ST ARS WITH THE BOW-WOW FACTOR

Why dogs are the new plus-ones

we’ve had dogs as fashion accessories, dogs as substitute babies – and even a rise in divorcing couples fighting doggy custody battles. But the latest trend is to ditch your (human) partner and take your pooch out and about as your plus-one instead. With the increase of pet-friendly hotels, pet menus and pet passports, you can take your pup with you on holiday or dine with them at the best restaurants. Lewis Hamilton took his bulldogs Coco and Roscoe on holiday to Barbados last year, where he was pictured paddleboarding with Coco, and Miranda Hart takes her shih-tzu cross Peggy with her to a cottage on the south coast.

In June, Daphne’s Italian restaurant in London’s South Kensington welcomed dogs through its doors for the first time and The Milestone Hotel, not far away, has an extensive

menu for pets to ‘make sure they have just as great a stay here as the guests,’ says pet concierge Georgia Wood. In Vienna, meanwhile, the Park Hyatt hotel can arrange for you and your pet to go to the opera. Cara Delevingne was recently spotted leaving Claridge’s, where she had been staying, with her husky crossbreed Leo. And Crikvenica in Croatia has just opened a dedicated beach where pooches can swim and enjoy a dog-friendly ice cream.

Dogs are starting to make appearances on the red carpet, too. Last year Tom Hardy was accompanied by his labrador cross Woody at the Legend premiere in London and Lady Gaga took her french bulldogs Asia and Koji to the Women in Music bash. A few months ago Kelly Osbourne took her pomeranian Polly as her date to a black-tie Aids fundraiser in New York. Lewis Hamilton had Roscoe by his side when he received his BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 2014. And Ryan Gosling has been known to take his cross-breed George, whom he describes as ‘the great love of my life’, on chat shows for moral support, as has singer Ariana Grande, who took her pup Toulouse on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in April.

This has taken the man’s-best-friend label to a whole new level, raising the relationship almost to couple status. It used to be just about companionship – now it’s more like seeing your dog as your significant other. Actress Carrie Fisher was spotted with her bulldog Gary as her dinner date at the Chiltern Firehouse in London last year, and in May he was her escort at the Cannes Film Festival. ‘Gary travels everywhere with me,’ she said. ‘I love that saying: make me become the person my animal thinks I am. If I am who Gary thinks I am, I’m fantastic!’

‘Dogs simply love to go out with you,’ says marital therapist and dog owner Andrew G Marshall (author of I Love You But I’m Not in Love With You). ‘Besides, if you’re single, it’s actually easier to claim your dog as your plus- one than to leave it at home with a sitter. On a more serious note, many people get a dog after the loss of a partner. But if a dog acquires the idea that it actually is your partner, you could have problems with jealousy when you want to embark on a human relationship. One client of mine had to book a hotel room to sleep with her new boyfriend because her dog threatened to attack him whenever the couple got too intimate in her flat…’

FROM FAR LEFT: Lewis Hamilton with his bulldogs in Barbados, and paddleboarding with Coco; Ariana Grande with Jimmy Fallon and her dog Toulouse on The Tonight Show; Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher on the red carpet in Cannes with her bulldog Gary; Miranda Hart takes her pup Peggy for a ride; Tom Hardy with his labrador cross Woody at the Legend premiere; Lady Gaga with her french bulldog Koji at the Women in Music party last December; Kelly Osbourne with her pomeranian Polly at a fundraiser in New York