Luxury gifts for the dog lover

Give Rover a bed fit for a king, and let a robot clean up pet hair.

Published December 3, 2008 11:39AM (EST)

Dog beds have come a long way since your parents crumpled an old blanket in the corner of the kitchen and told Fido to like it or lump it. We've been big fans of the Bagel Bed for a while, but if you really want an impressive, absurdly indulgent gift for your favorite dog or dog lover, consider the Black Embossed Beaver Luxury Dog Bed ($109-$189). Dogs love cozy, furry beds, and most rabid dog lovers are just crazy enough to crave a gift this absurdly overindulgent.

For your very favorite pet owner of all, though, no gift could be more precious than the gift of clean floors, free of hair drifts and hairy dust bunnies and hair, hair, hair, everywhere. Although it was tough to recommend the first few generations of Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robots to pet lovers, due to the Roomba's tendency to become damaged and clogged up by the enormous wads of pet hair common to pet-heavy households, iRobot has recently redesigned its brushes and bins to accommodate pet owners with heavy-duty hair trouble on their hands. There are a few older models under $200, but the best bet for those with more than one pet is the Roomba 562 Pet Series ($399), which cleans four rooms on one battery charge and includes a scheduler so you can get your little vacuuming slave to do its job regularly, without any micromanaging on your part (though regular cleaning is important if you want to keep your robot from overloading on hair). If you don't think this is a very romantic gift, just trust us: Every time your honey spots that little robot sucking pet hair off her floors and rugs, she'll think of you and positively swoon.


By Heather Havrilesky

Heather Havrilesky is a regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, The Awl and Bookforum, and is the author of the memoir "Disaster Preparedness." You can also follow her on Twitter at @hhavrilesky.

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