Chicago Boutique Pet Stores: Toby's Search for a Winter Coat Continues

This weekend, Toby discovered a new favorite pastime: shopping! We previously spent some time online searching for a new winter dog coat, but I just don't trust myself to get his measurements correct and oftentimes, even when the coat should fit, his long legs make actually getting him into the coat impossible. And Toby is rather small for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, so going by breed recommendations doesn't work very well. So we decided the only thing to do was to go to some brick and mortar Chicago pet boutiques and get properly fitted for a winter coat and a new harness (more on the Puppia harness later).

Toby quickly decided that he LOVES going to pet boutiques. He gets to ride in the car and explore a new Chicago neighborhood. This weekend we visited pet shops in the South Loop, Ukrainian Village, and Wicker Park. Toby pretty much knows everyone in our little section of the West Loop, but in these neighborhoods everyone was new and eager to compliment Toby and generally shower him with attention. He is probably embarrassed of his rather awkward owners who don't know how to respond to everyone rushing up to pet him!

From Toby's perspective, the nice thing about boutique pet shops, as opposed to say, Petsmart, is that the toys and treats are often at a dog's eye level, so he gets to check everything out. Also, the owners of these shops give him tons of attention and free treats (well, maybe not quite free, he DOES have to do a trick or two to earn the treat!). Toby gets so excited in these shops he whines and whines. He is also very good about trying on dog clothes--what a little fashionista he is turning out to be! Anyhow, here is where we went on our quest to find a new winter coat at a Chicago pet boutique:

Doggy Style Pet Shop: 2023 West Division Street, Chicago, IL

A word of caution: every boutique pet store in Chicago has to have a clever pun for a name. This is all well and good except for when one is writing up a review of the place for one's blog and naively googles for "Doggy Style" to find the street address. Owww, my eyes!!! Lesson: always remember to include "Pet Shop" in your search phrase, folks.

The people at this shop were very friendly and Toby found a number of high quality coats that fit him perfectly. However, Toby is not allowed to buy a coat that costs more than his owner's coat, so we unfortunately had to pass on a couple of the nicer coats in this shop. They have a lot of other nice things, too. Their selection of collars, harnesses, and leads seemed to be particularly expansive. They were out of Toby's size in the Puppia brand harness, but said they were expecting a new shipment shortly, so we may be back later.

 

Spotland Yard: 907 N. Damen, Chicago, IL

We didn't actually get to go into this shop because they don't open until noon on Sundays, but it looked nice from the outside and Toby really liked walking around in this neighborhood (Ukrainian Village). If you want to check it out, be sure to print out the coupon above to receive a free dog treat!

 

Kriser's: 1103 S. State, Chicago, IL
Everyone in this pet boutique was really friendly and helpful as well. They offered to order any coats we liked if they didn't have Toby's size, and they gave Toby plenty of free sample treats. They were having a Halloween costume party for pets this afternoon, but after all this shopping, Toby is too tired to go. This shop seemed to have the best selection of unique, high quality dog treats. After checking them all out, Toby decided on some peanut butter banana treats, Northern Biscuit Little Prints Copacabana Mini Bites (the name is quite a mouthful!).