SINGAPORE: Those looking for some spoiling look no further than a spa-cial treat, which can extend even to one’s four-legged friends.

If you think a wash and trim is enough for your pooch – well, maybe it’s time for some extra TLC pet-style.

Bringing the term “pampering” to a whole new level is Sara Shih, founder of AromaDog, which smells like success in the making, for her range of aromatherapy products and spa treatments for your beloved pet.

A certified aroma-therapist, Sara started off in the spa business for us homo sapiens. As fate would have it, she was called in to use her skill to help solve a bad skin condition - - for a husky!

Mission accomplished, and Sara began thinking of creating an alternative and holistic approach for problem pooches, especially since there were no doggy products yet using aromatherapy and the healing powers of essential oils.

Sara said: “You can say I have a passion towards pets. And looking at certain dogs that have no solutions for their skin problems sparked off the idea.

“There are so many groomers out there, but they are just doing the traditional methods. I started developing and doing a lot of doggy therapy, doing essential oils for owners who were looking for alternative treatments. We started with one doggy, and it just grew from there.”

It took around two years for the whole process of research and development, but dog-gone-it she came up smelling like roses instead of dog-breath.

You might be tempted to steal some for yourself since only natural ingredients such as shea butter, bee wax and aloe vera go into the products with no preservatives and top notch essential oils.

The items are blended to create concoctions from shampoo and conditioner to spa products such as mud masks and skin scrubs.

Divided into two categories – pink and blue – the products are said to improve common dog skin problems and also their emotional states.

If your pet has a bark worse than its bite, try the pink range which improves circulation, hydration and is for calming, soothing purposes. For these, scents such as ylang ylang to ease emotional tension and pink grapefruit which relieves stress, is used together with rose geranium.

The pink range products with their floral, English rose garden smell, may just have your pet happily romping in the next field patch – you would too if you smelt it.

While emotional tension -- a supposedly common problem in dogs -- is handled by the pinks, the blues, a popular range, concentrate on soothing sensitive and irritated skin.

Given the tropical climate and pets with temperate coats – heat-related skin problems aren’t unusual. The blue concoctions will fix those problems and nip a typically doggy problem – fleas and ticks.

For this range of products, Sara chooses scents such as peppermint to cool the skin and eucalyptus citridora which acts as a disinfectant and keeps insects away, while giving off a nice citrus scent.

“Generally, the dog’s fur is already very good” said Sara of her clientele, “so all we need to do is maintain it.”

Other than the basic cleansing care of shampoo and conditioner, AromaDog also has a fur detangler, tonic spray and shower wipes.

“It (the spray) is to provide the protection coat, yet moisturises their fur and skin.

“The truth is you don’t bathe them everyday, and yet you don’t want them to smell. You can use the spray to deodorize,” said Sara adding that it’s all very therapeutic – we assume for both the pet and owner.

“And as a lazy mum, I created something called the ‘baby wipes’.

“So apart from the basic cleansing shampoo and conditioner, you can wipe them daily, after they go out and come back.”

If you want to give your pet an even greater treat, you can turn to the spa for treatments that would make you want to be four-legged too.

The aromatherapy spa to help sooth the doggy stress and tension away starts with a detailed consultation session with the owner, and a study of the dog’s diet, environment and problems.

Once armed, Sara comes up with a special concoction for each individual pooch with recommended weekly sessions for at least two months.

When I met up with Sara, she introduced a client, an aging mini schnauzer named Trixie, who was according to Sara, facing a mid-life crisis – yes, the dogs have it too.

I guess if you start getting bald patches and bumps on your skin which Trixie was you’d have a crisis too.

To make things worse, Trixie had an odour problem.

Fortunately, someone still loves her and after half a year of treatments, Trixie’s fur is growing again and there’s no more BO!

Trixie’s session is almost like a person going to a spa.

“We have the cleansing, scrub and wrap, which could be a sea, mud or clay wrap. And there will also be a massage,” said Sara.

A complete package for a medium-sized dog costs around S$85 and takes up approximately two-and-a-half hours.

That’s not close to what you’d pay for your spa and as Sara points out, the treatments are in fact more affordable than a visit to the vet.

“(The cost) may be quite a problem for certain families. However, for those dogs that come to us with problems, they usually have been to the doctor many times, each with its antibiotics or shots that cost a few hundred dollars per trip.

And once the dogs stop taking the medicine, the problem comes back.”

The only catch with this spa is that you can’t make a visit to it.

Sara hopes to open a dog spa outlet eventually, and is in the meantime open to house calls or appointments at pet shops that are carrying her AromaDog products.