PEOPLE Pets | Sit. Stay. Play!

Animal-loving sisters Beth and Cheryl Staley were tired of the corporate world. With several dogs between them, they knew they wanted to start their own business — one with a pet-friendly theme. So six years ago, they opened the Happy Dog Barkery in suburban Chicago, a place where everybody knows your name — if you're a dog!

The wildly popular spot in Downers Grove is known for its birthday cakes — the busy staff sometimes makes up to 15 a day — as well as savory treats like the "leaping liver cake," ham and Swiss cookies and fresh-baked blueberry bites. "People have tried them too," says marketing manager Chris McDaniel of the shop's goodies. "All of the ingredients are human-grade, and come from the grocery store."

Click below for more — and a peanut butter cookie recipe from Happy Dog Barkery!

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Baker Gabriella Martinez is constantly creating new treats to sell through her online dog bakery, A Barkers Dozen. But nothing hits the Web until it's run by the five VIPs — that's "very important pups" — who make up her panel of taste-testing dogs. "When I develop a new product, they get it first," Martinez tells PEOPLEPets.com. "If they don't approve, it doesn't go out."

Thankfully, the five pooches (as well as Martinez's three dogs) love her home-baked treats, which she develops, bakes and sells herself from her home in Rochester, N.Y. "Every once in a while I have friends who will come over for a baking party — they'll help mix or roll dough," she says. "But everything else is on me."

Click below for more about Barkers Dozen — and for a special discount!

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While working as a groomer fulfilled Seattle resident Dorothy Moore, she longed for something more. The former cake decorator "wanted to create an environment where people and dogs could do things together inside, away from the rain," she tells PEOPLEPets.com. "My husband and I go out to eat a lot, and I started wondering how I could translate the things we liked — cocktails, appetizers, desserts — for dogs." So in 2005, she opened the Dining Dog Cafe, a place where dogs rule and humans, well, don't.

With a menu invented by Moore, the swank spot features chandeliers, soft music and white tablecloths. She serves hungry pups on gold platters (humans are welcome to order pizza or sandwiches from nearby delivery joints), and even offers a take-out menu for pets on the go. Open for dinner on weekends (reservations only, please!), it's a favorite for private parties and events.

Moore herself even has a celeb following, with Sharon Osboure and Alan White of Yes clamoring for her homebaked treats. But the real star may be Moore's husband, an Elvis impersonator, who performs during special four-course dinner shows. "The dogs love it," she jokes. We're guessing the people do, too.

Click below for Moore's easy doggie paté recipe!

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"We get a lot of people asking, 'Can I eat this?' " Good Dog Bakery owner Kristian French tells PEOPLEPets.com. "And the answer is yes, you can!" From puppy pizzas to doggie desserts, French has been creating pet-friendly yummies in Charleston, S.C., since 2003. What started as a small operation — French setting up shop at the weekly farmers' market with five treat flavors — has turned into a booming business, with two full-service storefronts serving 35 dog and cat treats.

"We offer healthy, all-natural human-grade treats," explains French. "We don't use any butter, corn, salt, soy or sugar in our goods." Her love of food and animals led her to open her bakeries, where she carefully chooses ingredients she finds "healthy and beneficial to dogs."

The most entertaining part of French's job? That would be observing her hungriest patrons — passing dogs. "It's funny to see them pull their owners into the store, or sit out front and not move until they convince them to come in," she laughs.

Click below for a mouth-watering veggie pizza recipe from The Good Dog Bakery!

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Furry friends are always welcome at the Happy Husky Bakery in Evanston, Ill., but to enter they have to pass inspection from resident pups Ginger and Astaire. "We have a gated entrance with a bell attached to it," explains co-founder Stephen Farmer. "When Ginger and Astaire hear the bell, they come running to greet the customers and their pets. If the dogs seem like they'll get along, we'll let them in — but if not, Ginger and Astaire have to retreat to a spot behind the front desk."

Rescue huskies Ginger and Astaire, 5 and 6 years old, respectively, were adopted separately by bakery co-founder Todd Ruppenthal about three years ago. Ginger was underweight, while Astaire was overweight, so Ruppenthal and pal Farmer spent time trying to find better ways to feed them, while also creating nutritious treats they'd enjoy. "They got much healthier," Farmer says. "So we thought, 'Why not share this type of idea with other people's pets?' " And so a business was born.

Now about a year old, the Happy Husky is thriving, and welcomes visiting customers from as far away as Japan and Brazil. Although some two-legged shopgoers have been just a bit confused about the bakery's goodies. "We're near the train station, and sometimes people coming home from work in the evenings will pop their heads in," Farmer explains. "They see how wonderfully decorated our treats are, and think they're for people! But then they look around and see the pet toys, and realize we're just for dogs."

Click below to see the recipe for Husky Heaven Treats, the bakery's most popular item, created fresh daily by a Chicago culinary arts student!

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Did you know that, according to a recent survey, 94 percent of pet owners think their pet has human-like traits? That could explain why cat food company Fancy Feast developed Appetizers, a new line of hors d'oeuvres for felines.

Meant to supplement a cat's main diet at any time of the day, Fancy Feast Appetizers ($13.59 for a pack of 12 at PETCO.com) come in eight varieties with main ingredients like tuna, salmon, chicken, tilapia, beef, sea bass and shrimp, and are prepared without any by-products or fillers. Our kitty testers couldn't get enough of the White Meat Chicken Appetizer in "delicate broth."

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When Darlene Davison woke up Christmas morning 2001, her 15-year-old, 18-lb. mini Schnauzer Dusty couldn’t move: Her back legs were paralyzed.

"I took Dusty to different vets, she had MRIs, they found no stroke, nothing wrong," Davison, now director of spa services at the Ritz Carlton, Sarasota, tells PEOPLEPets.com. "I didn’t know what to do."

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