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Dolce & Gabbana has a new fragrance -- and it's for dogs

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Dolce & Gabbana has a new fragrance. I'm told it smells of sandalwood and musk, and the bottle is adorned with a gold-plated paw.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

A paw - is it for dogs?

FADEL: Apparently. It's called Fefe. And for just $99...

MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).

FADEL: ...It could be yours, A.

MARTÍNEZ: Doggone it. I mean, do dogs think it smells good?

FADEL: We ran that by Dr. Ann Hohenhaus. She's a senior veterinarian at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center in New York City.

ANN HOHENHAUS: Dogs experience their world through their nose. You and I have 5 million receptors for smell in our nose. And the dog has 30 million.

MARTÍNEZ: OK, so what I think smells nice could smell different to a dog.

FADEL: And probably overwhelming - dogs also have different cleaning rituals than we do.

HOHENHAUS: We don't lick ourselves, and dogs lick themselves all over. So is this going to cause any mouth irritation or any tummy upset in dogs?

MARTÍNEZ: So that sounds like a problem, I got to say.

FADEL: The instructions say to spray the fragrance on human hands or a brush and then rub it on the dog so you don't get it in their eyes.

HOHENHAUS: We see dogs all the time that have been to a grooming parlor and gotten soap in their eye. And then they got an ulcer on the clear part of their eye or the cornea.

MARTÍNEZ: So, Leila, I mean, is this a product even humans want, or is it barking up the wrong tree?

FADEL: I mean - I don't know - it sounds like it. We talked to Jess Rona, a Los Angeles groomer. She says none of her clients have asked for something like this.

JESS RONA: I'm not a fan of dog perfumes. I don't think the dogs love it.

MARTÍNEZ: Wow. This is getting rougher and rougher.

FADEL: So if your dog smells, Dr. Hohenhaus says a fragrance probably won't solve the problem.

HOHENHAUS: They might have bad teeth. They might have diabetes, which gives them a funny smell. They could have cancer somewhere that smells bad. And they could also have a skin infection.

FADEL: And Jess Rona, the dog groomer, says try a nice bath.

RONA: When you have a beautiful bath and the dog is squeaky clean, you don't really need to add perfume.

MARTÍNEZ: There you go. So in conclusion, just take care of your dog's health and maybe bathe them from time to time.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOUND DOG")

ELVIS PRESLEY: (Singing) You ain't nothing but a hound dog. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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