From pet peeve to pet project

Zakrajsek couldn't find the right kind of pet food for her cats, Bailey and Minx, without driving to a store across town. And with no dog parks nearby, Gaudio's Jack Russell terrier, Cosmo, had a tough time making friends.

Not wanting to abandon their big-city lifestyle, the couple opened a pet store in December at the corner of 6th and Main streets.

While providing convenience to the area's many pet owners, Pussy & Pooch Pethouse and Pawbar also has become a happening social scene -- a place where downtown dwellers meet and mingle, their pets sniff one another, and a small but thriving community comes together.

"Because the whole downtown area here is reinventing itself, I think that the store symbolizes that and we're reinventing the typical pet experience," said Zakrajsek, who moved downtown eight years ago after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in 1998. "Where is there a better place to have something so on the edge?"

Although Pooch carries the usual pet staples -- food, toys, accessories -- it isn't the traditional warehouse-type Petco or pricey pet boutique. To fit the character of the city and to reflect their own personalities, the couple thought the store needed some bite.

Which means that many of Pooch's offerings are decidedly unconventional.

For example, the store sells a pet shampoo called Sexy Beast and a doggy T-shirt with the image of a name tag and the words: "Hello, my name is Stud." (There's a matching shirt for female dogs, but we won't go there.)

The 3,200-square-foot store also houses a self-service pet wash area, a patio with wireless Internet and an art gallery for animal-themed works.

Over at the Pawbar, owners can treat their pets to made-to-order meals. Typical menu items: raw chicken and turkey nuggets, sausage stew, organic frozen yogurt and two kinds of nonalcoholic "dog beer."

"It's kind of like beef-flavored vitamin water," Zakrajsek, 35, said.

Aside from its products, Pooch boasts a social calendar that is loaded with parties, monthly Mutt Mingle mixers, obedience classes and pet adoption days.

Pets are always welcome in the store and to its events; there's even a large patch of grass called a Pet a Potty -- complete with a fake fire hydrant -- for visiting dogs with business to do.