the regulars that come specifically to see him. “Last week I had three people lining up to give him a pat,” he says.
“He gets more attention than I do.”
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