LODGINGS FOR PETS HURT, TOO.

Byline: Dave Melendi Staff Writer

SUN VALLEY - The same problem plaguing the hotel industry extends to the upscale resorts for pets - little travel equals little business.

The slowing economy coupled with the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 brought tourism and travel to a standstill, and only now is it beginning to pick up. So, too, for the upscale pet care business.

Kristyn Goddard co-owns the Paradise Ranch Country Club for Dogs on La Tuna Canyon Road in Sun Valley, where customers pay $45 a night for a host of amenities including use of a grooming spa, a grassy play area and waterfalls.

Customers can spend an extra $5 to have someone sleep with their pet.

``With the Sept. 11 disaster, business has definitely slowed,'' Goddard said. ``When people don't travel, it hurts our industry. If they are not going away, they have no need to board their dog.''

To anyone without a beloved pet, the idea of a resort might seem laughable. But the pampered pet industry has grown to a $26-billion-a-year concern in the U.S., according to a Washington, D.C.-based pet association.

``It probably is a trend,'' said Mike Maddox, chief counsel for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, based in Washington. ``In the pet industry, we are seeing a new upper echelon of traditional services.''

Divinity Libby, owner of The Best Little Cat House in Pasadena, has 60 ``cat apartments'' in two playrooms of a 2,000-square-foot home built in 1903.

Cat owners are charged $15 a night, which includes a health check.

``It's the alternative to cage-boarding for cats,'' she said. ``People are more nervous about cats (getting into fights) than they are about dogs. But because it's not anybody's territory, we don't have that problem.''

Maddox says several factors have led to the jump in such businesses.

``Part of it is whenever you see expansion of the economy, you see more disposable income,'' he said. ``It's also the case that people are looking at their pets differently than they have in the past. They view them more as members of the family.''

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Tobi the yellow Lab frolics with Sampson the St. Bernard at the Paradise Ranch Country Club for Dogs' pool area, above. At left, a clutch of canines cavorts on one of the pet-boarder's comfy lounges.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer