Days before Halloween, Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society’s Mutt Strut allowed canine companions their own chance to dress up — and one local gay couple’s creative costumes secured them a top honor.
Mike Hains and his partner, Andrew, along with their dog Winston, won Best in Show in the costume contest at the Oct. 19 fundraising event for their “Star Wars”-themed duds. The couple turned out to pass out information about Hains’ dog-service business and to learn about other pet resources available in the city, and were surprised that their costumes — them as Storm Troopers and Winston as an Ewok — were such a big hit.
“Oh my God, we were so surprised that we won,” Hains said. “I didn’t go there to win. I just wanted to meet the director of the Mutt Strut, go to the different booths and hand out some information. We at first left the Storm Trooper costumes in the car because we got there early and it didn’t seem like everybody was getting into it as much as we wanted to. But we went back to the car to get Winston water and were just like, ‘Oh, let’s just put them on and be those people who dressed up with their dog.’”
Hains said Winston’s breed, Brussels Griffon, is commonly compared to Ewok from the popular films, which gave them the idea for the costume.
“My partner never watched ‘Star Wars,’ and I was trying to get him into it and one day, I was like, ‘Halloween’s coming, let’s enter Winston into a costume contest as an Ewok,’ and then we got more serious about it. We went to the fabric store, bought the materials and sat down for three nights in a row making the costumes.”
Winston is one of many four-legged friends Hains cares for.
In the fall of 2012, Hains launched Woof N’ Stuff after serving as a dog walker for another local company.
“I realized I have the initiative, the social capability to talk to people and manage myself walking dogs,” he said. “So I decided to take a leap and begin working for myself.”
Hains, 34, is a native of Missouri and moved to Philadelphia 13 years ago, and now lives in the Newbold section.
His clients span Center Çity, South and West Philadelphia, and he plans to expand once he hires his first employee early next year. He currently works with up to 12 dogs per day.
As he walks the dogs, Hains works with them on training, discipline and commands, specializing in puppies and dogs who have been adopted, in order to acclimate them to their new environment.
“The other company I worked for, we of course would play with the dog and be friendly, but there wasn’t much attention to health, nutrition or behavior, which is what I do now,” he said. “I like people to feel like I’m part of their family. My business is all about being personal.”
Hains also does light grooming, short-term boarding and taxi services to transport animals to vet appointments and the kennel.
Hains also works as a bartender at Tavern on Camac, which has helped him get the word out about his business to the LGBT community; he said nearly all of his clients are LGBT.
“All of my clients are gay except for two women,” he said. “I’ve never advertised for my business; all the dogs I work with are from friends or friends of friends who heard about me.”
Establishing trust with a dog walker is important, Hains said, especially for LGBT people.
“This is a dog service that’s sensitive to people’s needs. Most people who walk dogs are open-minded as it is, but I’ve had clients tell me they feel really comfortable with me because I’m gay. One guy does drag on the weekends and he said he feels comfortable having me in his home; he didn’t feel like he had to put the eyelashes or wigs away. A guy doesn’t have to feel weird if he has a painting of a half-naked guy above his bed. There’s a level of comfort there that you might not have with a straight business because you never know how people feel.”
For more information, visit www.woofnstuff.info.