it will be the next Tinder, but it’s definitely
going to be a community.”
Netherthorpe’s most influential model for
WagWorks ended up being closer to home:
a children’s club in London’s Chelsea. “We
walked into Purple Dragon and loved it and
wondered who the architect was.” When he
first approached its designer, Joanna Simpson
of Simpson Studio, she says she was taken
aback. “My first thought was, ‘Daycare for
dogs? This is nuts!’ ” Three years later she
is explaining with the zeal of a canine-club
convert how she has created “a home from
home, as soon as you walk in the door”.
Actually it is more of a boutique hotel with
exceptional amenities than a home. Facilities
include: preventative healthcare and well-
ness rooms; a scent trail to stimulate,
engage and tire dogs out; barn-style dining/
time-out huts; a central “park” area with
rubber flooring and K9Grass (drains lie
below the squares of synthetic turf, so the
area can be flushed after use); and a resident
trainer and behaviourist called Winkie
Spiers. Piped music — mostly classical — an
air-conditioning system with six changes of
air per hour and a quiet reading room also
feature. (No, the dogs will not read, that
would be ridiculous. Staff will read stories to
the puppies to calm and relax them.)
Simpson’s floorplan has been dictated by
research into canine communication and
informed by an ethogram — a chart of dogs’
instinctive behaviours, including sniffing,
staring, socialising, chewing and licking.
The corridor with curving walls, for
instance, aids natural greeting behaviour
(never going in face to face first, always
leaning round for the butt check). Mean-
while the decor is calculated to attract the
humans. Panelling on the walls is painted
in Hicks’ Blue by Little Greene, there are
glazed Crittall dividers, lounge chairs by
Danish masters and custom benches and
beds in leather and English oak.
Naturally, before a dog can join WagWorks
(£45 a month), there is a vetting process.
I took my labrador, Robert, along to see if
he might be added to the register of 30
founding members. Socialising dogs is an
art. With humans, alcohol helps, and with
canines, treats. Rhi Hudd, Netherthorpe’s
co-founder, has a pocket full of them and the
full attention of some prospective members
when we arrive. Introducing them to each
other is a delicate process, beginning on
the lead. Sydney the cocker spaniel seems
keener on human than canine company and
Buster the floofy golden retriever retreats to
a time-out hut to de-stress after Robert gets
overexcited and humps him. Once they all
settle down together, though, the tiered dog
bed — one of Simpson’s mid-century-style
furniture designs — proves quite the draw.
The new friends clamber onto it, vying for
This picture Katrina and Robert at their getting-to-know-you session
at WagWorks. Opposite Treats are useful for helping members socialisetop dog status. Then Robert runs off with
the plush bedding pad and shakes it like he
is killing a rat. Is there anything in the club
rules about that, I wonder.
If WagWorks won’t have my dog, there are
alternatives. Just as gentlemen’s clubs popu-
late Pall Mall, private dogs’ clubs are found
around central London. Competitors include
Love My Human, founded by Jenny
Matthews (from £450 per year for daycare;
lmhtownhouse.co.uk). Known for her charity
canine fashion shows (the Kings Road Strutz),
Matthews can host a catered dog birthday
party for up to six dogs and ten people in her
Kings Road crèche and roof terrace. Famous
human fans include Eva Green, Frank
Lampard, Tamara Beckwith “and a duchess
who we’d like to be discreet about”. A few
miles west, in Westfield shopping centre, is
the fashion set’s favourite option: Urban
Mutts hotel, social club and grooming
parlour, whose celebrity clients include the
Beckhams. The air-conditioned daycare area
has sprung flooring to protect joints, and spa
treatments in the grooming room include
reiki and a blueberry facial to remove trouble-
some tear stains. Its drop-and-shop service
(£35 for five hours; urbanmuttshotels.com)
allows owners enough time to tour the nearby
boutiques, which include Gucci and Prada.
Since every good dog deserves a mini-
break, the WagWorkers are currently
scouting for an Oxfordshire outpost. But at
the time of writing Robert and I have yet to
hear back on the subject of his membership.
I fear my beloved mutt may well be unclub-
bable, the canine equivalent of Groucho
Marx. “I don’t want to belong to any club
that will accept me as a member,” he might
as well bark. ■ wagworks.co.ukThis picture and above
WagWorks features
bespoke furniture for
canines (and humans)The Sunday Times Style • 35