Pet-Friendly Hotels Leave No Paw Unpampered

For the social pet, the Peninsula Beverly Hills staff can arrange "pet play dates", while New York's Muse hotel offers "Hers and Furs Pet-icure," side-by-side spa treatments for you and your pet.

For ambitious pet owners, there are also hotels that offer what can only be described as resume builders. The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples Florida location offers "Petiquette" classes, which is like obedience school.

The Loews properties go for the extracurriculars. At their Nashville property, there's "The Hound of Music," in which a dog is limo'd to a professional recording studio, with a voice coach, to "howl along with a musician or bark to their favorite karaoke beat," with the results preserved forever on a CD with a personalized CD case.

At the Coronado Bay property there's "Su'ruff Camp" (yes, that's surfing lesson), while the Denver property has "Outward Hound," a two hour on-and-off leash guided hike with a personal trainer.

For more relaxed pets (and their owners) that would just as soon get by on their looks, the Gansevoort South in Miami Beach offers a pet happy hour on Sundays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The dogs run around, the owners have discounted cocktails.

If all of this sounds like a great deal of fun, but you happen to lack a four-legger, there's no need to despair. At the St. Regis Resort in Aspen, the concierge will arrange for you to borrow a dog from the Aspen Animal Shelter for you to hike or hang out with during your stay.

If all goes well, you can adopt your new travel companion -- and acquire the need to investigate more pet-friendly accommodations on future trips.