A dog's day might never be the same
considering the attention pooches have been getting recently.
An advert claiming to be the first aimed directly at them
has been screened on television in Britain.
It features high-frequency sounds,
whistles and barks intended to catch the attention of watching canines
but that can't be heard by most humans.
Far from being a barking mad move,
it indicates that the advertising companies have sniffed out a promising new consumer
in man's best friend.
And dogs seem to be ready to come out of the doghouse in other fields too.
For those who have seen The Artist,
few seem able to resist Uggie's animal magnetism.
This Jack Russell has been receiving praise
that would make Lassie jealous.
The 10-year-old four-legged performer
showed that it's a mistake to think that you can't teach old dogs new tricks
and picked up the animal equivalent of an Oscar at
the prestigious Golden Collars in Century City,
California.
And soon dogs might rival human supermodels on some famous catwalks.
Spending on clothing for pets is expected to break the 20 million-pound mark
in 2012 in the UK,
according to market assessment firm MTW Research.
Across the Atlantic,
a US retailer sells everything from colourful polo shirts
to fancy dress costumes.
Its customers can let their imagination off the leash
and even dress their dogs to look like dinosaurs!