Like many a young American with parents who like to spoil him, Declan Kelly spent a roasting hot afternoon last week splashing around his local water park. It had fountains, a simulated beach, and thatched cabanas where he could kick back and watch the world go by. There were areas for learning to swim, in big red buoyancy vests, or surf, on foam boogie boards. The centrepiece was a saltwater pool where instructors taught visitors how to dive.
Declan had the time of his life. Until the moment came to go home, that is. Then, in what looked suspiciously like a demonstration of adolescent frustration, he ran to the far side of the collection of swimming pools and began to urinate against a fence. Later, on his way out to the car park, he approached a female visitor, and proceeded to sniff her bottom.
Fortunately, such things happen all the time at this water park, in the San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles. That's because Declan is a dog (a German-shepherd-based mongrel) and the water park is part of the Paradise Ranch, an upmarket resort which caters exclusively for extremely pampered canines.
"Everyone knows that dogs love to play in the water, especially in summer time when we are at our busiest, so we thought this would be a brilliant way to keep them entertained," says Kristyn Goddard, the Ranch's owner, of the newly opened facility. "It's the world's first canine water park. They can have swimming lessons if they need, because not every dog takes to water straight away, and boogie board lessons, which are very popular."
The Ranch – which costs $35 (£23) per day or $65 overnight – represents the latest milestone in the rapid development of America's high-end pet industry, which recently saw Disneyland open pet-friendly hotels, together with the launch of Pet Airways, a domestic airline which allows passengers to bring their furry friends in the cabin with them.
Like many a fad, it is being driven by celebrities who have made some breeds of dog as fashionable as designer handbags. This month's ribbon-cutting at Paradise Ranch was carried out, before a gaggle of television news cameras, by Brad Sherwood, a comedian from Who's Line is it Anyway?
Other celebrity clientele, according to a list in reception, have over the years included Jessica Alba, Ozzy Osbourne, Aaron Eckhart, Anthony Hopkins, Halle Berry, and Penelope Cruz. Many of them use the "Mutt Cab," the business's customised Mercedes SUV, to transport their pooches between their homes and the Ranch.
The business was founded in the late 1990s to cater to the growing numbers of cash-rich, time-poor pet owners who didn't want to condemn their domestic animals to the equivalent of solitary confinement by putting them in old-fashioned boarding kennels, where residents are kept apart from each other to prevent fights.
Instead, Goddard allows up to 72 different animals to stay with their peers in air-conditioned, communal homes. "Dogs are social creatures, and putting them in a cage makes them miserable," says Goddard. "When we started, we were the first cage-free boarding facility in America. Now they are everywhere. I guess the water park idea will inevitably be copied, too."
Goddard's guests spend their nights (and the hottest parts of the day) indoors, where they lie on sheepskin rugs and watch flat-screen televisions. Twenty-five members of staff work round the clock to make sure they are happy. Owners can log on to a website 24 hours a day, to look at CCTV footage of their pets, and check they're OK. For an extra $20 a night, they will get a human to share their bed.
drive from www.independent.co.uk