Exclusive | NYCs pampered pups are getting five-star treatment at $100k-a-year luxury country escapes
Bubble baths are underway.Dinner is made to order.
The daily itinerary? Naps, training sessions and facials.Outside, a happy pack tears around fenced-in play areas as staff keep watch from offices overlooking the grounds.The guests are dogs.
And this is their country escape.On a sunny afternoon at Far Fetched Acres in the Hudson Valley, one eager pup worked through a training session while others mingled in thoughtfully matched playgroups.Inside the custom-built, 10,000-square-foot postmodern barn, lavender-scented air sets the mood.Each dog has a personalized cubby stocked with food, medications, toys and detailed instructions from home.The menu is just as tailored.
Alongside provisions brought from home, the camp serves special treats such as rabbit fur and dried mackerel.Spread across 127 acres, the retreat gives city dogs room to roam, play and get gloriously filthy.Their parting gift? A much-needed bath before heading home.Forget the doghouse.
New York’s most pampered pooches are checking into country retreats where chauffeurs, gourmet meals, personal trainers and five-star pampering make every getaway the ultimate dog’s life.A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 51% of dog owners consider their pets as much a part of the family as human relatives.With owners shelling out eye-popping sums to give their four-legged family members the good life, it’s clearly a dog’s world — and the humans are just footing the bill.At Far Fetched Acres, off-peak boarding starts at $125 a night, while intensive puppy and training programs cost as much as $250 a day, founder Colleen Safford told The Post.
For some frequent-flying clients, those costs add up to more than $100,000 annually for their dogs’ stays.And if dog owners are shelling out that kind of dough, it’s no surprise that Safford has received some remarkably specific requests, including hand-feeding their pups an exact number of freeze-dried kibble piecesBut when pampering clashes with a pup’...