by Lê Hương

As people's living standards have been improved and lifestyle enriched, there are more and more pet care services available in urban areas.

It’s not difficult for customers to find a pet shop or pet spa in big cities such as Hà Nội and HCM City to take care of their cats and dogs from grooming, pedicure, health check, boarding or even exercises and training.

“I am a pet lover,” Hà Thị Thu Trang, who runs Pawtamin, a pet salon and hotel with facilities in Hai Bà Trưng and Mỹ Đình districts in Hà Nội, tells Việt Nam News.

“I always want to find places where I could send my pets for beauty and healthcare. That’s the reason why I offer these services for both cats and dogs.”

Trang also sells pet products including food, medicine, accessories and tools.

“Pawtamin focuses a lot on taking care of pets, and keeping the owners well-updated of the pets’ situation,” she says. “We take great care of the pets’ meals, sleep, habits and behaviour. All products we use have been carefully chosen. We have built up a brand that is friendly and closely follows Japanese and Korean styles. When our customers bring their pets to Pawtamin, it is like they are bringing them to their second home rather than a temporary boarding place.”

Over the years, the brand has been popular among pet owners.

Cats enjoy boarding service at Pawtamin. Photo courtesy of the shop

Trần Huy, a frequent customer, says he often takes his dogs to Pawtamin to get their nails and hair cut monthly.

“I have searched in the market for a spa I can trust totally with my pets, who I consider my children,” he says. “I think the services here are good. The staff are nice and truly love pets. When I bring them back home from this spa, they seem to be happy and they are relaxed as if they were at home when returning here again."

Huy suggests that the spa should offer more advanced care on nails, skin, as well as nutrition.

“I wish the staff here paid more attention to nutrition so that I could be much more content when I leave them here for long business trips,” he says.

A hotel room for cats. Photo courtesy of Pawtamin

Organic products

Besides available foreign-imported shampoo and perfume for pets, Wok Monster is a new start-up specialising in cosmetics for pets.

“We aim to offer a whole product set needed for pets like special kinds of bath gels for certain strains of dogs or cats, and conditioner for softening hair,” says Nông Thị Hải Yến, owner of Wok Monster.

Pet products of Wok Monster available for sale. VNS Photo Hải Yến

Yến says they want to offer pet products that can be used conveniently by owners. Some of the products, like perfume, can be used for humans as well.

“We are doing research to produce hand gloves to groom pets,” she says.

'Educating' pets - why not?

The demand for training pets is also popular among pet owners nowadays, who always dream of well-behaved pets.

Hoàng Văn Tuân, who has been working as a dog trainer for the past 20 years, has kept himself busy teaching dogs at clients’ homes and at his home as well.

“I often teach dogs to limit their bad habits, like gnawing objects and biting people,” he says. “Dogs get smarter after the course.”

Tuân says that dogs can show their feelings to people the most among animals. They can understand the owners’ feelings through voices and facial expressions. They know whether their owners are happy or in a bad mood.

Tuân has been training dogs for 20 years. VNS Photo Nhật Hồng

“The demand for training dogs is increasing in the modern society,” he says. “Some dogs may be spoiled by the owners, who indulge them too much. Dogs may become fierce to strangers or even to their owners.”

Tuân teaches dogs with some simple verbal orders like "Sit!, Stay!, Stand!, Run!" and so on.

“The lessons are simple,” he says. “But step by step, the dogs will be calmer and know how to obey their owners.”

Tuân says the golden time for training a dog is when he/she is six to eight months old. When a dog gets over a year and a half old, it will be more difficult to teach them.

Nguyễn Minh Nhật, who has his two Husky dogs trained by Tuân, says before being trained, his dogs ran away whenever he opened his house's door.

“Now when I open the door, they will just wander around me, not running away like before,” he says. “I’m satisfied with what the dogs have learned. They behave well and are under control both at home and in the streets.” VNS

(*With additional interview by Nhật Hồng)